A few days ago I plugged in my phone to the USB to charge it. Charging my phone causes two programs to start running; photo import and iTunes. This time charging my phone also resulted in Apple downloading yet another software update. Which demands yet another reboot.

And now two days later my .mp3 and .mov files are suddenly playing in Apple’s software again. Despite my deliberately configuring my computer to use other applications and explicitly telling iTunes not to steal my file associations. Each new iTunes update I have to go back to Preferences / Advanced and uncheck “Use iTunes as the default player for audio files” again. Of course by then it’s too late, the damage has been done.

This behaviour is beyond a simple bug; I think it’s Apple’s deliberate unfair competition. Apple pushes the 1.1.2 iPhone update to prevent people from unlocking the phone, to protect their artificial monopoly. And as part of that meaningless upgrade they also “accidentally” enforce other artificial monopolies on video and audio.

I don’t want to use the Quicktime player. It artifically refuses to play videos full screen unless I pay Apple, so I use VLC. I don’t want to buy music from iTunes. I want to use WinAmp and buy my music from Amazon. And yet because I own an iPhone, every few weeks Apple’s hostile software forces me into their products. It’s wrong.