Android, Gatekeeping and the state of Apple Services

 I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point, Apple became obsessed with attempting to show android how it's done. I guess that is an Extremely polite and generous view of what Apple has been doing for a while. 

Last year I got so sick of Apple flat out ripping Android off that I figured if I wanted innovation and/or cutting edge I should just buy a Google Pixel phone, since that seemed to be the most direct way to get to what Apple would be doing in the future. The experience was shocking. It started with me turning to many of my friends who used Android and asking them how to get the most out of my new pixel.

Not a single friend helped me out.

All of them said they never used any of the new features and if I wanted to learn to use them they suggested googling it. This was a HUGE difference from my Mac experience. Mac users are always telling each other about the newest and greatest thing that their Apple device could do. It was almost necessary to have a new trick when talking to them, or discussing the newest innovation from Apple. But Google people just told me I had bought the wrong phone, that I should have gotten a Samsung and I should just buy a new Samsung with all the money I had saved by getting out of Apple's clutches.

Except my new Pixel cost every bit as much as an iPhone, and that was cheaper than the newest Samsung. So not sure where I was saving any money there.

Than there was the app store experience, or Play Store, I guess. What a mess. Every app led back to all the same websites that I used on my iPhone. The only apps worth getting were free, and available on everything from iPhones to TVs, so it wasn't like I was getting new software. When I tried to find apps to actually pay for, the only thing I could find was skins and such for my phone. And using those cosmetics inevitably led to the pixel phone not working, so it wasn't like I could actually use any of them.

I had gotten into taking care of myself, due to the heart attack so I tried using the fitness elements of the phone. Even bought an android watch so I could pair it and keep track of how I was doing. Only none of the health stuff was centralized, so I ended up using five different systems to keep track of my steps and exercise...which, shockingly, led to me not using any because it was all so confusing.

So, by this point I was openly complaining about Android and Google. Was also getting weirded out by how much data was being tracked and used to serve me ads on the web and youtube and such. But everyone I talked to said the same thing "oh, you're an Apple user, so it won't make sense to you". So I started using my PC more for computing. Started really trying to get into the google ecosystem, and stopped using my Macs for anything but media watching. Leading to me taking several months away from computing because it had just become a royal pain in the butt. None of the Google stuff worked the way I wanted it to, and it felt like I was constantly being prodded to give them more. More accounts that needed more passwords and info. So, then I got really sick for several months which led to massive depression ads I thought there was just no fun to be had with my computing skills. So, I watched a lot of TV for 6 months.

By this time, the Pixel was changing the phone app in some way every time it updated, it got so I didn't even know how to answer the phone anymore. I was fed up, and if I was stuck being an Apple user, than so be it. None of my Android friends were jumping in to help, so screw the Pixel, screw Android and definitely screw Google.

So, I got an iPhone and started playing with my MacBook Pro a lot.

But something is different. Apple seems to be having some problems. I'm afraid to say all the problems with Music, that's just an orwellian clusterfuck. Nothing works well on that app, not even listening to music is satisfying unless I have one playlist I listen to endlessly. Otherwise the "geniuses" start throwing in crap from the Apple Music library I didn't ask for, playlists stop playing whenever they feel like it, and god forbid I try to download the tracks I put in to iTunes Match, because those are NEVER going to download. So much for music backup. Speaking of which, WHY THE FUCK DOES THE MUSIC APP COME ON EVERY FUCKING TIME I TAKE MY AIRPODS >OUT< OF MY EARS!!!??? For god's sake man, I took the airpods out to put them away, not share my music with every one within shouting distance!!??!!!

Sorry, Apple Music is a travesty unto itself.

Nope, what is concerning to me is that now that Tim Cook's Apple is a services company, and I am forced to deal with incessant ads for the Apple products I AM ALREADY SUBSCRIBED TO, It feels like Apple is shoving Apple down my throat, but not doing the nice thing and making their services work. With News, I have done the whole telling the app which periodicals I like from Conde Nast (apparently the only publisher willing to work with Apple) but all I get are headlines and notifications from periodicals I have turned off. As an example, I turned off the Washington post because it is behind a paywall...which is what I thought I was paying for with paying for the News Service, to have the paywalls removed...But I still get all the headlines from the Post, I just can't read any of the articles.

....maybe I should take a xanax, I think I'm getting excitable...

I have a pretty signifigant media collection, both oof movies and music, so I thought I would be able to put those in one library and share them with other devices on mynetwork. Maybe even just the Apple devices on m,y network, but I thought I could share with myself. NOPE. Ripped a movie onto your hard drive you bought used? Can't share. Ripped a CD you got as a promo? NOPE. Can't share. 

I'm not saying Tim Cook doesn't have the bargaining skills that Steve Jobs did, but...