apple Apple release removal tool for unwanted U2 album

[LaP]

I suppose it helps if you know who U2 is.

 

rofl was she joking ?

[Quillz]

I would imagine it's possible not everyone knows who U2 is. I think it's fair to say their best days were the late 80s/early 90s, so people who are listening mainly to more recent music could be unfamiliar with them.

[bandit_liberty_rumble]

I would imagine it's possible not everyone knows who U2 is. 

Apparently...   :rofl:

[devHead]

Okay, let's look at that SD card example.

 

What are we trying to solve here, what's the actual crux of the matter? Well, people have different storage needs. Some need less and don't want to pay for more storage than they require, and some need a lot of storage. Solution? We'll sell phones with different amounts of storage.

 

As a designer or engineer, do you ask whether we should support SD cards? Or do you ask why people use SD cards? Indeed, why? To add storage? Well give them enough built-in storage so that they don't have to go out and buy an SD card. The alternative is to ship, and hence charge people for, reader hardware that not everybody might use, and which takes up volume on the device. And once you ship with this reader, you create a dependency on that reader for future generations of the device. Think really hard before adding this kind of dependency. Once added, you can't easily take it away from people who have come to depend on it.

 

What's the other use of an SD card - to transfer files? Give them email, messaging, and allow third party apps so that Dropbox etc. can offer solutions. Why not an SD card? Well, the receiving device needs to have a reader too. Plus if the receiving device needs to be able to read the files that means that we can't encrypt the storage layer! Do you want people to be able to pick your phone up, take the SD card out and simply copy your files?

 

SD cards aren't an end unto themselves. Solve problems instead of thinking in terms of features. Remember where SD cards come from. They were originally created to store photos on cameras back in the days when storage was counted in megabytes and you needed to carry multiple cards to cater for one photo shoot. Why add mechanical, electronic and software complexity to a device if you're simply going to stick an SD card in and leave it there all the time? Ship with enough built-in storage. Solve the real problem. SD cards were also meant to transfer photos back to the photographer's computer back when cameras couldn't simply stream photos out in real time as you took them. What Does a Horse?s Ass have to do with The Space Shuttle?

 

People put "choice" on a pedestal like it's a binary. It's not "choice" vs. "no choice". It's a continuum on a scale. But how opinionated should a solution be? It's better for a design to take a stance. You know for a fact that you won't be able to please everybody, so don't try to do that at the expense of adding complexity to your solution, hence making it less convenient and less effective. Some people will not use your product as a result, but hey, there are other products that will please them. A great solution elicits the reaction - Well of course it works this way. How else would it? Conversely, you may also have a strong adverse reaction from some people. But that's inevitable. Better to solve the problem really well for some people than to offer a middling solution for most people. Anyone who's ever designed anything will know that customisation can be a cop out. "I can't solve this problem, we'll let the people decide". If you're having to add tons of settings to cater for edge cases, then maybe it's time to rethink the problem. As a programmer, when that happens, I know that I need to raise the abstraction level, take a step back and look at the problem again from a higher vantage point. It's a sign that I'm solving the wrong problem.

 

So know when choice is important, and what form it takes. Maybe it doesn't take the form of an SD card. Maybe it takes the form of different amounts of built-in storage. Granted, sometimes customisability for the sake of personalisation trumps almost everything else. Well guess who's offering the most choices with their smart watch?

Wow, good arguments, actually.

[xWhiplash]

I still do not see the big deal with this.  It didn't automatically download for me, and I have automatic downloads enabled.

[Atlantico]

.... Yes, you read that right. Removing the album requires a removal tool. After numerous complaints, Apple has set up a special knowledge base article detailing the steps needed to remove the album here. But be warned, if you would like to acquire the album again, you'll need to re-download it through iTunes. It'll remain free up until October 13th.

 

 

Via The Verge

Truly this U2 album is treated as the malware it is. I approve. Though I don't use iTunes any more.