Video summary
The video serves as a direct response to comments questioning the accuracy of a previous statement regarding file restrictions on iPhones. The speaker clarifies that while Apple did lift certain download bans in 2019, allowing users to save MP3 and MP4 files directly, the core argument remains valid: for over a decade, from 2007 until 2019, Apple strictly controlled what users could download and install on their devices. This long-standing limitation reinforces the concept of the "walled garden," a system designed to lock down user experience and dictate functionality, proving that the speaker's original point about corporate control was never inaccurate despite minor changes in policy over the last seven years.
To illustrate the severity of these historical restrictions, the narrator recounts personal experiences from the early days of the iPhone when transferring music was nearly impossible without a computer running iTunes. The speaker describes attempting to help users on Linux systems by hosting MP3s on a web server, only to discover that the device would not allow direct downloads or simple drag-and-drop transfers via USB. In an effort to bypass these barriers, the narrator even tried renaming MP3 files with a .txt extension to trick the system, but this method failed because early iOS versions prevented users from changing file extensions. Furthermore, attempting to load these files directly in the browser caused the device to freeze and force a reboot, highlighting how deeply restricted the ecosystem was at the time.
The speaker concludes by addressing critics who claimed they did not know what they were talking about, firmly stating that those individuals were incorrect because the original assertions were 100% right for the majority of the iPhone's history. The admission that restrictions have been lifted recently is attributed to a lack of personal ownership of an iPhone and an inability to keep up with every software update, rather than any error in judgment or misinformation. Ultimately, the video reinforces the idea that Apple's "walled garden" exists specifically because the company maintains tight control over user actions, effectively managing aspects of daily life for anyone who chooses to use their devices.
Read the full video transcript
This is a quick follow-up slashresponse
to some comments on the video I posted
yesterday where I was talking about how
on an iPhone you can't download things
like MP3 files and MP4 files. And there
were a couple of comments on there
stating that I don't know what I'm
talking about. That that's user error.
Well, you know what? I looked it up and
I even said in the video, I don't know
if that's still the case, but from 2007
to 2019, you couldn't. They lifted those
restrictions in 2019. But my point still
stands. For over a decade, they told you
what you could and couldn't download.
And my argument that they still control
what you do on an iPhone still stands.
It's called the walled garden for a
reason. There are limits on what you can
do. I know for a long time you couldn't
install game emulators on iPhone. I
think you can now, but I don't have an
iPhone. I don't keep up on it. So,
nothing I said in that video was untrue
or inaccurate. I even said in the video,
I don't know if that's still the case.
And to let me know. So, the one or two
people who said that I was wrong and
didn't know what I was talking about and
that I shouldn't be talking with
confidence like this, you're wrong. you
were wrong for thinking that I was wrong
because I was 100% right. And I can tell
you when the iPhone first came out, the
only way to get music on there was
through iTunes on your computer because
I remember trying to help people who
didn't have Windows. I had people who
had switched to Linux and their big
drawback was that they had an iPhone and
they couldn't get music on it. And I
tried I put MP3s on a web server. I
thought for sure. Well, first I thought
for sure you just hook this thing up
through USB, you can drag and drop files
to it, but you couldn't. And then I'm
like, "Oh, I'll just put the MP3 on my
web server and you can download it that
way. It would let you stream it but not
download it." And then what I tried was
I took an MP3 file and I named it .txt.
So I thought I can download a text file.
I'll just download this and rename it.
So first of all, at least back then they
didn't let you rename the extensions of
files. I don't know if that's still the
case, but I couldn't even rename the
extension of a file. But what happened
was with these earlier iPhones, when you
clicked on that MP3, the web browser
tried to load it as a text file and it
actually would lock up and cause the
phone to reboot. So I used to actually
send MP3s or I'd go to the Apple store
and click on my link on a bunch of their
phones and they would lock up for a
couple minutes and then force restart.
So yeah, no, I was 100% right in what I
said. The only thing was that I wasn't
sure if that was still the case. And
it's not and it hasn't been for about
seven years. Not my fault. I don't have
an iPhone. I don't keep up on that. And
when I try to send people files and they
have trouble downloading them, I just
assumed it was the same issue as before.
So yeah, it is called the wall garden
for a reason because it's locked down
because they control you and your life
if you use these devices.