DoubleTwist: Nonconformity through Following
Posted on October 8th, 2009 by John at 22:59 | Be the First to CommentYou keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
DoubleTwist is a music library software application that was released two days ago on October 6th. Excited by an application that might surpass iTunes, I downloaded and installed it. It crashed the first time I tried to open it, but upon successfully launching it, I found that it is essentially a carbon copy of iTunes. It’s intended to serve as a front end for the Amazon MP3 music store, and support “hundreds of devices.” However, by “embracing choice,” DoubleTwist ostensibly means reverse engineering iTunes and adding support for more devices. DoubleTwist also copied Apple’s famous 1984 Mac ad, and as “tk421” puts it:
“Seems especially silly that they present themselves as the nonconformist choice, when in fact they just duplicate it. And how about that 1984-style commercial? An ad that depicts being unique that is a remake of another ad?”
I fully support the idea that individuals should be able to transfer their music to their device of choice. DoubleTwist claims to have support for many devices, and if it does work well with your device, fantastic. I also think competition is very important, and would greatly enjoy seeing a new application that gives iTunes a run for its money. However, Apple is not evil for writing software specifically for the hardware they make. iTunes is a free download, and Apple can hardly be expected to ensure compatibility with other companies devices when Apple does not make any money on those devices. Hardware makers should focus on creating their own quality syncing software, as opposed to expecting Apple to do it for them (such as Palm). I support competition, but making a carbon-copy of iTunes is not going to spur innovation or catalyze the development of better software.
