iPod on Windows

niola writes "A story on Yahoo mentions the XPlay -- a cool software package that allows a Windows box with a FireWire port to mount the iPod as if it were a drive (gives it a letter too) so that you can upload songs to it. Looks really cool and has the ability to integrate with Windows Media Player." Will Apple sue over this? I guess it'll depend on whether or not they stand to lose money in lost Mac sales or gain money in extra iPod sales.

Comments

Apple wont sue

[Geekboy(Wizard)]

Apple has reviewed their software, and has (sorta) blessed it. It even has the same copywrite controls that the mac software has, preventing you from copying the audio tracks from the iPod.

That's NOT to say that you can't use it as a hard drive. You CAN copy stuff to and from it, in hard drive mode, but if you copied mp3's to it in hard drive mode, then you can't listen to them, and if you can listen to the music, then it's not in hard drive mode.

Will apple sue?

[Sc00ter]

Uhh, considering that the people that make XPlay have an agreement with Apple, and have for YEARS to work on Mac compatible stuff for Windows, I wouldn't count on it. Also, at least a beta of this has been out since the iPod was released, so they must of had some information about how it works before it was released to get the software out there that fast.

In fact, from their site, other then asking them to change the name from XPod, they don't seem to care, and they've known about it for a while:

December 10, 2001
Mediafour commits to demonstrating both XPlay and MacDrive in booth 4021 at Macworld Expo; exhibit runs January 8-11 at Moscone Center in San Francisco

November 30, 2001
Product name is changed to XPlay at urging of Apple

Re:Doesn't update iPod playlists?

[Sc00ter]

From their site:

What exactly is XPlay? Is it a complete music library manager, or just an interface for moving files back and forth? Does it work with Windows Media Player?
XPlay is three things. First, XPlay includes MacDrive technology, which makes your iPod appear as a normal drive under Windows for the sharing of data files. Secondly, XPlay makes your songs, playlists, artists and albums appear in custom folders in Explorer, so they're easy to access and manipulate, and organized similarly to how the iPod organizes them. Lastly, XPlay makes your iPod appear as a portable device in Windows Media Player, so it's easy to move your existing song collection to the iPod and enjoy it on the go.

If you read the site deeper you'll see that XPlay works with Windows Media Player. It does sync all your stuff.

Apple condemning it? Quite the opposite...

[neema]

I actually just received my 10 gig iPod today. I had ordered the 5 gig and returned it when I heard of the 10. At one point of time during the few times I called the customer representitives, I mentioned that I was debating whether to wait for Apple to perhaps release a windows version of the iPod or simply get this one.

The rep quickly told me about XPlay (which I had known about before anyway).

From what I read on some iPod websites, it's fairly common for them to refer PC customers to MediaFour and I believe they have had agreements with MediaFour in the past.

I also find it interesting that the iPod (or at least Apple media) has it's own section now.

Re:Apple will buy Xplay

[foobar104]

I predict that Apple will not buy XPlay. Why should they? They're already selling iPods faster than they can make 'em, so there's no benefit to Apple to release and support iPod software for Windows. Apple is really good at writing Mac software, either from scratch or acquired from somebody else. iTunes and Final Cut Pro were acquired; as far as I know, iPhoto was written from scratch.

Right now, Apple's in the best possible situation. While they don't sell XPlay, or officially support it, they don't discourage it in any way, either. Those people who would buy an iPod but won't buy a Mac have an option, albeit not a great one. And all the while Apple gets to point at the iTunes/iPod combo, with all of its functionality, and say, "Only on Mac."

Buying and releasing XPlay would be a waste of effort.

XPlay Observations

[Chrimble]

The initial preview releases of XPlay were very basic and somewhat flaky, and could do little more than copy mp3s to the iPod. You couldn't even delete anything, let alone manage any playlists.

But Mediafour have been gradually adding functionality over the last few months, and the last release (preview 5) is easily the best yet - it's the first release that actually delivers most of the functionality you'd have on a Mac, albeit with a "Windows" spin.

I suspect the biggest problem currently delaying the full release of XPlay is the dreaded "write behind" error rather than any legal wranglings by Apple.

Basically there appears to be a bug in some (but not all) IEEE 1394 chipsets commonly used in notebook PCs/firewire cards which occasionally causes the trashing of the database containing the mp3 data. The upshot used to be that your iPod was rendered useless until a reformat - wiping all data from the device and requiring you to retransfer your music (hoping another "write behind" didn't happen again in the process).

Preview 5 handles these "write behinds" by providing a facility to rebuild the database, so you don't have to re-transfer your music. It's not pretty but hey, it works 8).

But overall, the product is shaping up to be pretty good. Whilst it's not quite as easy to use as iTunes (well, it *is* PC software!), it certainly fulfills its purpose when it comes to accessing the device under Windows, and I'll definitely be buying the release version when it arrives.

Apple's blessings

[Refrag]

Apple has given MediaFour their blessings to work on the application. Apple merely requested that they not call it XPod as they had intended, MediaFour complied and now calls it XPlay.