Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review
Simplify Music for iPhone fixes nasty demo mode
The very popular Simplify Music [App Store link] iPhone/iPod touch app has now given users the option as to whether or not they want to see the 'demo' library.At the end of last month the updated free desktop app and the iPhone app, $2.99US, were changed so that demo tracks were added to the list of user-provided music. The purpose was to provide some test music for new users that hadn't set the streaming up yet.
It was not really announced, or documented, and many users were unhappy to see the music tracks appear without their knowledge or consent. The app developers quickly added an on/off switch to the demo on the desktop version of the app, but had to submit a new iPhone version to the app store. That has been approved, and now the switch appears on the mobile app as well. The demo mode is now (happily) off by default.
I think the Simplify Media folks responded very quickly to something that provoked a lot of anger in the iPhone community, which was magnified by the popularity of the app. Once the controversy started, they were extremely transparent about how the change came about, and what the developers planned to do to correct it.
Check your app updates in iTunes to get the new version, which is 2.02.
All in all, a good model for how to deal with your customers (aside from the issue of having made the error in the first place).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jeff Garbers said 4:09PM on 5-15-2009
I scooted over to the App Store and purchased Simplify based on this article, and I'm pretty disappointed. I didn't expect to have to install a piece of software on every computer sharing music -- figured iTunes' native sharing should be enough. But more problematic is the fact that Simplify won't give you access to DRM-protected tracks, like all the ones I bought from the iTunes Store before DRM went away. Those restrictions were in the description of the product, but WAY far down and pretty easy to miss. Uninstalled quickly, and caveat emptor.
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iGO said 4:02PM on 5-15-2009
Since this upgrade to both the iPhone app and the Mac client, to the most current versions, my Simplify client or iPhone app are not seeing my entire iTunes Library. Absolutely nothing has changed except these upgrades.
Historically Simplify would acknowledge and see all 11731 songs in my iTunes Library. The Simplify iPhone app would see all 11731 iTunes songs. Since these upgrades, both only see 8791 songs.
Originally all under 10.5.6. and now after this weeks OSX upgrade, under 10.5.7.
Anyone else experiencing this?
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David Butler said 7:55PM on 5-15-2009
I wish I could use this app. I've paid for it. But I can't run the Mac-side client. It hangs on the license agreement screen. I also can't get support from them because the troubleshooting tool is contained within the application. And they haven't replied to my general request through their website.
This company is an epic fail.
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Paul Joyce said 9:16PM on 5-15-2009
David, we just searched under your name and for keywords like "license" and couldn't find your message. Yours is novel problem, so it is unlikely we can resolve it via blog comment, but there is one thing to check. Do you have a Simplify plist file? Go to user/Library/Preferences. You should see a series of com.apple preference files; look for com.simplifymedia.Manager.plist.
If you don't have the file, something about your system is blocking its creation. Perhaps it is a permission issue, but, since this is new for us, it is hard to say. Please use our contact us form and we will try to sort this out on Monday. We can certainly try sending you one to see if that helps.
If you do have the file, there is still a mystery around why the initial values are not being set, but please try entering these commands (one at a time) in a terminal window to see if that resolves the problem:
defaults write com.simplifymedia.Manager "Peer Location" "My Mac"
defaults write com.simplifymedia.Manager "Files Sharing" -int 1
This will bypass the license screen but you may get stuck again at a later stage. If so, please let us know.
disappointed said 11:47AM on 6-11-2009
I bet Dave's behind a proxy. SM doesn't work through proxies, and it doesn't fail well when it can't connect. They don't even know the failure behavior for the "novel" problem of being behind a proxy!?
No proxy support?! Is this 1988? Proxy support isn't a feature, it's been table stakes for over 15 years. You're already tunneling. Proxy support should be easy.
(I'm disappointed, if you couldn't tell.)
Johnny said 3:22PM on 5-16-2009
I've had nothing but great experiences with Simplify and their customer service. I'm sure there are even more improvements for the future. I just wish Apple would let it run in the background instead of the iPod app. Hopefully, Simplify can be one of those limited-background functionality apps I heard rumored for a future iPhone OS.
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robert said 3:09AM on 5-17-2009
I enjoy TUAW a great deal but I really wish you would give at least one sentence, etc about the item and what it does before launching into an update, follow-up story, etc.
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Jeff said 1:07AM on 5-26-2009
I spent a lot of research on this and the winner is www.freedur.com. It beats lame proxify.net site – I can open any site through freedur.
I watch Youtube videos at work ! They have a portable version – I put it on my USB stick. Nothing to install – just run it and it jsut works.
Super easy proxy solution for me.
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