Exquisite Tweets from @tomcoates, @weblivz, @benwerd, @kevinmarks, @yoz, @bensummers, @robmanuel, @muteboy, @huslage, @mediajunkie, @mildlydiverting, @AndrewHazlett, @alipasha, @revdancatt, @gwire, @rabble, @ZENKO_property

If I was trying to compete with the iPhone, I'd start off by creating a team to work to make an Open Source media player usable.

#1 4:58pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for iPad

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@tomcoates Totally agree. We had some thoughts around that a few years back but really the OS community that need to push it.

#2 5:00pm Feb 9th 2011 via web in reply to tomcoates

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@tomcoates Wasn't Google supposed to be doing that? So far the best audio player experience I've had on Android is Winamp. Which is odd.

#3 5:00pm Feb 9th 2011 via web in reply to tomcoates

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@benwerd Yeah, that's the problem. However irritating iTunes is, no large co seems capable of building a good alternative.

#4 5:04pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for iPad in reply to benwerd

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@tomcoates you mean on the phone, or the desktop app? Have you looked at doubletwist?

#5 5:15pm Feb 9th 2011 via Seesmic in reply to tomcoates

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@kevinmarks I really meant on the desktop.

#6 5:16pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for iPad in reply to kevinmarks

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@tomcoates itunes made sense for the ipods with tiny screens, but fit ipad it feels like a boat anchor. Android doesn't need a desktop app

#7 5:20pm Feb 9th 2011 via Seesmic in reply to tomcoates

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@kevinmarks Dude, you're nuts. People have music collections they want to be able to play on their mobile devices!

#8 5:25pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for iPad in reply to kevinmarks

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@tomcoates @kevinmarks You played with http://www.getmiro.com (OS) ? Be neat to be integrated with my Android but pretty cool.

#9 5:28pm Feb 9th 2011 via web in reply to tomcoates

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@tomcoates I get my music collection on my Palm Pre just fine. "Phone just acts like a USB drive" is easy, powerful, one less mental model.

#10 5:28pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@yoz Do you think the majority of people would feel the same way? I suspect you're a bit of an outlier there...

#11 5:30pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@tomcoates Yeah, I know that I'm in the minority for using my music through a filesystem (vs database). Damn you, iTunes! DAMN YOU TO HELL

#12 5:31pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@tomcoates But I do think that iTunes is an abstraction too far. Why can't it just be a special Finder view that uses ID3 from Spotlight?

#13 5:32pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@yoz @tomcoates You're sounding like you're wishing for the BeOS Tracker. I think they even implemented the email client like that.

#14 5:34pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@tomcoates no figures but since spotify came along itunes became largely a tool for loading up my phone with music made myself / friends.

#15 5:35pm Feb 9th 2011 via web in reply to tomcoates

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@bensummers Windows shell can work that way too, can't it? I know you can get ID3 info columns in Explorer views.

#16 5:35pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to bensummers

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@tomcoates Doubletwist does a good job for that use case, with wireless sync. I wish Google Listen was open source so I could fix it'

#17 5:35pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@yoz Windows? People actually use that?

#18 5:36pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@tomcoates amen to a functional FOSS media player that syncs with an MP3 player

#19 5:39pm Feb 9th 2011 via web in reply to tomcoates

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@yoz Dude, you don't have to tell me that iTunes is bloated and clumsy. It's Apple's PC beachhead so they stuff everything into it.

#20 5:40pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@yoz But surely this would make it even easier to push for a simple Open Source alternative that could sync with anything...?!

#21 5:41pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@yoz I mean, I should be clear. I actually like iTunes. I'd like it to be less baroque, but in the end, I'm in favour.

#22 5:42pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@robmanuel Spotify is clearly the big challenger to iTunes' dominance, which is probably why Apple are so bloody paranoid about it.

#23 5:42pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to robmanuel

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@tomcoates I want the equivalent of Pandora for spoken word radio + podcasts, with a UI I can use while driving.

#24 5:42pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@tomcoates OK - elaborate on why you like it? I should add that I find iTunes sync more mentally taxing due to it having wiped iPods before.

#25 5:43pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@yoz I like that it keeps track of play-counts, ratings. Smart playlists are totally core to my listening experience, as is Genius.

#26 5:44pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@yoz The fact that it syncs with my devices is a big deal, and that it connects to my Apple TV. And the store, honestly, is quite useful.

#27 5:44pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@yoz I could do without many of the stupid fluffy views and Ping and a few dozen other things, but generally it's a pretty good experience.

#28 5:45pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@tomcoates Good point about usage data. I want my ratings synced. But iTunes forces you to a single desktop hub. How about last.fm?

#29 5:46pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@kevinmarks @tomcoates Isn't Google Listen supposed to do this?

#30 5:46pm Feb 9th 2011 via web in reply to kevinmarks

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@tomcoates The bizarre thing is that the syncing which is genuinely hard, e.g. iPhone data & apps, should exist - but in a music app?!

#31 5:47pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@yoz This is why Spotify is probably the only long-term competitor (assuming Apple don't kill it).

#32 5:48pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@kevinmarks yes and/or at least something to read my mail and favorite blogs/feeds to me in the car

#33 5:48pm Feb 9th 2011 via TweetDeck in reply to kevinmarks

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@yoz All of this stuff is in iTunes because they only want one app to install on PCs.

#34 5:48pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@tomcoates So an open source competitor might start by defining a portable data protocol for usage, ratings, smart playlists etc.

#35 5:49pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@yoz If you look on Apple devices like the iPad, they disaggregate the App Store, iTunes music store and the music and video players.

#36 5:49pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@yoz @tomcoates Or, it might start with some actual UX design.

#37 5:49pm Feb 9th 2011 via web in reply to yoz

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@kevinmarks @tomcoates Is there anyway to stream a huffduffer feed automatically?

#38 5:49pm Feb 9th 2011 via TweetDeck in reply to kevinmarks

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@yoz So they KNOW it's not the ideal way to do it, but if you have one PC beachhead then you use it for everything...

#39 5:50pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to yoz

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@kevinmarks you mean: 1.auto-transcript every podcast 2.build a cluster analysis 3.match_to & rank_by profile_prefs? #spokenwordspandora

#40 5:50pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to kevinmarks

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@huslage Google Listen is a UI disaster area. It makes me manage downloading; it forgets what I was playing; tiny fiddly buttons @tomcoates

#41 5:51pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to huslage

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@mildlydiverting @yoz Yup - I'm with Kim. Take Songbird (or similar) and turn it into a simple, easy to use player that's nice to use.

#42 5:51pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to mildlydiverting

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@mildlydiverting @yoz Do a Firefox with it, basically.

#43 5:51pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to mildlydiverting

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@tomcoates your tweets have made me think tho - it does a hell of a lot I don't really think about. Whilst pretending to be WinAmp.

#44 5:51pm Feb 9th 2011 via web in reply to tomcoates

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@robmanuel God yeah - iTunes is this huge hub for Apple. Enormously big deal.

#45 5:52pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to robmanuel

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@mildlydiverting @tomcoates Yeah - iTunes is still based on album + podcast model from 10 years ago. Look at Soundcloud, extensionfm.

#46 5:53pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to mildlydiverting

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@tomcoates btw have you seen http://ex.fm/ (install it and then visit some music blogs) quite nice for non-portable browser based music.

#47 5:55pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@tomcoates If you have thoughts on this matter, might I recommend the medium of the old-fashioned blogge-poste.

#48 6:03pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@gwire Nah. Having a chat with awesome people on the interwebs is much more fun than writing something long.

#49 6:09pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to gwire

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@tomcoates I think it's telling that iTunes is 64-bit on Windows... but not OSX/Cocoa. I suspect it'll be divided and subsumed very soon.

#50 6:09pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@tomcoates ah, but it makes it more difficult for others to point people towards it (without the hassle of third-party curation I guess).

#51 6:12pm Feb 9th 2011 via Echofon in reply to tomcoates

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@kevinmarks totally agree re Listen UI

#52 7:31pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Android in reply to kevinmarks

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@tomcoates There are some really quite good players like songbird to start from, if you were going to do it.

#53 7:54pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for Mac in reply to tomcoates

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@tomcoates wouldn't u first work on perfecting the UI?

#54 9:20pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for BlackBerry® in reply to tomcoates

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@ZENKO_property I'd genuinely look towards what would block the success of any smartphone and the current answer is iTunes

#55 9:58pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for iPad in reply to ZENKO_property

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@tomcoates valid point, but as a frustrated smartphone user I HATE the basics not working ie browser and ability to play videos

#56 10:16pm Feb 9th 2011 via Twitter for BlackBerry® in reply to tomcoates

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