Is it me or is the Ipad one of the most frustrating things apple has invented?

Illum

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After the Macintosh I'm dead in regards to apple products. My argument with Apple has been the fact that it forces unnecessary software on an unsuspecting crowd, lure them into dependence, then convinces them that they can't live without it. In reality, they could, and have, for several decades before its existance. Dad was optimistic and decided to buy an Ipad to try it out. To date none of apple's "convenient" functions has been remotely convenient. My father now uses it primarily to read news, and listen to music, it has been the "only useful part of this $500 dish" --dad

Music for example, It has to "sync" with the computer in order to upload media. What if I have three computers each with different amounts of music in it? Why can't I just add files to be as with any mp3 player? no... I have to designate a computer just for it, and if that computers down, you can't sync, and it deletes everything:shrug:

Okay, so it has 3G ability... and has all the computer peripheral keys a computer would: email, print...well none of these functions work. for email I first have to set up a new email account and to date I can read emails off of it, but I can't send anything out. Especially my road runner email, until I turn off the ipad [not just exit the mail feature] my road runner email is locked out and unable to be accessed from my computer.

To date the only thing I like about it is the map feature:shakehead

I'm asking from a point of neutrality here, what sort of population is apple trying to market this to? :shrug:

Lucky for the Ipad, its my dads... if it was mine there would be enough lead in it to triple its weight by now, one bullet for every hour I tried to get it to work. The manual sucks by the way, it only tells you about its new features, nothing on how to operate basic operations... as if all of it was there just for show :mad:
 

StarHalo

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My experience has been the polar opposite; while I agree that the lack of a file system has been frustrating, I got my iPad knowing ahead of time that it was not a replacement for a computer, and I've been very happy with it in that respect. It's excellent for browsing comfortably with breakfast or while the TV is on in the background, or as a very well-optioned wifi radio.

My senior mother recently got one as well, after I had long given up on trying to get her to use a PC; the amount of learning needed to safely operate a modern PC is untenable for anyone who hasn't grown up around them - this is illustrated thoroughly by my wife's father and his PC, who we receive tech support questions from on a regular basis, usually unresolved since it is completely infested with viruses and adware and god knows what else. If my mother didn't have the iPad, she would simply be excluded from the kids' pictures and Facebook updates and creative apps, etc. I find the idea of a modestly simplified but highly-optioned computer for those who don't have the time or effort needed to operate a PC to be a very good idea..
 

cdrake261

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To add, ios5 (comes out this fall) will enable you to wirelessly sync with your computers and other apple devices....hang in there buddy.
 

Illum

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can't they get rid of the sync feature altogether? toss in a patch, put a folder on the screen, when you connect it to the computer, let a drive come up in my computers. you throw files in to the right subfolders, it shows up on the right menus. How hard could it possibly be? most mp3 players since the floppy days have done this successfully. Half a million dollars into R&D, and Apple come up with this crap.

Its now how syncing is done thats the issue, it seems the approach of syncing in itself is whats frustrating. Syncing assumes your computer is blank or if it has files will stay relatively stable for several years. In this way files added to the computer can be easily picked up by the ipod along the way. Suppose I have three computers: 1, 2, and 3. My dad's ipad being 4. 1 stores pictures when we are on vacation from 2001-2004, 2 stores photos from 2005-2007, 3 stores 2008 to 2011. Why? while new drives are cheap I'm running them on legacy drives because I use the physical limitation of drives to limit what I put on it. Its an incentive to limit my downloading. Now, the problem is. Unless I pool all the photos from 2001 to 2011 on one computer, there is no way the ipad can collect and store 10 years worth of pictures in a single shot. Why? because immediately after connecting to 2, it deletes the sync'd items I recieved from 1. How hard could it be? its hard, several weeks of frustration hard.

its not my decision, dad wants all of it on the ipad, I'm just here to do what needs to be done because the mechanics of it is over his head. If I can choose I wish cmputers still require you to input stacks of punched cards.
 
Last edited:

Norm

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It's you :devil:
Agreed, from the problems your having you seem to be missing some knowledge on the subject. There is no reason you can't access your existing email accounts. Why not just consolidate your pictures on the one external drive and point iTunes to that drive? I keep all my iTunes media on one drive and regularly copy my iTunes folder to another external drive.

It's much easier to have iTunes sync and update automatically rather than play around dragging and dropping.

Don't forget you can set up playlist to suit your mood or occasion.

You also have the option of just sycing ticked files, handy when your iTunes contains far more media than you have memory on your device.

Let's not turn this into an TRASH APPLE THREAD. - Norm
 

CheepSteal

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Agreed, from the problems your having you seem to be missing some knowledge on the subject. There is no reason you can't access your existing email accounts. Why not just consolidate your pictures on the one external drive and point iTunes to that drive? I keep all my iTunes media on one drive and regularly copy my iTunes folder to another external drive.

It's much easier to have iTunes sync and update automatically rather than play around dragging and dropping.

Don't forget you can set up playlist to suit your mood or occasion.

You also have the option of just sycing ticked files, handy when your iTunes contains far more media than you have memory on your device.

Let's not turn this into an TRASH APPLE THREAD. - Norm

+1 All you need to do is click "manually manage music and videos"...
Using the tick box option for syncing is great too, you just need more knowledge in the subject to operate it to your needs. No disrespect. Syncing is also great for getting the bookmarks on your computer straight onto the iPad and vice versa, makes life a whole lot easier. Only downside to ipad is you can't view the Surefire main page's flash content :(
 

Dude Dudeson

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I got to use one extensively last month at my moms house (she bought one). If looked at from a computer perspective, yes, the thing is frustrating and really lacks.

But it kicks the CRAP out of any smartphone, and according to Jobs himself the goal was to build something between a smartphone and a laptop. Given that goal I'd say Apple hit the ball out of the park. It's really the first Apple product I wouldn't mind owning.
 

cdrake261

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I got to use one extensively last month at my moms house (she bought one). If looked at from a computer perspective, yes, the thing is frustrating and really lacks.

But it kicks the CRAP out of any smartphone, and according to Jobs himself the goal was to build something between a smartphone and a laptop. Given that goal I'd say Apple hit the ball out of the park. It's really the first Apple product I wouldn't mind owning.

I knew what to expect when I got my iPad, I love it to death! Sure, lack of flash support sucks but it doesn't bother me that bad. Got an iPhone shortly after getting my iPad, so all is well!
 

cuervoblur

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I believe the music is handled that way because of all the anti-piracy things that the record companies enforce to keep you from copying your Glee soundtracks for everyone and their brother.

I use my I-Pad (version 1) for what it's best at. Browsing the web, facebook, playing games, and watching videos of cats doing funny things. I don't do much typing on there, if I have to compose some long winded paragraph (like this) I'll go fire up the desktop. I don't even listen to music on it because I have all my songs on my I-Phone in my pocket. I don't need them on the bigger harder to carry around I-Pad. If you use it within it's area if expertise you won't be disappointed, if you want to get down to real business buy a lap top.
 

flashy bazook

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I agree with the negative sentiments towards the iPad (and most things Apple), but I remember expressing them in some other recent thread which quickly got large. Maybe this thread will end up merged with that other one.
 

LukeA

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...Dad was optimistic and decided to buy an Ipad to try it out. To date none of apple's "convenient" functions has been remotely convenient. My father now uses it primarily to read news, and listen to music, it has been the "only useful part of this $500 dish" --dad

Music for example, It has to "sync" with the computer in order to upload media. What if I have three computers each with different amounts of music in it? Why can't I just add files to be as with any mp3 player? no... I have to designate a computer just for it, and if that computers down, you can't sync, and it deletes everything:shrug:

I have one computer, and it hasn't been "down" for any important length of time in the 3 years I've had it. I don't think spreading music across multiple computers makes sense. If it's all on one computer, it's much easier to keep track of. And anyway, it's been like that with Apple music players since the introduction of the first iPod. You're at least a decade late to the pity party.

Okay, so it has 3G ability... and has all the computer peripheral keys a computer would: email, print...well none of these functions work. for email I first have to set up a new email account and to date I can read emails off of it, but I can't send anything out. Especially my road runner email, until I turn off the ipad [not just exit the mail feature] my road runner email is locked out and unable to be accessed from my computer.

That's your email provider. I have two email accounts on my iOS device. The gmail account works fine to receive and send, while the other can only receive.

To date the only thing I like about it is the map feature:shakehead

It is pretty neat.

I'm asking from a point of neutrality here, what sort of population is apple trying to market this to? :shrug:

People who want the technology to get out of the way of their work or fun.
 

WadeF

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I don't own an iPad, yet, but if you look at the sales figures, there are a whole lot of people out there that love their iPads. You just have to focus on what it's strength are and not expect it to replace a desktop or laptop computer. I'm holding off for the HD iPads, which will hopefully support Flash so you can actually browse the web properly.
 

cdrake261

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I don't own an iPad, yet, but if you look at the sales figures, there are a whole lot of people out there that love their iPads. You just have to focus on what it's strength are and not expect it to replace a desktop or laptop computer. I'm holding off for the HD iPads, which will hopefully support Flash so you can actually browse the web properly.

My iPad replaces both of my computer except when I want to watch flash videos and my online schoolwork. Outside of those two things, my computers just sit there and collect dust....
 

kadinh

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My iPad replaces both of my computer except when I want to watch flash videos and my online schoolwork. Outside of those two things, my computers just sit there and collect dust....

Same here but with my iPhone.

I'm holding off getting the iPad 2 and I'm getting the iPad 3 when it is released shortly.
 
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