On 11-09-18 10:55 AM, August Abolins -> Alan Zisman wrote:
 AA> Alan Zisman -> Ed Vance said..

 EV>>> "When a Ipad is first turned on there is a message on its
 AZ>> screen to EV> connect it to a computer (Mac or PC) before it
 AZ>> can be used..

 AZ>> Yep.... true.

 AZ>> I'm not sure why some people consider this an issue - other
 AZ>> than that a lot of people don't particularly care for iTunes
 AZ>> (especially on Windows). But it should be no surprise that
 AZ>> buying an Apple product means taking part in the Apple family
 AZ>> of products.

 AA> Here's why I consider it "an issue"...

 AA> Apple's approach limits iPads to people who already own computers. If I
 AA> wanted to gift my mom an iPad, she would need an addtional pc; this I
 AA> find is bad thing.

 AA> If iTunes was the main issue for Apple, then they could have provided a
 AA> cloud version accessible via the wi-fi or 3G for a situation that
 AA> requires it.

 AA> I would rather purchase a non-Apple tablet since I know it will perform
 AA> as a standalone product, yet marry nicely with a pc only if necessary.

It's really only needed to synch photos/music/videos/calendar/contacts w. a
main computer - and that's equally true of a non-Apple tablet... there's no
way to get music onto an Android or other tablet other than from a
computer. As I mentioned, if you don't need to do this, it is easily
ignored.

You can get apps directly onto an iPad, and - with the $30 camera
connection kit - get photos directly from a camera or memory card.

While iPads use iTunes to synch while Android tablets appear as drives on
the desktop, the actual usability difference is less than it might appear.

Moreover, the next iOS update is widely expected to provide more features
independent of the synch cable.

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