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Apple Smacks Down iCommune

Posted by pudge on from the suuuuuck dept.

flipsidejones writes "Looks like Apple has killed iCommune. iCommune, as mentioned previously, allows users to share music libraries across a network from within iTunes. It seems the license for the iTunes plugin API does not allow for software-based plugins (only hardware: MP3 players, etc). Apple issued a 'Notice of Breach and Termination of License' to iCommune, who have since pulled the download. Something tells me that they won't be putting it back up anytime soon. Every time I forget about Mac OS X being proprietary, Apple does something to remind me." Well, in fairness, this could happen even if Mac OS X itself weren't proprietary, as iTunes still could be. For that matter, iCommune still is, too. Hm, none of that makes me feel any better ...

3 of 511 comments (clear)

  1. I may be missing the point but... by Funksaw · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I may be missing the point, but what is it about iCommune that was so different from sharing the files over a network via network protocols, anyway?

    Since iTunes is a proprietary work, I'm not too upset by this - luckily, all iCommune needs to do to counter this is to produce an MP3 player better than iTunes, open source it, and they can very well do what they please. Just because iTunes is a proprietary MP3 player doesn't mean that it's the only possible one that'll work on the MacOSX platform.

    This is more molehill than mountain.

  2. Next iTunes Version by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Considering that according to last July's MWNY keynote, the next version of iTunes will be coming soon with this exact same feature, I'm surprised Apple didn't just wait until they ship iTunes 4 or whatever and just kill off iCommune the same way they killed WindowShade (incorporated into System 7), Watson (incorporated into OS X 10.2), etc.

    Unless there's some reason they think we would prefer iCommune to their Rendezvous iTunes...?

  3. Apple not responsible for protecting YOUR hobby by kahei · · Score: 5, Interesting


    So, Apple decided not to take on the considerable risk of being seen to sponsor music piracy.

    Sounds reasonable.

    Now, this is a more interesting question: why do some people believe that Apple had a responsibility to risk it's neck so you can download tunez more easily? Why do some people believe that just because Apple sold a certain product, they must have a responsibility to provide other things, such as use of their software for music distribution, too?

    I'm not sure about the answer... I expect it's something depressing.

    --
    Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.