Wednesday, January 23, 2008

iTunes sucks, PC resources.

iTunes, is a media player from Apple. But I don't use it to play media. The only reason I've installed it is to access iTunes Store which provides many top pod cast links (not only US pod casts but Japanese ones when I've set it to the Japanese iTunes Store). It looks like iTunes Store is made up with HTML, and of course can be accessed with normal web browsers technically, Apple seems to forbid it. When I access their HTTP address with Internet Explorer, iTunes opens.

I don't blame Apple if they want it available exclusively for their application, I can use it. But the most annoying t hing is the background processes, which RUN WHEN I 'M NOT EVEN RUNNING iTunes, and are COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY! You see the screen capture? There are 4 iTunes related processes are running, even if when I'm running iTunes. I don't have iPod, iPhone or any other computers in my home. The first process, iTunesHelper.exe, seems like to help to launch iTunes faster. Well, it may not be completely unecessary for all users, but I don't want it since I only run iTunes once in a while. The second process, AppleMobileDeviceHelper.exe probably is related to iPhone, which I don't have. The third process, iPodService.exe is related to iPod, again which I don't have. The last process mDNSResponder.exe is for Bonjour Service. This service really sucks, because it somehow messes up with my internet connection, and I don't need it completely because I have only one PC at home.

OK, there are many types of users with different devices. Some people needs iPodService.exe. Do those Apple folks expect all of the iTunes users have iPod,iPhone and other computers at their home? Definitely not! Why don't they at least allow choose not to install those services? I tried to disable iPodService.exe, but next time I ran iTunes, it even changed my service configuration without my consent, and changed iPodService to start automatically. I tried to uninstall iPodService with SC command, then next time I ran iTunes, it 'repaired' the software, and reinstalled iPodService. I mean, come on... I know iPod and iTunes have many cool features, but some people prefer other players, but forces to use iTunes mostly because Apple monopolizes iTunes Store.