Travel Technology - Do I really need itunes on my computer?

I was trying to watch a yahoo video yesterday (of the fire a few houses away from mine, that due to burning - besides the place - the phone/electrical wires next to it - took out my i-net, phone & tv for 24 hours), and for some reason Yahoo video wanted me to have an even more updated Quicktime & Flash player than I did (although I thought I had the latest). FWIW - I've never had problems watching yahoo videos prior to this.

Anyway, I ended up downloading the latest QT, which also had the option of IT & I must have clicked on download them both.

But the thing is - I NEVER listen to music on my computer & truly don't anticipate doing it in the future. So do I really need this or can I just delete it? Only reason I ask is that I'm wondering if it eats up memory/space I might need - ie, Solitaire loaded more slowly after i downloaded IT ;) :D

Given I've just gotten up to to 2Gb from 1, and it's still not like the 4 you all have, I figure if I don't need IT/won't use it, no need to keep it - unless you tell me otherwise.

BTW - the local tv station had helicopter coverage of the fire (and besides the house you could see the actual wires burning! - ie, bye, bye SkiAdcock's inet/phone/tv - fios). I didn't post the link because someone a few weeks ago, after an really, really unfortunate situation next door to me, cut/pasted what I wrote on FT & posted it to a dif bulletin board pretending that they were me, which was disgusting & horrible. This isn't as exotic, but still, so I'm not posting it. If someone does want the link PM me.

Back to the IT part. Let me know if I should keep it or delete it. Cheers.

PS - The Verizon tech support guys rocked. They kept me totally informed on what was happening, and evidently worked 'round the clock to get everyone going again. They weren't even allowed in for a long time due to fire investigators, etc, and then they sent multiple crews that worked through the night to get folk up & running.

No, you do not need iTunes, but Apple will do everything it can to make you keep it.

FWIW; this page has a standalone quicktime installer:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

No, you do not need iTunes, but Apple will do everything it can to make you keep it.

FWIW; this page has a standalone quicktime installer:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

Thanks Scott. I'll delete the IT & bookmark the standalone.

Uh - I just went to control panel, figuring that's where I'd add/delete programs but didn't see that option. Am I missing it or should I be somewhere else? I'm on Vista.

Found it - think it's deleted. Now to go see if Solitaire loads faster :D Oh way too funny - it actually does. I don't play it that often but before my upgrade from 1Gb to 2 I noticed it took a while to load. Then after the 2 loaded faster. After IT slower, post un-install now faster. Could be totally unrelated but I think it's funny.

Cheers.

Thanks Scott. I'll delete the IT & bookmark the standalone.

Uh - I just went to control panel, figuring that's where I'd add/delete programs but didn't see that option. Am I missing it or should I be somewhere else? I'm on Vista.

Found it - think it's deleted. Now to go see if Solitaire loads faster :D Oh way too funny - it actually does. I don't play it that often but before my upgrade from 1Gb to 2 I noticed it took a while to load. Then after the 2 loaded faster. After IT slower, post un-install now faster. Could be totally unrelated but I think it's funny.

Cheers.

Well, iTunes does load all kinds of things you just don't need, including support for the iPod. Removing it probably frees up quite a bit of memory.

Well, iTunes does load all kinds of things you just don't need, including support for the iPod. Removing it probably frees up quite a bit of memory.
I note it's gotten very aggressive recently about loading the Apple program named Bonjour. I don't know exactly what Bonjour does -- something about 'discovering' network printers and media (music, photos and video) on your system and your network -- but I have seen it mentioned on a few security/privacy watchlists, and so I've so far removed it two or three times in the last few months. It always seems to install even when I say no or deselect it.

Why would you want iTunes figuring out what printers you have setup, or even worse, riffling through your pictures or other media?

I use Real Alternative and QuickTime Alternative:
http://www.codecpackguide.com/quicktimealt.htm

I note it's gotten very aggressive recently about loading the Apple program named Bonjour. I don't know exactly what Bonjour does -- something about 'discovering' network printers and media (music, photos and video) on your system and your network -- but I have seen it mentioned on a few security/privacy watchlists, and so I've so far removed it two or three times in the last few months. It always seems to install even when I say no or deselect it.

bonjour is apple's marketing name for zeroconf.

http://www.zeroconf.org/
http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/OLD/zeroconf-charter.html

I note it's gotten very aggressive recently about loading the Apple program named Bonjour. I don't know exactly what Bonjour does -- something about 'discovering' network printers and media (music, photos and video) on your system and your network -- but I have seen it mentioned on a few security/privacy watchlists, and so I've so far removed it two or three times in the last few months. It always seems to install even when I say no or deselect it.

Why would you want iTunes figuring out what printers you have setup, or even worse, riffling through your pictures or other media?

Bonjour Rocks! No matter if you're using AirPort (wifi) or Ethernet, Bonjour will find your printers and a ton of different devices in your proximity or network. Makes printing to a client or friends printer a snap. For iTunes, you can play music off another person's public playlists. ^

It seemed that these day everyone runs itunes. Not me, I am running a Linux system and itunes does not work for it. Oh, damn lol. If I wanted to I could run through a windows emulator but, naw! Not worth it.

I use iTunes for just one thing - converting various sound file types (and making file clips) for work. My digital recorder does .VOC to .WAV, then I use iTunes for .MP3 or .AAC (for free).

I use iTunes for just one thing - converting various sound file types (and making file clips) for work. My digital recorder does .VOC to .WAV, then I use iTunes for .MP3 or .AAC (for free).

I use a program called Audacity (free and opensource) to convert those formats. It was designed for editing audio though and allows us to increase the volume, remove static, and other filters.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Bonjour Rocks! No matter if you're using AirPort (wifi) or Ethernet, Bonjour will find your printers and a ton of different devices in your proximity or network. Makes printing to a client or friends printer a snap. For iTunes, you can play music off another person's public playlists. ^

Bonjour is a POS. At least on Windows. On every machine I've had with Bonjour, I've had serious conflicts with my USB devices and Windows Media Player.

In fact, on a brand new and clean Dell XPS, any installation of iTunes with Bonjour will crash Windows Media Player any time ANY USB device is plugged in.

How Apple managed to create that mess, is beyond me.

Bonjour is a POS. At least on Windows. On every machine I've had with Bonjour, I've had serious conflicts with my USB devices and Windows Media Player.

In fact, on a brand new and clean Dell XPS, any installation of iTunes with Bonjour will crash Windows Media Player any time ANY USB device is plugged in.

How Apple managed to create that mess, is beyond me.

Just waiting for the MAC faithful to blame these problem on Windows :rolleyes:

Bonjour Rocks! No matter if you're using AirPort (wifi) or Ethernet, Bonjour will find your printers and a ton of different devices in your proximity or network. Makes printing to a client or friends printer a snap. For iTunes, you can play music off another person's public playlists. ^

I'm missing why it's a good thing for someone -- anyone -- to be able to find and use your printers and access all your media, (including pictures)?

I also agree that Bonjour.exe causes conflicts. That's why I dug into it in the first place. All of a sudden it started crashing, or causing background processes to crash. It took some digging to find out Bonjour was the cause of it all.

Maybe we need a new thread, "How to say Au Revoir to Bonjour."

I'm missing why it's a good thing for someone -- anyone -- to be able to find and use your printers and access all your media, (including pictures)?

I also agree that Bonjour.exe causes conflicts. That's why I dug into it in the first place. All of a sudden it started crashing, or causing background processes to crash. It took some digging to find out Bonjour was the cause of it all.

I actually did a reinstall of my Vista box when I could not find the cause of WMP crashing every time I docked my Blackberry. Spent a day reinstalling everything, and had the exact same problem. Then I did another reinstall, and put stuff on one by one, and discovered that iTunes caused the error.

Sadly I need iTunes on my machine, but I have manually uninstalled Bonjour.