[rotuts]

a friend asked me about iPads, and if with the current iOS they can function without an iTunes "base" connection.

they idea is that the person does not want to connect it to a windows machine at work and does not have nor want a 'full' computer aapl at home.

many thanks

[Spheric Harlot]

Yes.

Apple - iOS 5 - See new features included in iOS 5.

[gradient]

You still need a computer with iTunes if you want to copy your physical media on to your iOS device, though.

[turtle777]

Yes, but I wonder how much longer ?

Why wouldn't Apple at some point allow the MBA Superdrive be connected to the USB adapter of an iPad for direct ripping ?

-t

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Yes, but I wonder how much longer ?

Why wouldn't Apple at some point allow the MBA Superdrive be connected to the USB adapter of an iPad for direct ripping ?

-t

There's an irony to using a disc drive for a computer that has no disc drive to use to rip content that Apple wishes you would download instead to a device that Apple wishes you'd replace your computer with.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5 

There's an irony to using a disc drive for a computer that has no disc drive to use to rip content that Apple wishes you would download instead to a device that Apple wishes you'd replace your computer with.

Sure. But I bet that's one thing that keeps some older folks from getting an iPad.
I know my mom wouldn't get one (as a replacement for her computer) until she could rip music.

-t

[gradient]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Sure. But I bet that's one thing that keeps some older folks from getting an iPad.
I know my mom wouldn't get one (as a replacement for her computer) until she could rip music.

-t

I'm in the same boat. Not being able to buy a CD and put it on my iPod is a dealbreaker for me until physical discs disappear completely.

[Big Mac]

You don't rely on a limited computing device for a task that it's not designed to handle. You want to rip or burn discs? Buy a low-end laptop for $400.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Sure. But I bet that's one thing that keeps some older folks from getting an iPad.
I know my mom wouldn't get one (as a replacement for her computer) until she could rip music.

-t

Apple see the irony as well and will never, ever do it.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

You don't rely on a limited computing device for a task that it's not designed to handle. You want to rip or burn discs? Buy a low-end laptop for $400.

Oh please, why would the iPad2 NOT be able to handle a simple rip to AAC ?

Technically, connecting a SuperDrive and ripping a music CD on an iPad would be very easy to implement.

-t

[Big Mac]

It's not that the hardware couldn't handle the task as in not having the processing capacity. It's that the design-the hardware and the software of the iPad-was never meant for that kind of peripheral expansion and related tasks. It's a limited computing device built to live in a walled garden and be supported by (I'll be harsh and say it) a real computer, whether Mac or Windows PC. It wasn't designed to be capable of all the functions a real computer is capable of.

Maybe one day Apple will expand the iPad's compatibility to make it more of a general computing device. Until that day comes, though, it's useless to pine away for a feature that doesn't exist and which we have no expectation of existing in the near or even long term. Printing, that was easy to foresee as a future feature. Less reliance on a host PC for set-up and backup, that was also easy to foresee. But having support for external optical drives to enable such things as CD ripping? That's a huge stretch with little appreciable payoff, especially when such a feature would openly conflict with Apple's own digital download ecosystem.