So this is a bit uncool of Apple to do. Basically the new firmware asks your computer what kind of software you’re using and prevents syncing on platforms for which iTunes doesn’t exist. A healthy chunk of people use Linux based operating systems on a daily basis and most of them will have absolutely no trouble switching media players if their iPod isn’t compatible with their system. You might be saying to yourself that this is some sort of counter-piracy measure but nay, this has nothing to do with DRM or copyrights. Lame.
New iPods reengineered to block synching with Linux [BoingBoing]
This si just a taste of the kind of world this would be is Apple ever held a domminant market share in computers.
How can you say it has nothing to do with copyrights or DRM? Why would a decision be made that fundamentally changes the sync’ing procedure and involves hundreds of employees (it’s not just the entity ‘Apple’ – it’s a company of people) just to piss-off some abysmally small percentage of users? It’s not cost-effective. From hardware guys to software guys to QA/testers, a lot of man-hours were used to implement it. That costs money. No company does it just to be a dick.
So then, why would they want to make sure their software was the one pulling/pushing (media goes 2-ways now, remember? Wifi Store) media from their player? I can think of tons of reasons, but the big one is for the rumored video rentals. If you rent a movie and put it on your iPod to watch, I’m sure the movie studios don’t want you to be able to copy it to every computer you connect with. Sure, it sucks for those on non-supported platforms, but come on, everyone knows the iPod is to be used with iTunes. It clearly says so on the box. No one is being led to believe otherwise. iTunes is the software part of the package.
I always just assumed that most Linux users installed that Linux system on their iPods. Rockbox?
Nowhere, at any time did Apple ever tell any Linux user that the device was compatible. It has always been sold as Mac and Windows only. So Linux users were able to make it work in the past and now they can’t. Install the other software (sorry I really don’t remember what it is called) and live your life.
As a fresh Ubuntu user on an old laptop I would kill for a Linux version of iTunes to share my media collection like I done on my XP and OS X systems. I knew there wasn’t one when I installed Linux and I installed it anyway because I wanted to use Linux.
ClockSkew, read the article. Dual, no Apple never claimed to support Linux however some people used their iPods exclusively with Linux. The thing is that they never tried to directly block the functionality either. I can see how it would be a little frustrating if a Linux-only user bought an iPod only to discover it no longer works with his system. Yeah the number of Linux users in America is probably lacking but world wide the numbers will definitely add up.
@Ilya Kochanov
I get you. I don’t see why Apple won’t release iTunes and Quick Time for Linux. I get the whole distros being different thing, but an RPM and a DEB would do nicely. BUT, Linux users were always taking things into their own hands when they bought an iPod.
I’ve never tried to connect one of my iPods to my Ubuntu laptop. I can see why someone would want to and I as a new Linux users wish it could be different. It isn’t.
Reasons why being thrown around in some of the forums surmise that it could have to do with copyright issues with the labels/RIAA or perhaps just not wanting users to have access on systems that they don’t support. The new iTunes (7.4) is not compatible with Win2K and the new iPods are only compatible with iTunes 7.4. If my Win2k system were my main or only system I would be out of luck there too.