Since the beginning of the experiment (the author of this series of articles has been trying to abandon the use of large cars for a year), two months have passed - it's time to move on to entertainment, especially the May holidays are in full swing. Today we will talk about watching movies and listening to music on the iPad, and also pay some attention to e-books, magazines and social networks. I deliberately do not affect the games, since this topic is worthy of a separate publication. Emphasis will be placed on alternative data sources - Apple's branded online store has high prices and third-party services (and there are enough of them) are very relevant.

Music and movies

Apple does not allow BitTorrent client programs to the AppStore, so we had to forget about using rutracker.org, tfile.ru and lostfilm.tv, focusing on the options available in online stores. The iTunes Store was the first to be tested and there are no complaints about the Apple service: the assortment is good (fans of lesser-known alternative artists may not agree with me), and the player and the shell are very convenient. Only the high price of tracks confuses.
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In one of the previous posts, I praised the Yandex.Music service available on a subscription basis. For 99 rubles per month (if you pay on the company's website), he allowed you to upload songs to the iPhone application and even play them from Yandex.Disk. Unfortunately, the cost of the service has increased to 149 rubles (the purchase embedded in the application will cost 199 rubles) and for that kind of money I don’t want to endure the lack of a version of the product for iPad. You shouldn’t say goodbye to music from Yandex - the site opened in the browser does not allow downloading songs, but allows listening to them for free.



Another alternative to torrents is the social network VKontakte. There are quite a few client programs in the AppStore and I chose the Music.VKontakte 2 application, which allows downloading songs to a tablet and listening to them without access to the network. Not lost: VKontakte can be called the largest library of media content in runet.



With video production, the situation is much worse. Prices in the iTunes Store are not encouraging, at least I am not ready to lay out a few hundred rubles for watching a movie on a ten-inch screen. Fortunately, some films can be rented for sane money, and in addition, alternative stores are available to users. The latter, however, have serious problems with the assortment (I tested IVI.RU , MEGOGO.NET , aikino!, MaxiFilm , NeoFilm and several other products) - the films appear here with a big delay. In iTunes, many new items penetrate quickly, but they are expensive (200 - 350 rubles) and are available only for purchase - you cannot usually rent a new movie.



We'll have to use the services of the Russian social network again. With the help of the Video.VK program, for example, you can watch the third season of the Game of Thrones in high quality and with the voice acting of Lostfilm. Other interesting new items will also be found - you just have to search. Yes, this client application allows you to upload videos for offline viewing (the corresponding button appears if you add a video to the playlist).

Television, radio and YouTube

The iPad does not have a built-in television signal receiver, so we’ll watch the zomboyaschik through the network. I stopped at SPB TV - a free (with the possibility of a commercial subscription to content) program of a large St. Petersburg developer. She does not ask for access to most of the central channels.



To listen to radio broadcasts, I can recommend Tuneln Radio (there is also a paid pro version ).



Programs that allow you to work with YouTube will also be useful - iPad owners have access to a branded Google client and a great variety of alternatives. Usually they are free or inexpensive. I chose VideoHunter for convenient uploading videos to a local machine.

EBooks

There is no problem with this type of content. Books in epub format can be purchased at the Apple store or downloaded from any site - Safari opens them in the free Apple iBooks application.



If you install a program supporting fb2, the same can be done with books in a format popular with Russian readers. I chose the commercial version of ShortBook .

Periodicals

In iOS, there are so-called. "Kiosk" that allows you to read electronic newspapers and magazines with the help of special applications. Released programs are often free, but they can ask for money for a subscription if it is some popular gloss. I almost never use this thing and made an exception only for Vedomosti .

Social networks

Self-respecting creators of social networks must release client software for iOS. Branded applications can be cursed, but third-party products are usually even worse. In my practice, there are only two exceptions to this rule. Flipboard is well suited for reading news on social networks. Unless, of course, you like a ribbon-like paper magazine.



The second example is Checkin + HD . Unfortunately, Foursquare makes a branded client program only for the iPhone, so you have to look for alternatives.

Offline Reader

The last (in order, but not least) class of products is offline readers. These are special programs that can download the links passed to them, beautifully format the content and allow you to read it even without access to the network. I use Pocket , but others can be called: free readability or commercial Instapaper . An important advantage of such products is synchronization through a special service. Very useful feature if you have multiple devices.

Summary

The problem with entertainment content is solved quite simply - there is Apple's branded online store and various third-party resources. There are no torrents, but they are easily replaced by the social network VKontakte, concurrently being the largest audio and video network in Russia. I chose the following strategy for myself: I buy netlen from the iTunes Store, and I take one-time things for rent (if we are talking about films), listen to Yandex (music) or download from VKontakte (everything, mainly Lostfilm dubs) . I couldn’t replace the tablet with a high-quality audio system or modern TV, but this wasn’t necessary - it could compete with laptops or desktops in a mobile computer. On the interaction of the iPad with hardware media players, monitors, NAS and other appliances we will discuss in future releases.