Apple Update Means Palm Pre Can No Longer Sync With iTunes

endikos writes "Apple updated iTunes to version 8.2.1. According to the changelog, it offers bug fixes and 'addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices.' In other words, 'Buzz off, Palm Pre. You ain't no iPhone.'"

Comments

Just deserts.

[Space cowboy]

And is anyone surprised ? Really ?

It's Apple's tech, they put the work in, they deserve to reap the rewards. Coming along late-to-the-party and just trying to muscle your way in without an invite just shows a lack of class, at least IMHO.

I can't see it really affecting anyone though. As any fule know, iTunes just sucks so badly at managing music that the alternative (what Pre owners are left with), the ability to "just drag files to it as a disk" ought to be a liberating breath of fresh air - at least going by /. comments in the past. Wonder how that'll work out in practice ? Guess we'll see :)

Simon.

Re:Just deserts.

[sbeckstead]

Actually it is night and day different. Apple didn't go to the stores and say, sell our stuff pre-installed on those computers or we won't sell you an OS at all. When there was no other viable OS out there. What MS has done is illegal what Apple has done is a smart business decision to prevent a competitor from stealing development resources.

Re:Just deserts.

[DJRumpy]

If they don't like it, they can use any open source sync tool, or they could just use Palm's sync software..oh wait. Palm didn't write one. Do you see my point? This is no different than Windows prevent iPod from syncing with WMP. Apple didn't cry about it. They wrote their own sync software.

if Palm was so interested in syncing a Palm device in iTunes, they should have approached Apple and worked with them to allow the 'Palm' to show up as a sync-able device in iTunes. They should not have tried to fake the system and represented it as an 'iPod' device.

Re:Just deserts.

[spire3661]

You call an article from 2004 'kinda legitimate proof'? You are gonna have to do better then that.

Re:Just deserts.

[Miseph]

"a) Can you connect an iPod and sync it with Zune software? I was not aware of this functionality. If not, it seems to me that your argument doesn't really work."

Somebody else does it too, so it's OK. That excuse stopped working in kindergarten. I never said Microsoft were saints, I said that Apple were being petty and obnoxious for no gain... a statement which is true regardless of whether or not you can sync an iPod with Zune software.

"b) Who is paying Apple when they buy a Palm Pre? You buy a Palm Pre, you download iTunes for free. What is Apple getting from this transaction? At no time do you need to pay Apple anything."

No, when you buy a Palm Pre, you buy a Palm Pre. When you buy an iPhone, you buy an iPhone. When you download iTunes for free, you download iTunes for free, and you never to to buy an iPod or iPhone to do it. Apple is welcome to start charging for iTunes whenever they want if they feel that they are entitled to make money off of everyone using it, or they can continue to give it away for free. Of course, that last might jeopardize their position as running the largest and most successful music store on Earth, but it would certainly keep those freeloading Pre owners out... right? You're intentionally glossing over the way things actually work and inserting logical non sequiturs in order to portray Palm and Pre owners as ripping off Apple in some way and to imply that Apple is entitled to make money on things they don't sell.

"If you're talking about buying music from iTMS, you can still do that and sync it with another app. Just like I could still buy music from the Zune Marketplace and sync it with my iPod via iTunes. Woops, no I couldn't, because Zune Marketplace songs are all DRM'd."

Microsoft aren't nice. Wah. If I cared, that would really bother me. If ITMS has no lock in, and the whole thing is irrelevant... then why bother willfully breaking compatibility in the first place? Oh, right, because people like using iTunes, and that has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not they like using a Palm Pre, but Apple wants more money and they're The Good Guys (tm) because you can't sync an iPod to Zune software and that makes it totally reasonable to make Palm waste an extra hour and a half to unbreak something that never needed to be broken. Microsoft, incidentally, remains completely uninvolved in the whole thing, but they still aren't nice. Wah.

"Wait, who's the villain in your argument again?"

That would be Apple. The company going out of their way to break compatibility and interoperability purely out of spite. Try to keep up.

"Maybe if Google comes out with an mp3 player and an app to sync with it, then we can talk about how they're bigger dicks than Microsoft. But at this point, if you're talking the lesser of two evils, Microsoft ain't it."

Wait... what? Apple makes an indefensible dick move to screw over Pre owners who also use iTunes, and now I'm waiting for Google to release an MP3 player and syncing software so I can assert that they're bigger dicks than Microsoft? If Microsoft went out of their way to make sure that the Palm Pre couldn't interact with Windows because they were bitter that it doesn't use Windows Mobile, or if Google made sure that the Pre couldn't open GMail because Palm didn't make their search engine the default for their web browser they would be jerks. Apple went out of their way to make sure the Pre couldn't interact with iTunes because they are bitter about it not being an iPhone. Even if all three happened, Apple would STILL be assholes, and they would be joined by Microsoft and Google in that.

Wait, who's the good guy in your argument again?

Re:Just deserts.

[Surlyboi]

Mod parent +1 Funny.

Apple is just Microsoft wannabe.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Mod me troll if you want. But clearly this action proves that Apple is not interested in open standards, in interoperability or level playing fields. It wants to promote the same walled-garden eco system that is actively promoted by Microsoft. But sadly, it is not as successful as Microsoft in grabbing market share or money from people.

OK, OK I will stand corrected. It is not a Microsoft wannabe, it is afailed Microsoft wannabe.

Re:What does this get them?

[tolan-b]

It's funny because you're ignorant. Do try not to be such a cliche.

America was named after an Italian map maker, the first person to use the name on a map was German, and the first person to use North and South America on a map was Flemish.

The people who brought the English language to the continent were English (and/or British), surprisingly enough.

Brazilians, Salvadorians and Mexicans probably don't want to be called Americans as that name is already associated with the USA.

I couldn't give two shits about whether there's a country called Europe, really, why would anyone care, that's such a bizarre insult, and no, I don't measure the size of my e-peen based on the physical size of the geo-political boundaries I was born in.

Go wave your flag son.

Re:Qualifier

[Toonol]

Absolutely, and I would recommend nearly any one of them over an Apple product. The iPod is nice engineering, good quality, slightly overpriced... but the top-to-bottom iPod/iTunes/iPhone lock-in that Apple tries for seems to cause all sorts of headaches. I'd even recommend a Zune over an iPod, now... but mainly, I think the smart money is on a dirt-cheap chinese knockoff player. They're a little flaky, but can generally play ANYTHING.

Re:Sometimes Apple still thinks too much like a...

[jedidiah]

Yes, because hunting for what you want in a file browser is so much harder than doing the same in an mp3 browser.

iTunes may be OK if your needs are meagre. Once what you have doesn't precisely align with a particular physical device, iTunes "has no clothes".

Apple: high priests in the cult of stupidity.