Audiobus: Use your music apps together.

What is Audiobus?Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.

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Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Devs to be allowed to offer alternative App Store payment options via email.

edited August 2021 in App Development

Seems gigantic if it's as straightforward as it looks.

"Apple has conceded ground in the battle over app payments, agreeing to allow app developers to email users about alternative ways to pay other than the in-app payment system where the tech giant takes a cut of every purchase.

The concession announced late on Thursday, which does not allow developers to alert customers within the app itself, is part of a preliminary settlement of a nearly two-year-old lawsuit filed on behalf of iPhone app developers in the US."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/27/apple-agrees-to-let-iphone-apps-email-users-about-payment-options?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

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Comments

  • Very big news, and about time too.

  • I agree, but the devil in me says hardware prices will have to be adjusted... also low quality sh!t producers, scammers will occupy the space mostly, while everyone will have to bare the consequences...

    Someone sue them already for ability to downgrade OS and app updates :)

  • @0tolerance4silence said:
    I agree, but the devil in me says hardware prices will have to be adjusted... also low quality sh!t producers, scammers will occupy the space mostly, while everyone will have to bare the consequences...

    Someone sue them already for ability to downgrade OS and app updates :)

    There are thieves everywhere, I mean, I take your point but the news here is pretty cool imo.

  • "No in-app alerts, only email": so Apple basically admits the current racket is not kosher, but wants to make it as difficult as possible for devs to offer alternatives because screw them (and also the users who Apple hopes get stuck because of the unnecessary technical obstacle). Nice company. 👏

  • Can you suggest another world-wide distribution and e-commerce system which is equally reliable and trusted ... for less than 15% charge of whatever product you sell ? o:)

  • @Telefunky said:
    Can you suggest another world-wide distribution and e-commerce system which is equally reliable and trusted ... for less than 15% charge of whatever product you sell ? o:)

    You can keep paying the toll, no one is forcing anyone to do anything. The good news is that those devs who want to make a different choice can do so. But, of course, you can keep paying the toll.

  • The question wasn’t about my personal payment preferences, but about existence of a comparable service for a lower fee. Anyone ? >:)

  • Distribution isn't really any issue, it's trivial.

    Payment systems are pretty easy now too. Pretty much everyone will use PayPal for example. Look at what Waves, NI, etc. do on the desktop.

    When I had a store page for Mac plugins, I mainly used PayPal but had an alternate option for people that hated PayPal. I had very few people use the alternate option.

    It took me a few hours to get the PayPal payment system linked into my website. It didn't cost me anywhere close to 15% and certainly not 30%.

    These are solved problems. Every major audio software company already has solutions in place.

  • Here’s a link to an analysis of Apple’s statements. The conclusion is that Apple change hardly anything here. Disclaimer: IANAL. ;)

  • It gives you the room to look really annoying to your customers.

    It maybe gives devs an arguing point when Apple throws their app off the store because they allow payments some other way.

    If it does provide any value, it's going to drive more apps to use a subscription model.

  • Yes, pretty grim response from Apple...I expect eventually they will be forced to let users decide if they can install apps from outside the store but it will probably be many years before that happens.

  • @NeonSilicon said:
    Distribution isn't really any issue, it's trivial.

    Payment systems are pretty easy now too. Pretty much everyone will use PayPal for example. Look at what Waves, NI, etc. do on the desktop.

    When I had a store page for Mac plugins, I mainly used PayPal but had an alternate option for people that hated PayPal. I had very few people use the alternate option.

    It took me a few hours to get the PayPal payment system linked into my website. It didn't cost me anywhere close to 15% and certainly not 30%.

    These are solved problems. Every major audio software company already has solutions in place.

    I don't trust PayPal and anyone who offers their products with only that option I will refuse to buy from them. Apple provides a trustworthy platform and that's valuable to me and millions of others.

  • @Carnbot said:
    Yes, pretty grim response from Apple...I expect eventually they will be forced to let users decide if they can install apps from outside the store but it will probably be many years before that happens.

    There's always Android for those with the desire to install unvetted software.

  • @NeonSilicon said:
    It gives you the room to look really annoying to your customers.

    It maybe gives devs an arguing point when Apple throws their app off the store because they allow payments some other way.

    If it does provide any value, it's going to drive more apps to use a subscription model.

    Subscriptions are a no go with me. I'll always look for an alternative instead.

  • @NeuM said:

    You can do it on iOS too if you jailbreak, but Apple users and developers should have their own choice here too imo. It causes more problems than it solves and leaves less choice.

    ..and with an iOS device you're already subscribing to Apple, because you can't buy software from anywhere else. It's a hidden subscription service.

  • @ashh said:

    @Telefunky said:
    Can you suggest another world-wide distribution and e-commerce system which is equally reliable and trusted ... for less than 15% charge of whatever product you sell ? o:)

    You can keep paying the toll, no one is forcing anyone to do anything. The good news is that those devs who want to make a different choice can do so. But, of course, you can keep paying the toll.

    Apple advocates. please buy 19 iPhones and every 60€ dongle you can, but please let the rest of us have a life. Thank u.

  • @tahiche said:

    @ashh said:

    @Telefunky said:
    Can you suggest another world-wide distribution and e-commerce system which is equally reliable and trusted ... for less than 15% charge of whatever product you sell ? o:)

    You can keep paying the toll, no one is forcing anyone to do anything. The good news is that those devs who want to make a different choice can do so. But, of course, you can keep paying the toll.

    Apple advocates. please buy 19 iPhones and every 60€ dongle you can, but please let the rest of us have a life. Thank u.

    Why buy an iPhone if you don't buy into their ecosystem? Would a person go to a McDonald's drive-thru and expect to buy a seafood dinner?

  • @NeuM said:

    @tahiche said:

    @ashh said:

    @Telefunky said:
    Can you suggest another world-wide distribution and e-commerce system which is equally reliable and trusted ... for less than 15% charge of whatever product you sell ? o:)

    You can keep paying the toll, no one is forcing anyone to do anything. The good news is that those devs who want to make a different choice can do so. But, of course, you can keep paying the toll.

    Apple advocates. please buy 19 iPhones and every 60€ dongle you can, but please let the rest of us have a life. Thank u.

    Why buy an iPhone if you don't buy into their ecosystem? Would a person go to a McDonald's drive-thru and expect to buy a seafood dinner?

    The alternatives being crap doesn't make what Apple does desirable. If Android weren't garbage, I'd use it.

  • I have about a squillion kindle books on my iPad it’s a bit of a pain having to buy them on Amazon’s site but it’s not the end of the world.

  • https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/06/apple-app-store-scams-fraud/

    In this report 2% of the top grossing apps in the Apple appstore are scams and what's worse is that Apple is profiting from these scams. Users get a false sense of security that the appstore protects them.

  • Some data from that article re: Google playstore vs Appstore. It seems that with "fleeceware scams" the Appstore is much worse.

    "Avast analyzed both the Apple and Google app stores in March, looking for fleeceware apps. The company found 134 in the App Store and 70 on the Play Store, with over a billion downloads, about half on Android and half on iOS, and revenue of $365 million on Apple and $38.5 million on Android. Most the victims were in the United States."

  • @NeuM said:

    @tahiche said:

    @ashh said:

    @Telefunky said:
    Can you suggest another world-wide distribution and e-commerce system which is equally reliable and trusted ... for less than 15% charge of whatever product you sell ? o:)

    You can keep paying the toll, no one is forcing anyone to do anything. The good news is that those devs who want to make a different choice can do so. But, of course, you can keep paying the toll.

    Apple advocates. please buy 19 iPhones and every 60€ dongle you can, but please let the rest of us have a life. Thank u.

    Why buy an iPhone if you don't buy into their ecosystem? Would a person go to a McDonald's drive-thru and expect to buy a seafood dinner?

    O would never buy an iPhone. I have an iPad among other reasons because, like @NeonSilicon says, there’s simply no alternatives. Owning a product from a company doesn’t mean you can’t/shouldn’t criticize that company. Quite the opposite, us consumers and clients are even more entitled to complain about that company’s policies.
    Everyone’s free to buy 60€ dongles, to accept a monopoly and embrace the fact you can’t even downgrade os version of your device when an update breaks functionality. Funny how these policies are against capitalist market rules and common sense.
    And most importantly, this lovely iOS music market is alive because there’s some wonderful devs who accept to work on weekends so you can spend another 1000$ on a new Apple decide to use the software they provide, when they can’t even make a living. IMO the current situation doesn’t make sense. If it doesn’t change, sooner or later this is gonna end and we’ll have 1000$ gadgets to play Fortnite.

  • “We are all just very small parts of someone else’s multi-billion dollar paycheck.”

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/27/investing/apple-ceo-tim-cook-shares-intl-hnk/index.html

  • wimwim
    edited August 2021

    @Sawiton said:
    “We are all just very small parts of someone else’s multi-billion dollar paycheck.”

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/27/investing/apple-ceo-tim-cook-shares-intl-hnk/index.html

    To be fair, there's another aspect to that. Hundreds of thousands (maybe many millions?) of people own Apple stock. Many more have retirement plans that own Apple stock. Sure it goes disproportionately to too few people, but those aren't the only ones who benefit.

    If you had $100 to invest in Apple's IPO, that would worth be $1.2 million today. If you invested $1,000 in March 2020, you'd have $2,100 a year ... enough profit to buy a new iPad. ;)

    (btw, the highest annualized return of 120% occurred March 2020 - March 2021. Cook isn't getting that (admittedly outrageous) for nothin'. Unlike the scores of CEOs who do get huge raises even when profits go down.

  • @tahiche the whole IT market is against capitalist market rules and common sense... ;)
    I‘m also pissed off by non-revocaple updates or free app version choice.
    (but I‘d simply jailbreak, if it would become an essential problem)

    There is a very bad experience Apple went through in the early 90s which almost ended in bancrupty.
    At that point in time Apple had exactly that policy you‘re longing for and the most happy customers in the world. Who just used their machines, and used them, and... revenues shrunk year after year. Apple learned from Microsoft, released OSX, prohibited MacOS boot, made hardware specific installers etc.
    Business with bananaware (ripes at the customer) flourished again.
    I‘m not their advocate, but rather the devil‘s o:)

  • @Telefunky said:
    The question wasn’t about my personal payment preferences, but about existence of a comparable service for a lower fee. Anyone ? >:)

    It doesn't matter what Apple want any more. They've had it, milked it and now it's gone. Time for the devs to reap the fruits of their labour.

    There will always be Apple fans who would rather see their trillion dollar company keep making money at, literally, any expense than see a fairer way for the people who put in work, the devs. Some turkeys will always love Christmas.

  • @wim said:

    @Sawiton said:
    “We are all just very small parts of someone else’s multi-billion dollar paycheck.”

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/27/investing/apple-ceo-tim-cook-shares-intl-hnk/index.html

    To be fair, there's another aspect to that. Hundreds of thousands (maybe many millions?) of people own Apple stock. Many more have retirement plans that own Apple stock. Sure it goes disproportionately to too few people, but those aren't the only ones who benefit.

    If you had $100 to invest in Apple's IPO, that would worth be $1.2 million today. If you invested $1,000 in March 2020, you'd have $2,100 a year ... enough profit to buy a new iPad. ;)

    (btw, the highest annualized return of 120% occurred March 2020 - March 2021. Cook isn't getting that (admittedly outrageous) for nothin'. Unlike the scores of CEOs who do get huge raises even when profits go down.

    Cook's performance as CEO has been phenomenal. Since I took over doing my own 401k, my returns have been nuts. It's all been made off of Apple and AMD. Bananas if you ask me, and I haven't even been all that good at paying attention to it.

    As far as the computer side of things go though, I'm worried that Apple is focusing more and more on the consumer electronics aspect of their devices and not looking at how incredible they could be if they would take some of the restrictions off. Too much of what they do now is aimed at trying to drive services revenue. It may turn out great for their bottom line, but it sucks for what I want out of their devices.

  • @Telefunky said:
    @tahiche the whole IT market is against capitalist market rules and common sense... ;)
    I‘m also pissed off by non-revocaple updates or free app version choice.
    (but I‘d simply jailbreak, if it would become an essential problem)

    There is a very bad experience Apple went through in the early 90s which almost ended in bancrupty.
    At that point in time Apple had exactly that policy you‘re longing for and the most happy customers in the world. Who just used their machines, and used them, and... revenues shrunk year after year. Apple learned from Microsoft, released OSX, prohibited MacOS boot, made hardware specific installers etc.
    Business with bananaware (ripes at the customer) flourished again.
    I‘m not their advocate, but rather the devil‘s o:)

    I lived through that period with Apple. I had to abandon using their machines entirely. It had nothing to do with them licensing their OS to other other manufacturers. It had to do with the fact that the OS sucked at that point. It was a bug ridden antiquated mess that had no memory protection. They still had the best UI, but the internals were pathetic.

    I did actually buy a couple of their laptops in around '96-'97 though for work. I ran Linux on them --- really nice machines.

  • edited August 2021

    Of course warping from 1990 to 2021 is a bit surreal.
    From todays pov you‘re absolutely correct, according to some hands-on experience with my OS-9 machine’s memory subsystem >:)
    (but it still does it‘s job, just an occasional glitch here or there)

    Anyway, I‘ve always voted for higher prices (a pro section within the app store) to achieve realistic revenues for developers who do a quality job... while (probably) many considering me a fan boy of whatever kind are waiting on the next sale. I don‘t mind, though...

  • @Telefunky said:
    Can you suggest another world-wide distribution and e-commerce system which is equally reliable and trusted ... for less than 15% charge of whatever product you sell ? o:)

    @tahiche said:

    @NeuM said:

    @tahiche said:

    @ashh said:

    @Telefunky said:
    Can you suggest another world-wide distribution and e-commerce system which is equally reliable and trusted ... for less than 15% charge of whatever product you sell ? o:)

    You can keep paying the toll, no one is forcing anyone to do anything. The good news is that those devs who want to make a different choice can do so. But, of course, you can keep paying the toll.

    Apple advocates. please buy 19 iPhones and every 60€ dongle you can, but please let the rest of us have a life. Thank u.

    Why buy an iPhone if you don't buy into their ecosystem? Would a person go to a McDonald's drive-thru and expect to buy a seafood dinner?

    O would never buy an iPhone. I have an iPad among other reasons because, like @NeonSilicon says, there’s simply no alternatives. Owning a product from a company doesn’t mean you can’t/shouldn’t criticize that company. Quite the opposite, us consumers and clients are even more entitled to complain about that company’s policies.
    Everyone’s free to buy 60€ dongles, to accept a monopoly and embrace the fact you can’t even downgrade os version of your device when an update breaks functionality. Funny how these policies are against capitalist market rules and common sense.
    And most importantly, this lovely iOS music market is alive because there’s some wonderful devs who accept to work on weekends so you can spend another 1000$ on a new Apple decide to use the software they provide, when they can’t even make a living. IMO the current situation doesn’t make sense. If it doesn’t change, sooner or later this is gonna end and we’ll have 1000$ gadgets to play Fortnite.

    👊 Well said mate

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