Quicktime Sucks. Seriously.
UPDATE: Three years later and this remains the most-visited page on my weblog. I'm #1 on the google search "Quicktime sucks". Yay, me. And I can't believe you typed that in a search bar. Of course Quicktime sucks. It sucked in 1991, it sucked three years ago, and I suspect that our great-grandchildren will still bitch about how much it sucks when we are long gone. Go download Quicktime Alternative, uninstall quicktime, and end your woes. And read on below, and don't forget to check the comments. I survived an attack by rabid mac fans. There were some nice ones, too.
UPDATE: Wow. Over
UPDATE2: Paul Thurrott, a man with whom I disagree almost 100% of the time and who doesn't allow comments on his blog (which is his right, but I am sure many internet users share my disappointment in not being able to share our laughter with the man), just picked up on this post. I don't particularly like the way he presents it (I feel he skimmed the post superficially and quotes out of context), but he is correct in that the initial post was somewhat of a rant. I've modified the tone somewhat (that should teach me to take a deep breath before blogging) but seeing how many Mac users chimed in to convey their annoyance about the following QT marketing tricks I don't think it's a rant about nothing.
THE POST: Anyhow, recently I've had to install Apple's QuickTime player on a couple of corporate workstations. Now for the mac crowd: about the only reason a windows user ever installs quicktime player in my experience is so he can play .mov files or open a QTVR. So I'm guessing all we're really after is the Sorensen codec, or whatever is used to encode these things nowadays. Now here are my experiences, and the reasons I hate quicktime:
- When you download it they try to force iTunes on you. Yes, there is (somewhere at the bottom of the page) a standalone player download. You and I both know that no 'novice user' is ever going to find that link; they are going to click the big shiny button 'get quicktime now'. And don't get me wrong; I love iTunes. I use it exclusively to manage my MP3 collection. I just don't see why it should be forced down my throat when I want to install Quicktime. It reeks of Microsoft marketing tactics.
- The interface breaks the windows GUI paradigm. Yes, it is a sucky paradigm. But breaking it sucks worse. iTunes sucks for much the same reason. So does Winamp. And RealPlayer (at least it used to, I haven't had it on any system for a loooong time), and about every DVD player I can think of. Please, stick to the standard, or follow the current theme. I know it looks butt-ugly (hell, I make fun of it on this very site. Well, that and the WebOS bubble). But at least it'll look CONSISTENTLY butt-ugly. A snarky anonymous commenter remarked that me with my webos-ha-ha webpage should be the last to complain about a non-standard interface and I am properly chastised.
- To view a movie full-screen, you need to pay for the 'pro' version. WTF? I can see why a business would want to make a distinction between 'pro' and 'free' but FULL SCREEN VIEWING? Does Apple really believe that will make me want to buy the pro version? What it does is make me dislike this codec/player/architecture/whatever that unlike EVERY OTHER PLAYER doesn't let me and you enjoy full-screen viewing without having to pay for that 'priviledge'. I guess I feel that sort of thing goes under 'basic functionality'. A commenter says that iTunes does allow you to play movies fullscreen which makes me wonder why they crippled the player at all?
- To save a movie (from the web) you need to pay for the 'pro' version. Now that is just anal. Especially since you can view the web page source, extract the url of the .mov and download the movie that way. Or just fish it out of your browser cache. If you want to offer incentives to 'go pro' at least offer some proper incentives and not this bullshit. It seems childish.
- Quicktime INSISTS on installing itself in my taskbar. Putting icons in my taskbar without asking explicit permission is a surefire way to piss me off. Because that means there is a program running even when I'm not actually using quicktime. And just maybe I would like to decide where my CPU cycles and RAM go myself? Yes, I know it's easy to turn off. The point is it should not be on by default.
- Starting up quicktime (initially) takes quite a while even on a powerful system. I expect this has to do with the fact that it uses its own window/viewport code. It's stupid, and makes me hate it even more. Nothing says 'suck' like your expensive system being slow at a task.
Thank you for letting me rant, I feel much better now. And in the end it was good for something, I found the wonderful 'Quicktime Alternative':
QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt and other extensions) without having to install the official QuickTime Player. It also supports QuickTime content that is embedded in webpages. As a bonus, Internet Explorer will play all QuickTime movies that are embedded in a webpage. You do need a media player that is capable of playing QuickTime files. The included Media Player Classic supports it and works very well. The QuickTime Browser plugin supports Internet Explorer, Opera, Netscape and Mozilla. The QuickTime plugins include iPIX and QuickTimeVR.And I removed every single quicktime install and replaced it with this. It lets me play QuickTime fullscreen without nagging about 'pro' versions. It doesn't break Window's GUI paradigm. It doesn't make my expensive system feel like a pentium 233 MMX. It doesn't try to install other crap that I might not want to install. It Just Works (tm). From the same site you can also download RealPlayer Alternative, which frees you from the annoyance that is Real.
A solution? Make the only difference between 'pro' and 'free' the movie editing stuff. I'm guessing that's more or less why people buy QT pro anyway. Or is there some special functionality I'm missing?
Tagged quicktime, apple, windows, GUI, interface
87 reacties:
You get what you pay for, dude. QT's free, so what are you bitching about?
Yeah but he is saying that compared with other free players with quicktime-codec. Not being able to see quicktime-content fullscreen while surfing is annoying and an option for playlist-viewing would also be nice (now with itunes&video you can do both though)... Also the no-save-option in the free player is a strange decision...
I think your complaints are warranted. They're the kind of things people complain about with MS products. QT is extremely slow to load. As an altervative, VLC works very well.
As a SysAdmin, I agree with everything you say! As a Mac user, I also understand how annoying it is for an app to break the GUI look and feel. As a SysAdmin and an Apple developer, I've lobbied Apple consistently at WWDC to allow full-screen by default (we use VLC on our macs for viewing our online training videos, because it does full screen - there's no way we're paying for 6,000+ copies of QTPro just for fullscreen).
As someone who is surfing your site from a Mac, I was annoyed when I got a pop-up (yeah, I had blocking temporarily turned off, my bank uses them legitimately and I'd just sopped in there). The stupid thing is, the popup looked like a Windows warning telling me I needed to repair my registry (WTF!?!) That combined with the fact that your website makes my browsing experience feel like I'm on a PC with that stupid window border was enough to make me kiss my mac (Eeww, time to dust it again...).
All that being said, I'll bet you'll get more flames for your site than for your sentiments.
Hey dude,
Firstly I agree that the no full screen thing is ridiculous to put in the pro version.
Having said that, Quicktime is not "a codec." Quicktime architecture offers a library of codecs, both audio and video and an extensible architecture that can be added to through plugins.
Just a few codecs that Quicktime comes with standard:
MPEG-1
MPEG-4
H.264
3GPP & 3GPP2
AAC
JPEG
And dozens more…
David
What's worse is your website. 20 sec. to load -oh, and thanks for the ugly popup.
Re: Quicktime, imho, the problem is your ability to read. If you don't like QT, fine. Use something else -but YOUR rationale is rather anal.
Well, when I say codec; I mean something that allows you to play .mov files so most of the time that would be Sorensen (I'm not sure, I'm a sysadmin not a multimedia expert) codec. Most of the other codecs you mention are all covered by the various other codecs windows users tend to have installed by default.
As for the guy that got a popup: ??? Are you sure that is from my blogger site? I LOATHE popups and blogger has no history of popups, and I use no advertising. To be sure I disabled my firefox adblock and loaded the page in a vanilla IE but I saw no popups?!?
And as for all the complaints about my site: I am not forcing you to browse it. It's a lame joke about WebOS that got out of hand. It loads slowly, it looks like windows crap, I know all that. Bite me.
I'm a total Mac fanboy and Mac SysAdmin and I agree with everything you said. Maybe I would have said it differently - but I also like to drink Worcestershire Sauce straight out of the bottle...
There a numerous Mac Users who agree with you.
Site looks fine. if people can only attack that, it means you have a pretty strong argument.
Rock on!
daddydoodaa
I'm in the same boat as daddydoodaa -- I'm a total Mac-head (have been for the past 10 years). While I *love* the QuickTime's technology and flexibility (so far ahead of Windblows Mediocre Player and Fake Player), I *hate* the "Upgrade to pro" nagging and trickery you speak of. And if I was a Windoze user, I'd hate the automatic installation of the taskbar icon also.
So... I wouldn't say that QuickTime as a whole sucks, but rather the nagging and trickery employed to attempt to siphon another $30 out of every QuickTime user is quite annoying.
- markflo
QT is NOT a Codec
Thanks to the ano. poster for identifying the source of the popups; they've been removed. Stupid stat counter.
Although I agree with you about the limitations of Quicktime Player (they exist on the Mac too and when they first started the bitching was quite loud...we have all just gotten used to it) I think that the most common use of quicktime now is iTunes and not viewing a movie here or there.
As it turns out, iTunes _does_ allow you to play full screen movies without paying. In addition, iTunes allows you to organize the movies you download. It still doesn't address all of the things that you mentioned but it is another alternative.
I am a complete mac fan since 1984 and I do have QT pro, but I also hate this kind of marketing, which is spreading more and more all over. Apple should avoid it. It is really ugly!!
Here's a clue: When you mac-bash and even Paul Thurrott disagrees with you, you must be really, really wrong.
You should probably clarify that your complaint is about Apple's QuickTime Player. QuickTime the multimedia architecture is a lot more than just the sucky Player app, and is installed with every Windows copy of iTunes.
Your statement "...about the only reason a windows user ever installs quicktime in my experience is so he can play .mov files or open a QTVR" is incorrect--they also need it to play AAC .m4p music downloads from the iTunes Music Store. I think you mean "...ever installs QuickTime Player..."
Thanks for the rant! Plenty of Mac veterans like myself hate the Player too.
Good point. And w00t! Paul Thurrott disagrees with me! That's as good as an internet blessing :P
Very good points about QuickTime.
At the risk of flaming, though, Windows Interface Standards? Do such things exist? I suppose they do--I think there are at least three, last I counted. The old QuickTime player conformed quite nicely to MDI, but everybody complained.
In Apple's defense, QuickTime Pro should probably be rechristened QuickTime Player Pro--and this is one thing I like about how Apple deals with QuickTime. QuickTime is QuickTime and no features are missing if you don't pay for the "Pro" version. You can still play full-screen video, you can still save movies via the internet, etc. etc. It's just that their foofy player won't let you. While it's silly and arbitrary, I agree, there are other solutions. You found one of them. Or are you the kind of Apple Fanboi who has to have an Apple logo on every application you run? ;^)
As for installation, I can feel your pain. But, as a developer, it's sometimes tricky to know what to do about installation. On the Mac side, I know companies that go crazy with aliases ("Shortcuts", in Windows parlance) throwing them on your desktop, into your dock, into your home folder, and anywhere else you'll hopefully notice them. I install my application into the applications folder and I still get calls from people saying, "I just installed your application. Now what?" I've learned, therefore, to be a bit forgiving of companies that strew links all over the place. While I don't know how the Windows world works, I assume this is a similar problem.
Trust me, if you want to complain about QuickTime, find out when they're going to support transformation matrices for TIFF-based CMYK images! I've been waiting since QuickTime 5 for that one...
Some fairly legitimate complaints about Quicktime, but what the hell is the deal with your webpage? An embedded fake window? Geez...I think you have no room to complain about consistency...
It's a joke. WebOS, ha, ha. Geddit? Naw, I don't either. It was funny at the time, though. I guess you should've been there.
you do have some good points (and it is refreshing to read writings from a windows user with constructive, thoughtful criticism... let's hope the hardcore mac faithful (and i am one of them) replies in kind.)
that being said, i wonder how many of the problems you're having regarding sluggishness (not the interface/marketing issues) relate to quicktime player's having to make its own calls to the quicktime code rather than the code being accesible through windows itself. this is the reason that quicktime movies that you make for embedding into powerpoint presentations on the pc can't use sorenson (or for that matter, any codec included after quicktime for windows 2.1.2.) since microsoft won't license and include quicktime into the OS, *every* application has to make its own calls to quicktime. subsequently, when new features/codecs are included in quicktime, *every* application has to be rewritten to take advantage of them. otherwise, they're only able to access the old features. and microsoft won't add any new quicktime functionalilty into powerpoint on the pc, so you have to use something nasty like cinepak to compress.
some might argue, "why should microsoft include quicktime into the OS?" because it's a superior media technology, that's why. apple had no qualms about licensing and including pdf at the OS level, and so any developer has printing to pdf capabilities in their mac software automatically. but gates can't abide with anything he can't control (and i'm not saying that jobs doesn't have these same tendencies, but gates has such a long and storied history of subverting better technology and universally recognized technological *standards* to maintain his position to the detriment of everyone else.)
so at the end of the day, can any of us really fight either behemoth? not really. all you can do is look at all the options and decide which will stay out of your way more and let you accomplish your work the easiest. and for me that's a clear victory for the mac... twelve years of video editing and constant internet access with nary a virus, malware or spyware in sight. my only two days of downtime were when i had installed a video card and had not pushed it hard enough to seat it properly (hey, i was a relative novice at that point and i was afraid i'd break the damn thing.)
this is my first visit to your site, so i'm not familiar with you or your writing, but you sound very open-minded and willing to experimentation. give OS X and the mac a shot... an honest one to two month side-by-side comparison and see what you think. you might be surprised and how much you enjoy it.
have fun and be safe,
monkeythepig
Just notable that Apple is the only one of the Big Three supporting the open standard MPEG-4 AVC codec. And Apple supports it as the QuickTime default. That, on it's own, is enough for me. QuickTime is heads and shoulders above Real and Windows Media, whose only real purposes are to force a corporate agenda of proprietary codecs. Oh, adn by the way, buy a real computer.
Now, if you saw how lame WMP is on a Mac, then you would really be bitching about it. And Microsoft doesn't even offer its equivalent of its WMP on the Mac, at least you have the option of getting the Pro version of QT.
The rant about the link to a stand alone player is misplaced, as all the major media players try to hide the link to their free version. I once supported a site for a client that had Real audio, and most of the support questions had to do with finding the free version.
At least the QuickTime Player is consistant between the platforms.
OK for the record: I am a corporate sysadmin. That means the workstations run windows 2000/XP. The backend servers run a mix of 2003 server and various linux distro's on the fringes. Mostly Debian, though. At home I run exclusively on linux save for my corporate notebook which run XP. Because it has to, by virtue of corporate policy. The windows part is my job. Running windows is the bread and butter of the global corporate/enterprise culture. I make my money with it, and I'm pretty damn good at it. I am responsible for the day-to-day operation of the European IT. The linux part is for fun. Because I can. Because the command line is where the men get seperated from the boys. If you can't appreciate a good CLI, fine. To each his own. But I've found the WIMP metaphor breaks down when you get to the really complex stuff.
So please don't assume I'm some hard-core windows user/fan. And from some of the comments I infer Mac users have just as large a subgroup of annoying idiots as any group of humans.
As an Apple customer since forever, I must say that what you said about QuickTime needed to be said. The Pro is easy money for Apple, but it is not worth the price any more.
I hate anything that (a) installs itself in a taskbar/dock/desktop [alias] automatically. I should decide what goes where and when and if. That is a small point, I guess. But you are spot on when it comes to the download, and full screen mode. It's time for QuickTime to be free, particularly as it is needed to support the iTunes family from which Apple derives revenue; more so particularly because open source and donationware apps do more and better seamlessly. The Save feature I guess is for edits, because as you correctly pointed out, you can download the movie by other means. If Save for unedited movie files is hobbled in non-Pro versions, then that would be ludicrous. Perhaps Apple needs the revenue for its free content (trailers, enterprise events, etc.). So thank you for the criticism on behalf of people like me; I can only hope the debate continues elsewhere.
I think this could be a situation where Apple was caught napping because of the enterprise concentration on other aspects of their business. It's time for Steve to turn a critical eye towards this baby, and make some changes. When I find QT unable to play something, I merely shrug and let another app handle it. Why another app can easily handle what QT Pro can't (usually a codec issue*) doesn't take up any of my brain-time. I've accepted (unthinkingly) that this will always be the case. It shouldn't be the case IMHO. No matter how intense the OS wars becomes, Apple shouldn't be above criticism.
*One problem with codec issues has to do with copyright. An enterprise like Apple is an easy litigation target, unlike, say, a donation-ware app.
BTW, please put a margin inside your frame if you use sucky frames.
BTW2, I have to manually abort one of your javascripts that seems to get stuck in a loop every time I post or load the page. When it comes to web pages, less is more.
Margins/Frames: This page uses NO frames.
Javascript: I don't see one running wild on five browsers across 2 OSes; which browser/OS combo are you on, and do you know which script?
'Snot my problem to diagnose this; must be one of the four blogger.com scripts: /js/__utm.js, app/scripts/formcheck.js, app/scripts/dom.common.js, app/scripts/comments.common.js -- so I guess it's not your problem either. Anyway, I'm killing the cookie ;-)
I guess I'm the only person in the world who liked the egOS joke of this page...
My big complaint about Quicktime is that Apple will not release it as a DirectShow filter so that it can use the hardware accelleration of the graphics drivers of DirectX. Maybe Quicktime uses something else, and my videocard is just lame, but whatever its doing, its the only player that sucks down my CPU exclusively to do the video playing...everybody else can offload some of the work to the GPU.
At the very least you're the second person to like that joke ;)
Yeah, a DirectShow filter would take away most of my issues.
As I use MPlayer almost exclusively on linux (it plays almost everything, including severely broken files) I was happy to find this win32 port of the current version. The GUI is nonexistent, but it plays everything (including QT) and there are GUI addons if you really want one (see the same page). As an added bonus you will get mencoder which is one of the most flexible encoders out there; most of my dvdrips are done using that.
FLAME ON!!!
Holy cow dude, this sure did light up the old hit counter, eh? Guess I shouldn't have headed off to Amsterdam for the weekend and stayed home to read your blog! Good thing I checked when I got home today...
I'm not gonna comment on mac, PC, linux, or any other OS as I really don't care. Whatever allows me to play my 1st person shooter games and kill the evil AI of the world...
Yeah, amazing how people can get so worked up over so little. It was fun to watch though. And out of the flames some diamonds came, so I am not too disappointed in the state of the human race ;)
And here I was thinking the whole OS war nonsense was past us, and that everybody had found his little niche. Oh well.
The OS wars will never be over Macs will never be defeated..........windows sucks windows users suck too. Trouble with Windows users is they can't get over it that anyone like Unix and Mac people don't and won't take their guff. Windows users are again departing that hellhole Microsoft made with their latest foolishness titled XP. In droves. Buying Macs. Nice.
1995 called; they want their cluelessness back.
Trolls like you give mac users a bad name.
windoze works for most people and most people do not know how to turn ofgf Quicktime from starting up in their toolbar every time they start their computer.
Hmm.
You have stirred up a hornets nest here.
As a Mac fan I must grudingly admit you have a valid point.
I don't even bother with Quicktime Player mostly, even on my Mac!
I use MPlayer from the command line.
It is cross platform and supports most codecs, and it is COMMAND LINE, so no problems with interface ugliness. ;-)
All that you note is true, and I never liked those aspects.
But there are bigger reasons why Quicktime Sucks.
I have paid for the pro version and I marvel that they never deal with these issues.
1. Drag and drop appends a file. In windows? Most users are used to opening a file in this way.
So you open a file and want to trim it, but you find later that two other files are prefixed to it.
Courtesy and user-friendly might think of something like this:
"What do you want to do with this file?
= open in a new player window
= open in current window
= append to current file
= don't ask me this again.
2. You trim a file and save it.
when you go to close it asks if you want to save the changes? O...K... just did, but just to be safe... save the changes.
Your file is now useless. There is no way to get it back, so long precious memories.
THAT is why it sucks.
Thanks for the constructive comment Nikopol :)
Since you can only do what you describe with the pro version I never bumped into that. I know exactly what you are talking about though, I seen some of my Mac friends struggle with exactly the behaviour you describe.
Quoting anonymos XX:
Your statement "...about the only reason a windows user ever installs quicktime in my experience is so he can play .mov files or open a QTVR" is incorrect--they also need it to play AAC .m4p music downloads from the iTunes Music Store. I think you mean "...ever installs QuickTime Player..."
AAC .mp4 !!?? Is that what you get at the Itunes music store? That has to be the best reason yet NOT to install quicktime. If I may be excused the pun, that is really LAME.
I want my MP3!
Thank god for quicktime alternative. Just like all Mac products. Too expensive and no umpf for the price. Oh by the way iPod sucks ass too. I bought one and it broke in a year. I'm a convinced iRiver fan now:p
I found this site by searching "why QuickTime sucks" and my friend it annoys you for the same reasons it annoys me. Thanks for the links.
I love my ipod and my itunes. My friend found this great guitar solo yesterday and I went over to his house to copy it.. instead wonderful itunes deleted ALL my songs (over 300) and replaced it with his whopping collection of 24 mp3s. I love having complete control of my $400 mp3 player. Thank you Apple!
What I hate about QT is the freaking hijacking of the IE browser each time I listen to music online. Even tho I change the MIME settings nuffin happens it still keeps track. Help anyone?
to the prev. anon poster:
1) uninstall quicktime
2) install quicktime alternative:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm
3) enjoy.
Just like another poster earlier, I searched for "quicktime sucks" on Google and reached this page. I was comparing how quick as a breeze and troublefree Quicktime Alternative is with Apple's native version. For example, QT Alt's installer is 9MB while Apple's QT is 18MB. LOL!!! You know what that means.. Bloat. I was thinking, why don't they just release a plugin, a decoder only? Like even Micro$oft do with WMV/WMA?
Agree with the system tray icon also, cannot stand that. I cannot stand how terrible Quicktime looks on a Windows system. It's also very sluggish to start up, and has a noisy, unintuitive interface.
It's rarely enough that I need to play a .mov anyway, but at least I have QT Alt when I do need to. Thanks for writing this blog up, it's still giving people a place to discuss how they think "Quicktime sucks".. And it DOES!
I'm a Windows user, long time MAC admirer, and have enjoyed iTunes for years. QuickTime nearly killed iTunes for me. QuickTime renders my video system unstable. Just trying to browse the iTunes store results in my video becoming so unstable that I have to do a forced power down just to recover my laptop.
Admittedly, my setup is somewhat peculiar. I use a fabulous little program called MaxiVista to give me 6 screens of desktop real estate from my laptop (dual core Fujitsu Tablet 2 2GB RAM). I run a lot of graphic software on this platform: Mathematica, SwissProtDB (molecular rotations), Adobe Premier Pro, WinDVD, PowerDVD, Photoshop, Illustrator, all the Office apps, Netscape, Firefox, IE, Divx, Virtual Dub, Google Earth. ONLY QUICKTIME KILLS IT. I have never encountered such a poorly behaved application, even from the frequently reviled Microsoft.
My problem has been FIXED(!) by uninstalling QuickTime, and installing QuickTime Alternative. Even iTunes now works properly.
Hmmm, how can I send some money to the nice folks who wrote Quicktime Alternative? It’s a delight to see shareware that delivers so much, for nothing!
Steve Shafer
http://www.fantasticangels.com
I hate Quicktime too.
You could try this link though. It's called VLC media player and it plays everything. But the only thing I noticed is that it spawns a new session every time to open a video link somewhere.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
http://www.fantasticangels.com
Why didn't you talk about how when you install QT (atleast for me) it makes all flash not work and shows a little QT error picture instead of the flash content? I find this very annoying since I have to find out how to tell firefox that quicktime is fucking gone now and it can use the proper fucking programs to run flash apps now.
FUCK QT
Absolutely agree with Michiel!
One more thing I noticed. QT has a "High Quality" setting which is available in PRO version only (!!!). Without it every high quality movie will be downscaled!
QT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Absolutely agree!
I agree. QuickTime sucks. I try to view the Apple HD movies from their website, I click on a link, and the whole stupid movie tries to load before the player even shows up. How about loading the player first, and then the movie!? Stupid!
I bought a box with vista recently...(vista sux) and i reformatted it with xp.. wheni put quicktime on the machine (and placed a key in there for the pro version) it worked fine.. but then something weird happened and quicktime wouldnt play.. it woudlnt uninstall.. it made illustrator cs3 bomb... so i manually uninstalled it and placed the quicktime alternative on my system and i coudlnt be happier... everything is copacetic now.. and i am not annoyed by the stupid, persistant quicktime trying to put more software on my machine and showing up in the taskbar...
and therefore I concur that quicktime SUCKS
Quicktime seriously SUXS!
I have not used QT for a long time and got used to the habit of just skipping QT content untill VLC came along. Last week I had to view something that came with an application and needed to install QT and thought why not try it again and see if it has improved... eeeek mistake. Al my file associations srewed up and was not able to prevent QT from playing media files in my browsers even when turning them off in QT and making WMP pick them up.
And about "QT's free, so what are you bitching about?" .. it shouldn't be free !! I should be charging Jobs $10 everytime I have to use his filth.
Quicktime is the devil! Someone should be kicked in the nuts for making it.
Yes it certainly sucks!!!!!!
VLC all the way - Why on earth wouldnt QT allow full screen as standard - madness and backwards! But then I have to confess I do think as pretty as mac stuff is, spec wise its usually a year or two behind so maybe in 2 years we will get full screen by default, lol!
I TOTALLY agree that SLOWtime sucks badly. I promise the world to rid PCs of it every time I come across it. It robs CPU, memory, $ (by being so unproductive,) and most of all, on windows after being freshly installed, I get security warning from Apple the next day or so saying that security flaws exist and that updates are needed. I know some people swear by apple, but I just think the system was built around stupidity and I also think they have taken too much of my time (Apple that is...)
Poke 2049,1
Well I think most of us agree the QT Player sucks, but there's nothing majorly wrong the the codecs/QT wrapper. Unless you have my system, in which case you can't do anything while using iTunes - any graphical activity, like loading a webpage, causes major stuttering. Yes I know it's my cheap motherboard, I know I need to move my soundcard to a different slot (but can't), however no format gives me these problems other than QT, even in "safe mode".
And regarding QuickTimeAlternative, the install procedure was painful, installng iTunes and QT then QTA over the top, every time there was an iTunes update, but I just found this procedure, which you may find useful.
I'd also be annoyed at the fact that QT installs FIVE plugins in firefox, but it's actually a blessing, cos it means I can disable four of them and avoid some of the slowdown - I've never found much need to open PICT files in the browser, for example.
All in all, my experience of QT on Windows sucks, seriously.
I'm an avid mac os X user and believe it is completely superior to Windows.
However, I cannot agree more about quicktime. It is terrible.
i might get toally slappt to death here but
i like windows
and even worse i like vista ain,t a bad boy now?
don,t i suck totally
dammit what does it matter which os you are using :/? if you fighting about something like that you are no better then a child
so grow up and let people decide for themself
and yes quicktime is annoying -_-
My name is Nate. I've always been a fan of movie trailers. For some reason unknown to me, most movie trailers that I find online are quicktime .mov's. I've been forced to use this quicktime nonsense for years. I have two major problems with it: First, I don't understand why .mov can only be played in quicktime, while quicktime can play everything else(usually horribly). Second, quicktime wouldn't be so bad if it would just RUN DECENTLY. I get it, it's the flagship Mac media player. I've seen it on a mac, and it runs just fine. Macs are using Intel chips now so why does my quicktime still struggle to play a high def movie that VLC(which is completely FREE) has no trouble with? On two screens?!? FOR FREE?!? WTF?!? Great article, btw.
I'd like to submit another reason why Quicktime sucks (in windows):
Every time their "updater" program automatically downloads and installs a version update (and they come out ALL THE TIME), quicktime STEALS all the file associations from other programs. This is more aggravating to me then all the other (valid) complaints I've seen so far....
Agreed. QuickTime sucks ass for all the reasons originally listed, then some. It's some piss poor attempt at selling you something you don't need. Who gives a rats if its free? Free is a mutually independent concept to something sucking really bad. I simply refuse to use it.
Like many mugs, I was forced to install Quicktime recently to use iTunes. Now Quicktime has stolen file associations such as .mpeg, but pretends it hasn't. You try editing the file associations and MIME types in QuickTime and it says they are still with Windows Media Player. But, hey, in IE mpeg videos still play with Quicktime. How very, very annoying.
Michiel is right. Quicktime is utter shit and their business tactics are a serious joke. All people who like mac, I seriously do not understand why. I'm not an enemy of mac but quicktime is a pile of crap. End of. Flame me bitches 'cos i aint comin' back!
Quicktime is a talentless turd that like everything Apple produces only survives because of inept users in marketing and graphics departments. Apple would have done the planet a favor by going tits-up and chaining the doors closed in the 80's when they were having to cut deals with Microsoft to stay alive.
QT suck can't even play my movie even it's avi or .mov,.mepg.mpg.mp3(some music don't work) QT SUCK!
Ballsy of you to write such a pessimistic blog about such a popular program. I read your article and as many comments as I could stand.. and I just want to say that I have to agree with you and your opinions 100%.. no one reallllly wants to deal with Quicktime but there are times we all must. It proves that Quicktime sucks just for the simple fact there has been a Quicktime Alternative developed. It needed done. I also use it ;)
Good article homie
I've read all posts about this and I have to disagree. Since version 7.1 or 7.4, don't remember exactly. Quicktime had full screen for free. When I make my websites with video I use MOV, because it is the smallest of the three other formats for websites that could be used and I could not get FLV to work although it was set to progressive downloading. Not only that but also Quicktime is the second best format to use because QT comes o Windows and Mac, while Linux users can get a special set of packages to watch the files as well as the gecko-media player to video the embedded QT. There are also reports, that I myself can verify, that if you have QT installed and you install an old version QT Alternative on Windows, you can get all the features of Quicktime Pro for free.
Just thought I'd add nothing except to say that I agree that Quicktime sucks and typed it into Google because my wife installed it with iTunes.
So I can say for a fact that a novice would not know that there is a way to get the unbundled version w/o Quicktime.
Also, the damn thing took over my system, and now every media format known to my PC and Firefox opens with the crappy and slow Quicktime interface.
Thanks for listening and wish me luck in removing this and its remnants forever.
Quicktime Sucks Bigtime!
And i like this website because i just have to love any website that gets the #1 hit on Google with "Quicktime Sucks" in the search box, very nice.
kind regards
If one of my endeavors ever achieved market dominance I want to believe that it would give me confidence to act in a rational and supportive manner. Apple should be confident, not boorish in their distribution of QuickTime and "let it be" the choice of users everywhere. When I use QuickTime now I "feel like" I have no choice and to date I have installed and uninstalled the program at least a dozen times because it pisses me off. Usually I pass on anything QuickTime unless it is REALLY important and then I download it, watch the item, and then blow it away again because it ticks me off. Thankfully I discovered the link to just download QuickTime without iTunes, and iTunes is cool but not on every system. The full screen part I am not so sure about and maybe there should be a charge. One thing I am sure about (unless I am mistaken) is that zero support for USB Webcams is pathetic, and to my mind, embarrassing. I mean, in the end, either they are are putting the screws to users because of artificial market manipulation or maybe, just maybe, they can't figure stuff out. Yea, that's the ticket, making an easy to use product that fits into the Windows environment is beyond their capabilities. Maybe some more correspondence courses would help :-)
Hey! yeah , QT player sucks indeed... Media PLayer classic is way better and runs smoothly
No way i'm using quicktime ever in life
I was uninstalling it right now and it told me to close every web browser... the thing resists to die..!
Me try make QT play movies, me no never happy when me try that. Me think should work! Me think Apple movie player should play movies! But it don't. Me sad.
Me try be smart. Try install codec many time. Still no work. Funny lines. Bad audio. Me brain heated up.
Me use VLC player. It work!
I just got a mac with quicktime, and kind of thought I remembered that it sucked...but couldn't quite remember. I had to install it a couple of times on windows (maybe it installed itself with other bundled mac ware or maybe I needed it for some reason and then dumped it) Anyway, I couldn't remember, and as part of setting up my new mac had downloaded VLC right away. Quicktime kept popping up asking me to pay??? After checking your websight, I no longer need fear removing a potentionally useful free program and will avoid re-learninig how bad it sucks. Thanks for the service!
quicktime REALLY SUCKS. the the full screen on pro is just a bunch of bull****. any company that has a single person with an iq over 40 would realize all they're doing is driving away every person who has any sense to download an alternative.
Let's be a little more specific.
QUICKTIME 7.5.5 sucks.
My older versions still work - but 7.5.5 won't launch and crashes all programs that access it - i.e.Safari, etc.
Apple threads suggest it.s OS 10.4.11 and I need to update to 10.5 - Obviously new mac owners with a Windows mentality.
"Oh yes, you need to restore your system"
Who's the dumb ass at Apple that's hiring Windows techs.
Unless you want to play your websites videos through YouTube on your iPhone, Quicktime is a must.
As with any extremist religious dogma, you must follow all the tenets or be labeled a heretic.
Claiming that 'Quicktime Sucks' casts doubt as to the infallibility of Steve Jobs, if he made a mistake on quicktime, maybe he made a mistake elsewhere as well, obviously this is ridiculous. Jobs is perfect, and you simply need to be 're-educated' in order to help you understand.
Damn, I hate quick time!
I've installed it on my PC only to be able view mov files. It is damn trash! It crashes constantly, shit, full of bugs. First of all it integrates itself in web browser in such a pervert way that simply can not be removed. I've reconfigured quick time, ordered not to try open media files in browser - stil this pece of shit opens every single file in my bowser. And every second time it crashes. It crashes even before actuali starts playing file - just when suggests update.
Fuck you Apple! Fuck your shitware! Take it in your ass!
I finished with this damned shit - I dont want no mov files, no this piece of shit!
Codec hell sucks even more. Stick to Media Player Classic with the right bundle of codecs, but don't expect to be able to play everything though.
It's still not over. Apple is still busy making money the way they have been successful with. We definitely need more success of alternative offerings to get rid of the monopoly tactics of the big players in IT.
Quicktime makes me want to post vindictive comments about entering sudo rm -rf * in the terminal as an "awesome way to make iTunes even better".
You are a winner. Quicktime DOES suck. Macs are great though BTW. VLC is just so much happier than Quicktime. I love Windows and Apple for all they do and add to the world they are both brilliant at what they do. But Quicktime sucks.
I hate quick time for the same reason. Yes it sucks. It is useless, but Apple force you to install it with iTunes, which I only use for an iPod someone gived me. Poisonnous gift. I hate this Bonjour fu****g sofware, quicktime and all the unwanted things Apple install on my computer without asking me...
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