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Apple To Suspend iTunes Store Support For 'Obsolete' First-Gen Apple TV (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the collecting-dust dept.

The original Apple TV, first introduced in 2007, will no longer be able to connect to the iTunes Store due to new security changes to be implemented by Apple. The news comes from a support document, which also mentions that PCs running Windows XP or Windows Vista will lose access to the most recent version of iTunes. Ars Technica reports: According to the document, the "obsolete" original Apple TV won't be updated in the future to support access to the iTunes Store. After May 25, users will only be able to access iTunes on second-generation Apple TVs and newer streaming devices. The same security changes affecting the first-gen Apple TV will also affect Windows XP and Vista machines. Users on such devices can still run previous versions of iTunes, so they should still be able to play their music library without problems. However, affected users won't be able to make new iTunes purchases or re-download previous purchases. Only machines running Windows 7 or later after May 25 will have full access to iTunes, including the ability to make new purchases and re-download older purchases.

12 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Garden by sexconker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The garden's walls have been moved. If you wish to remain in the garden, please pay another entrance fee.

    1. Re:Garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      11 years on a device is longer than:

      Pioneer tv (tv guide, dlna)
      Hue hub first gen
      Most android devices
      Linksys wireless routers
      Oppo Blu-ray player
      Honeywell first gen connected thermostat
      Espon printer

    2. Re:Garden by omnichad · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No one's disagreeing with you there. But this hardware is being sold like an "appliance" and it isn't failing as an appliance - it's being effectively remotely disabled.

      There are DVD players still going strong after 20 years of use. VCRs still kicking after 30. AM/FM Radios still going after 50+ years. There is still no question that the obsolescence was built into the Apple TV by virtue of how it is designed and what it's required to rely on. And in the end, you're still effectively renting the hardware - but it's being treated for most legal purposes like a purchase.

    3. Re:Garden by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've got an 11 year old router still plugging away just fine.

      A 15 year old HP printer.

      A 10 year old feature phone. And a 15 year old cordless phone for the landline.

      The keyboard I'm typing this on is also about 15 years old.

      My parents' television is a Sony Trinitron vintage 1999 or so.

      The dumb thermostat in my living room looks like it dates back to the 1960s. It's just a piece of coiled copper and a plastic cam-follower...nothing to break.

      Shit that lasts is good. Shit that breaks is bad. Shit that stops working because some some genius MBA fuck found a new way to make you pay for what you've already got...just plain nope. Not gonna buy it.

    4. Re:Garden by Swampash · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This hardware is being sold like an "appliance" and it isn't failing as an appliance - it's being effectively remotely disabled.

      The iTunes store will no longer be accessible from the Gen 1 AppleTV. Whether or not that is an inconvenience depends on how often you use your Gen 1 AppleTV to connect to the iTunes store.

      I've got a Gen 3 AppleTV and it has been in use nearly 24/7 since the day I bought it in 2013. I think I've used it to access the iTunes store 4 times. If I were to lose access to the iTunes store tonight zero fucks would be given. I'd keep using it for streaming from my server, for Netflix, for Youtube, for Podcasts, for net radio, and all the other things that I use it for daily that aren't accessing the iTunes store.

    5. Re:Garden by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2

      There's a difference between upgrading to a new device because it has more features and being forced to buy a new device with fewer features because the manufacturer has decided to stop the old one working properly.

      In the former case you'll think "Man I'm glad I upgraded. This new device is so much better than the old one. In fact I'll probably not keep this one for as long. New is good, so I'll plan on an upgrade sooner this time". In the later case you'll think "This sucks. I was forced to buy a new device because they killed the old one and then I discovered I had to spend extra money to get a worse user experience than the last time. Next time I'll buy one from the competition".

      Using forced obsolescence to get people to upgrade and then removing features from the new models the way Apple and Samsung do is dumb in the long run because you're essentially putting people in a position where they're forced to transition to a new vendor even if they were initially happy with what they bought. You're turning people who like the brand and will buy it if they can to people who avoid the brand at all costs.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  2. Raaage! Anger!!! by MachineShedFred · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So they are no longer supporting something that is now 11 years old, and didn't really sell that well in comparison to the numbers they are shifting of the newer models which are far more capable and based on standard (at least, for Apple) hardware that is a close relation to the hundreds of millions of phones and tablets they've also sold. Should this really be a surprise? I'm surprised they were still supporting it.

    What other OEM set top box has been supported that long? Is anything even close?

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  3. Re:Raaage! Anger!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you look at pictures of it you'll see the real reason they're killing it: it still does analog out, and they're killing the analog hole. This is all about ensuring the DRM of the Apple Walled Garden, nothing else.

  4. Bullshit. by thesupraman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Dont try and confuse this with repair.

    These devices are in no way failed, they are having their operational status revoked. By Apple. For their own advantage.

    BTW, Stop making examples up. I regularly source Toshiba parts older than 3 years - and usually no problems with parts older than 10 years.
    You would also have the options of going gray-market, or finding a second hard part.

    Want to try that here?
    How do you think Apple would react to a request to release the required encryption keys to allow 3rd party support of this device to continue?

    No, there is a damn good reason Apple is fighting tooth and nail to block right-to-repair, Loves the DMCA, etc.
    Once they have people on the hook, they expect them to keep paying, or suffer the consequences. It is device based Catholicism.

    And no, your examples of software cost do NOT apply. The only reason they need to do additional work is because they wish to add new features
    to OTHER, NEWER products - there is no direct costing being created by the existing devices - so it is in no way similar to the cost of keeping
    a physical inventory of parts.

    1. Re:Bullshit. by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 4, Informative

      Dont try and confuse this with repair.

      These devices are in no way failed, they are having their operational status revoked. By Apple. For their own advantage.

      I'm not confusing it with anything. You brought up the example of beater tech gear still working. But still working implies that it needs no support. It's when the support is needed that it matters. That's how I got from there to here.

      So there.

      BTW, Stop making examples up. I regularly source Toshiba parts older than 3 years - and usually no problems with parts older than 10 years.
      You would also have the options of going gray-market, or finding a second hard part.

      It really wasn't made up. I don't know if I just lucked up one the ONE obsoleted part; but I couldn't find it anywhere. I must admit I didn't try eBay, Craigslist, or my local TV repair shop; but as far as the MANUFACTURER went, that part was no longer available.

      Want to try that here?
      How do you think Apple would react to a request to release the required encryption keys to allow 3rd party support of this device to continue?

      What encryption keys? The issue is that the iTunes-Store-end of the system is going to change, and Apple isn't going to accommodate the OS of the first gen Apple TV anymore, nor are they going to update the most recent version of iTunes that can run on XP or Vista to use this new Protocol.

      That does NOT mean that:

      1. The Apple TV will suddenly be bricked.

      2. That you won't be able to load Kodi On your first gen Apple TV and continue to use it that way.

      3. That you won't be able to use iTunes to access LOCAL content, including content already purchased from iTunes.

      4. That you won't be able to use your Apple TV to do anything that you could before with it, EXCEPT for purchasing/renting NEW content from the iTunes Store, nor (I assume) receive Apple Music content.

      And that's it! If you are currently using a first gen Apple TV to access content on a local computer, file server, NAS, etc., YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO DO THAT, FFS!!!

      No, there is a damn good reason Apple is fighting tooth and nail to block right-to-repair, Loves the DMCA, etc.
      Once they have people on the hook, they expect them to keep paying, or suffer the consequences. It is device based Catholicism.

      And no, your examples of software cost do NOT apply. The only reason they need to do additional work is because they wish to add new features
      to OTHER, NEWER products - there is no direct costing being created by the existing devices - so it is in no way similar to the cost of keeping
      a physical inventory of parts.

      You're just stupid.

      Just because YOU declare something a "non-cost", doesn't make it so. There is a REAL, accountable cost associated with continuing to support older devices and OSes, whether you think so or not.

      Everything isn't one big conspiracy to force you into upgrading. And you know why? Because every time a customer upgrades, there is at least a chance they will go somewhere else.

      And you want to know what customers are the MOST likely to "vote with their feet"? The ones who believe that they have been FORCED to reconsider their last purchase, due to even a FEELING of being "orphaned".

  5. Re:Raaage! Anger!!! by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What other OEM set top box has been supported that long? Is anything even close?

    Nothing else is even close. Every other device attached to my TV except for the Bluray player is far older than that. Please stop applying the retarded mobile trend to every damn appliance in the house.

  6. Re:Raaage! Anger!!! by Mordaximus · · Score: 2

    Have you even used a gen 1 apple TV? Most everything it can do, it can do with or without the iTunes store.