Apple iPad buyers / Owners thread

I wonder....

I already have an air card for my PC via Verizon

Can I simply plug in my air card (which will probably
be a USB since I dont think this takes express) and
use it on the iPad?

No multitasking? What are they thinking?

Yeah I can Listen to Music and surf the Net on my Droid Eris but not this ??

Like the iPhone, you can listen to music with iTunes in the background. Just not with a third-party music app, which would be foreground only.

I know there's no optical drive on this but is there a way to legally get copies of DVD's I own onto an iPad?  I would love to ditch my portable DVD player for an iPad.  If I can't watch my own DVD's then I can't see getting an iPad, even though I really, really, REALLY want one.  My Droid does everything I need it to and I can live with the screen size for the time being.

Quote: Legally? No. Ripping DVD's that you bought and own is a violation of the DMCA.

But I'm quite aware -- from friends and colleagues, I assure you -- that it's not difficult to rip DVDs with Handbrake, and tag them with MetaX. They get put into iTunes and your iPod syncs them to the appropriate category. People -- like my friends and colleagues -- then get their Jack Bauer fix at the gym or on the plane or hotel room on business.

Not that I would violate Federal Law in using products I legally purchased. But friends and colleagues would. :)

I'm really clueless when it comes to all that stuff so I'm glad I asked.  I guess I'll need to fabricate another reason to get an iPad because I'm not interested in illegally ripping DVD's, even though it's likely I'd never be caught.

Thanks for the info, though.

Quote:
I was perhaps too sardonic.

Ripping your own DVDs is easy.*  MacWorld has published detailed how-to's in the past. It's a good way to get stuff you own onto your iPod for convenient viewing; and not waste money on the overpriced iTunes movies. Just don't "pirate" stuff you don't own. :)

If you have a Tivo or TivoHD, you can copy recorded shows from it onto your Mac, and then sync it to your iPod.

* Yes, breaking copy protection is a violation of the DMCA. No one cares. This law is an offense to normal people, but to say more is too political to HTF :)

My wife says I've been obsessed with this the past two days. Going to bed listening to MacBreak Weekly's show on the announcement may have influenced her assessment...

She also noted that this is the  "Fruit and Vegetable" year for anniversary gifts :)

Good one!

I've been thinking about this after my initial disappointment ambivalence to the launch.

My conclusion: Jobs' aim is to revolutionize the publishing industry with the iPad and its associated App/Product store in the same way the iPod and iTunes did for the music industry.

This device was created less for the consumer than for the industry. True, at this moment, there is a lack of killer software/app to make an iPad purchase a no-brainer. Most don't need this device right now. In the same way most didn't need the iPod when it first came out.

I work very close to the publishing industry. They are very much in a similar situation that the music industry was when the iPod was introduced. They are struggling mightily with the digitization of their content while still trying to maintain a revenue stream.

The iPad will be good for big publishers because it will offer a DRM protected revenue stream to offset the decline in print purchasing.

The iPad could also be a boon for up and coming authors. Imagine being an aspiring author and putting out free content for the iPad, maybe the first few chapters. Word of mouth spreads. You build a readership. Then you can either start charging $0.99 for additional content. Or perhaps you approach a publishing house and say "look, I have 50,000 people subscribed to my app/story". That can be your leverage to getting a book deal. It absolves the pub house of its traditional role of supporting and nurturing new talent (which in truth they rarely do nowadays) and gives them a way to track new author popularity at little to no cost in-house.

This doesn't even address the textbooks issue, which I think will be the first real "killer app" for this device.

True: most of us don't need the iPad now. But the more I think about it, the more I think Jobs is poised to revolutionize yet another traditional business model. First it was music, now it will be print media.

Gotcha. 

Quote:
That's an interesting argument. While I agree that Jobs wants to iTunes-ify the publishing industry, I'm not convinced that that's the driving rationale for the iPad. It's a component, but not the whole story.

In contrast, I find the iPad very compelling. Its "killer app" is refinement. This looks like the perfect living room computer. It does everything I need regularly. And with a 10-hour battery life, I no longer worry about whether it's charged. It's the ideal travel / vacation computer. I can do all my normal stuff (email, web, community club) on it. Anything needing horsepower, like finances, ripping DVDs, holding the music library, or iMovie, can be done on my wife's iMac. In fact, I can now see having one household computer (individual user accounts) and two iPads. Two top-end iPads are cheaper than my one mid-range MacBook Pro. And we'll save even more money by only having to upgrade OS X, iLife and iWork on one machine.

I've not used an iPad. It might turn out to be a terrible personal computer. I might hate typing witty :) forum responses on it.

But at first blush, I see it as a great personal / household computer.

Other thoughts on what the iPad (potentially) portends for personal computing...

http://stevenf.tumblr.com/post/359224392/i-need-to-talk-to-you-about-computers-ive-been

- Walter.

Dave,

 

I don't think our theories/arguments are mutually exclusive. I think what you propose is true, especially for the non-power users of computers out there...which let's face it, is the majority of people. Most people need to be able to surf the web, hear music, watch movies, view photos, and if they're using it for work, have Word and Excel, and that's pretty much it. The iPad lets you do all of that (short of the Word/Excel but you know it's only a matter of time) without the traditional headaches of an operating system, complex (for some demographic of people) install/uninstall/update of programs, viruses, and compatibility issues. Just point at what you want and it goes.

While I do believe his focus is to bring publishing into the 21st century, certainly what you propose is likely also a goal of Jobs'. That's why the more I think about the iPad, and especially what it can be 2-3 revisions down the line, the more I realize this could really be a masterstroke by Jobs.

Quote: Agreed. It was a revelation to me when I finished my graduate research and discovered I don't use my computer for anything substantial anymore! :) I got a job, and the home computer was for email.

I did a personal recalibration on computer predictions: I considered what I expected of previous technologies (MS Tablets, iPod Touch, iPhone) and what actually transpired. And so orientated, I agree with you: the iPad may change the course of computing.

It may not all be for the better. The prospect of Apple extending their walled garden of software to encompass all levels of computers is frightening. The damage digital literature distribution could do to the simple act of sharing, much less public libraries, should give us all pause.

But for now, until we can actually play with and these things, it's exciting.

Did Jobs say that those apps that you have purchased or downloaded for your iPhone/Touch would get automatically installed on the tablet or are you going to have to order them again?

I am going to be patient on this one and wait for them to include a forward facing webcam and mic hopefully with version 2.0