Yes, you can do whatever you like to the PC you had installed iTunes on, but if you ever need to re-jailbreak you will need iTunes back.

I use a Mac so I don’t know what ‘iTunes Billboard’ is, sorry, but keeping ATV Flash up to date from a Mac is done purely with their installer software and nothing else; you should check their website for PC instructions but I expect they will be similar.

Finally, I don’t know about if Jailbreaking works through a VM, all I know is that once Seas0npass creates the jailbroken OS, you need to have iTunes installed so that you can use it to install the jailbroken OS onto the ATV2. If you can run iTunes properly in a VM, I’d imagine that would work but don’t quote me.

Do I need iTunes BillBoard software to keep FireCore’s ATV Flash up to date?

Can you JailBreak using a VM (as in VMware)?

But you don’t have to worry about the cost per shot – even at the most expensive it’s 7p per roll of 24 shots, and you didn’t pay for the app in the first place, or three of the cameras that come with it. So at worst, you’ll pay 69p to play with a few rolls of film in an app that already doesn’t appeal to you because of the 24-frame feature.

I totally get why people react like this to paying for digital photography. It was exactly how I reacted – no exaggeration – until I tried it for myself and realised that this app sets out to create a very specific experience. It’s okay to remember the frustrations of this being the real-world case for photographers and also not mind that this app seeks to bring some of that back, mainly because it’s not compulsory (you don’t have to buy any of those three effects that charge per roll), and it’s nowhere near as expensive, not even remotely close. In fact, I daresay most people who buy a 69p 9-roll pack won’t finish those 9 rolls any time soon, and there’s all the other unlimited rolls to play with as well.

If you’re old enough to remember rewinding tapes, I guess you also remember having to wait for film prints. That was a pain in the arse, agreed. I started taking ‘proper’ photos once DSLRs were well established as I could never afford the luxury of all the film that I would have needed to teach myself photography before that (I’m 35 by the way). I love the immediacy of digital photography.

The whole point of this app is to bring back some of the elements of film photography that have disappeared with the advent of digital. Their goal is not to create a Frustration Simulator, though. Having 24 images you have to use before you see them all isn’t there to annoy you, it’s there to build the sense of anticipation waiting to get to see them, and to give you a handful of “oh yeahhh!” moments as you go through them and relive some moments you’d forgotten.

The idea of buying limited-use film, while controversial (I hated it at first), is there to both make them money and also to imbue your shooting with the sense that having paid for these frames (working out to way, way less than a penny per frame) you should make them count. Looking at the current pricing, if you were absolutely in love with one particular type of film on sale, you could buy 99 rolls of it for £2.50. Think about that: how long would it take to shoot 99 rolls with 24 frames per roll (2,376 frames)? A long, long time, and that’s only if you stuck to that one film type. You’re more likely to want to mix it up, using a different type from time to time. Besides, there are four unlimited-use film types to play with if you object to limited-use.

This app isn’t aimed at people who specifically want to shoot one picture and see it, digital style. I think the target market is people at events, where one is more likely to take a snap here, a snap there, some more over there, and maybe not even use all 24 in one night. Then they finish them off the next day and see the whole evening’s snaps at once. Alternatively, at the moment I have a few rolls on the go and only use them occasionally for little moments I find during my day but which I don’t absolutely have to see there and then, meaning it will be even longer before I get to the end of a roll and there’ll be more photos I don’t remember taking.

Comparing the app to having to wind back Netflix films is not really an appropriate analogy in terms of what Synthetic wanted to achieve here; they didn’t want to create an app that simulated the frustration of ‘the old days’, they made it for people who would be receptive to the limitations and enjoy them for what they are.

If you want a retro toy-camera style photo app with instant image review and filters you pay for and keep, Hipstamatic is for you, or Instagram, or PictureShow, or any of the dozens and dozens of similar apps. Personally, I commend Synthetic for trying something different and injecting some of the excitement and anticipation of film photography back into digital photography. They got the pricing completely wrong at first but listened and tweaked. I sincerely hope they don’t completely bow to Internet pressure and remove the limited-use rolls as has been hinted in blog posts. Then the only thing distinguishing it from Hipstamatic will be the 24-frame limit and people moan about that too.

WIth the Hipstamatic app itself, it’s the “winding film” and the date showing ’81.’

Again, nice review and terrific site in general.

Badly.

I’m not donating to yer beer fund though, the IPA is very tasty!

*Waits for mid January*

I’ve been using the Media Player in firecore for about a week now and have learnt a few nice tricks. It’s great when combined with a NAS such as the ReadyNAS ultra 2 which I currently have running with a 2tb drive. Means I don’t need to have the computer running, and by using two disks in a raid, I don’t risk loosing my media in the event of a disk failure. Many people don’t think of it as important to backup movie rips, but considering how much time I spend ripping them from my blu-ray and DVD collection, it would be devastating to have to do it all again.