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[kitz]

BRUCE Willis is preparing to take Apple to court over who owns his huge digital music collection after he dies.

The Die Hard actor, 57, wants to leave the haul to his daughters Rumer, Scout and Tallulah. But under iTunes' current terms and conditions, customers essentially only 'borrow' tracks rather than owning them outright. So any music library amassed like that would be worthless when the owner dies.

Willis has asked advisers to set up a trust that holds his downloads, which reportedly include classics from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin, to get around this rule.
The action star is also backing legal moves to increase the rights of downloaders.

Apple can freeze users’ accounts if they suspect them of sharing tunes with others.
Chris Walton, an estate specialist at Irwin Mitchell, told a newspaper: “Lots of people will be surprised on learning all those tracks and books they have bought over the years don’t actually belong to them. “It’s only natural you would want to pass them on to a loved one.”

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/4517317/Bruce-Willis-to-fight-Apple-over-music-rights-after-his-death.html#ixzz25Om1Bq5Q

At 99p-£1.25 per track we are being stitched up.   Go Bruce - good luck to you mate.

[UncleUB]

What a wonderful company Apple is............

They rip people of off all the time,yet people can't get enough of them......

[kitz]

i-this and i-that has become exceeding popular over the past few years, and Apple seem to be enjoying an all time high in the popularity stakes.  Lets hope they dont take it too far. It may take someone like Bruce Willis to be able to take them on.


Im also a bit concerned about the recent speights of law suites against the likes of Samsung and IMHO they seem to be going too far with their patents.  All I can say its a good job Apple didnt invent the internet or even such things as right click 

Reminds me of the joke
 BREAKING NEWS: Apple to sue the Oxford English dictionary for breaking its patent on the letter 'i'.

[burakkucat]

iThis and iThat. Bah!

Absolutely typical of the iWant generation! 

[roseway]

iAgree

[burakkucat]

   

(b*cat only just managed to get to his litter-tray in time, as a result of all his laughing!)

[kitz]

iThis and iThat. Bah!

Absolutely typical of the iWant generation! 

>>>>> i-Agree

 

[sevenlayermuddle]

Afraid I have mixed feeling on all this.  My own collection of 'downloaded' music & video amounts to exactly nil, partly because I tend to read the T&C before I spend my cash, but mostly because I will always refuse to part with cash unless I get something physical to show for it.  Even if it weren't for draconian T&Cs, who's to say the provider of virtual goods (Apple or anybody else) will still be around to  honour the virtual agreement  after Bruce pops his clogs?

I sort of agree and disagree on Apples's patent disputes.   They got burned to a large extent in the 1980s by failing to pursue their IP rights in a certain OS GUI style that became known as 'windows', and I sympathise if they are trying to 'nip things in the bud'  this time around.  It doesn't seem entirely  fair to me that soon after the iPhone took the world by storm, other people were able to make things that looked and behaved almost exactly like an iPhone.    They invented the darned thing, why should they not have some rights to it?  That said, when you look at the detail of the patents, it focusses on pedantic-looking specific issues like the 'bounceback' following a finger drag.    How exactly are developers, who may independently think of the same obvious thing,  supposed to know whether somebody else has patented their idea first?

No easy answers here, in my view.  But there's at least two empires that scare me a lot more than Apple these days, one beginning with M and one with G...

[kitz]

I think there is always going to be controvosy over MS v Apple.  Ive always said one of the things that MS do well is take an idea and market it to the millions.  Im speaking from memory now (based on a paper I wrote 10yrs ago) so please feel free to correct me if Im wrong or forgotten something.., but much of the controvosy was to do with Windows using a GUI and iirc MS headhunting some of Apples staff.  What is probably less well known is the GUI invention actually came from Xerox... and although Apple and M$ undoubtably came out top, there were other companies also working on GUI's for their operating systems.

Where Windows probably came into its own was the fact that its operating system could be used on many different hardware systems - not just the apple hardware package- and all of a sudden an affordable GUI was available to the people.  Windows also had a few nice features -  running multiple windows and program manager making use folders and shortcuts to launch programs and also toolbars. These ideas are now used by most operating systems.  In the 90's windows was responsible for bringing PCs to the mass public in a way they could understand yet at a price that was within reach of some households - not just industry.

Whilst I agree that MS may have taken some ideas from Apple, Apple arent entirely innocent because they too have taken their share of other peoples ideas & technology and tried to patient them.

Can you imagine if windows or icons were a patented idea and not available to any other o/s.  Can you imagine if Apple patented the laptop. Various technologies have been patented but it shouldnt stop progress.  Vacuum cleaners that arent Hoovers are made, how many different manufacturers of TVs, washing machines etc etc are there.

I'll fully admit that Apple have some damn good ideas and the stuff they produce are sexi as hell, but I do object to the fact that Apple continues to hold such tight rein over anything Apple that you buy and the extortionate pricing to upgrade Apple equipment and how its locked down.

By all means protect patents, but not to such ridiculous extent that it is by some of the things that are being patented.
Believe it or not Im not anti-Apple.. nor am I pro M$.. despite it being my o/s of choice. I just believe that people should have choice  

No easy answers here, in my view.  But there's at least two empires that scare me a lot more than Apple these days, one beginning with M and one with G...

I fully agree with you - no easy answers.. I think the Apple empire and fortune is now more than M$..  certainly Ive wondered for years where Google were going, because they have their finger in most pies. Possibly when an 'empire' gets too big then there is always going to be corruption of some sort somewhere. 

This topic will always be an interesting debate .

but at least I know I own the original, and my original investment is sound.

I dont blame you, someone else I know purchases CD's but never ever plays them, he copies the original and uses that, saying that its too easy for the original to become damaged. Not sure if thats taking it a bit far.                       

[sevenlayermuddle]

Indeed there are no 'angels'.   For a while Google came across as relatively angelic but, for me, that's been blown apart by a big loss of trust over privacy.

If there's one (related) industry giant I still really respect and largely trust, it'd be amazon.  How long that'll last, who knows...

[GigabitEthernet]

According to Willis' wife, this isn't true.

[UncleUB]

iThis and iThat. Bah!

Absolutely typical of the iWant generation! 

Yes and in most cases they want it because..............its Apple,haven't a clue what features it has or does.Don't even want to consider another brand which could be better and most certainly cheaper.
Its an i pad/phone or pod and I want one !!! 

[kitz]

>> Its an i pad/phone or pod and I want one !!

Guilty Im afraid   

Last year I really wanted an ipod and I was lucky enough that everyone in my family all clubbed together for my birthday to buy it as a joint pressie.   I loved it so much that it triggered the want for a bigger screen that I could actually see...  so this year my family did the same thing and I was also able to take advantage of the deals on the ipad2 in March.   On reflection, although I love my ipod and atv and the ipad fits in nicely, I do sometimes think I would perhaps had been better with an android system.   But then again because of Apple stuff only really working with Apple, then I would have had a much harder time trying to get them work together..  as my android phone wont work with the Apple stuff..  I do wish it was easier to cross platform :/

[UncleUB]

Tbh I did think about an  Macbook as my next computer,but just can't justify the cost.I was /am looking on the lines of a desk top replacement...17" screen, a 17" Macbook  is over £2000  ...no way am I am prepared to pay that.I can get a very good spec Dell for around £700

[sevenlayermuddle]

I'm not prepared to own up to how many Apple devices I own these days, notionally justified on the basis that 'I need them for App testing'.  Truth is, even though some of it has come used from Ebay, there is there is not the slightest signs of any chance that my App income will ever repay more than a tiny fraction of the investment.  But somehow I keep on buying more.

Hooked? Who, me?