iTunes goes 9.0.2: adds support for Apple TV 3.0, kills Pre sync
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 29th 2009 3:12PM
posted Oct 29th 2009 3:12PM
Update: Looks like it killed Pre sync -- now, act like you're surprised!
iTunes 9.0.2 adds support for Apple TV software version 3.0, adds an option for a dark background for Grid View, and improves support for accessibility.
iTunes 9 comes with many new features and improvements, including:
• An improved look and feel, including a new Column Browser for easily browsing your artists or albums, movies, TV shows, and more.
• iTunes Store has a brand new look, with improved navigation for quick and easy exploration.
• iTunes LP and iTunes Extras create unique experiences that feature exclusive interviews, videos, photos, and more - available with select album and movie purchases on the iTunes Store.
• Home Sharing helps you manage your family's iTunes collection between computers in your home. iTunes can automatically transfer new purchases, or you can choose just the items you want.
• Genius Mixes are created for you by iTunes and play songs from your library that go great together.
• iPod and iPhone syncing now allows you to organize your iPhone and iPod touch home screens directly in iTunes. Syncing is now also more flexible, allowing you to sync individual artists, genres, or TV show and Podcast episodes.
• iTunes U items are now organized into their own section in your iTunes library.
• Sync with iPod nano (5th generation), iPod classic (Fall 2009), and iPod touch (Fall 2009).
• iTunes 9 also includes many other improvements, such as HE-AAC encoding and playback, more flexibility with Smart Playlists rules, simpler organization of your media files inside an iTunes Media folder, and more.
I like how I updated to 9.0 yesterday. lulz. Time to update again!
Don't feel bad. Darren apparently hasn't even updated to 10.5.8 yet, let alone "blindly" (as he puts it) to Snow Leopard.
Still no black background option(as requested by many) in grid view.
I updated yesterday too. Dammit!
I can never tell if Apple doesn't want their customers to use iTunes. They release 88mb updates to fix a 1 or 2 small problems (one of the problems not even being a real problem just a PR stunt).
I just stopped updating iTunes
iTunes + Quicktime gets forced every time... What a bag of hurt!
I wonder how much energy is used by updating 9.01 worldwide to 9.02...
*Millions of end-user computers downloading and installing + quicktime (8 minutes intensive usage of processor, internet, hard-drive?)
*millions of routers
*ISP's distributing terabytes of data
*servers of apple sending gazillion bytes
... Is it really worth that much to block 50 palm-pre users?This so called 'Green' company could also just offer a patch of 100kb (imo the updates aren't worth more than that)
And I feel guilty leaving on my economic light in the hallway...
Does it break iSync?...
Will it break the pre sync?
Will it blend?
Does our favorite super-secret DRM stripping program still work with the latest iTunes version?
Oh my God! They killed Presync!
MS should make a commercial about how often Apple updates their shitty iTunes software all the time but guess what iTunes NEVER gets better
Careful there, you're smacking a hornet's nest.
*ducks for cover*
And Apple should make a commercial about how pathetic u ms fanboys are.
oh w8, it doesnt have to.
the funny thing is im not a fanboy i actually think that Linux is the superior OS to all of them, i just hate how Apple bashes on other companies for doing the exact same thing they do...which is update and further improve their products.
iTunes 9.0.2: Making the music you don't buy from us that much easier to find.
Steve has a point. I don't consider it a software improvement when an update intentionally breaks functionality with other devices.
I've never seen Apple make fun of another company for updating their product on a regular basis and they've always released software updates on a regular basis. It's nothing new.
you obviously have not seen the apple vs windows 7 commercial that just came out then
@Meat Oh you mean breaks illegal functionality with other devices from a device vendor that is going to be thrown out of the USB IF in a matter of weeks for spoofing vendor ID's. Yeah what a bunch of jerks.
Steve, I couldn’t AGREE with you more. The weakest link of my iPhone/iPod touch platform is iTunes itself. I wish I could sync my iPod Touch with the Zune desktop software to manage and transfer files to have the best of both worlds.
iTunes is simply CRAP!
The Pre is misidentifying itself as an Apple iPod. That violates all kinds of trademark laws and it's also why the FCC is coming down on them. Of course Apple is going to break Pre syncing, because THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG. If you want to complain about Pre syncing to iTunes, complain to Palm. They know they're doing it wrong, and they know how to do it right, like everybody else does. They're just refusing to do it right.
Trying to blame Apple for breaking Pre syncing is like somebody who breaks into your house, stabs your kids and rapes your wife suing you from jail because he stubbed his toe in your house.
Fairly certain that the ad your referring to is the one with "PC" dressed in clothing from different eras. They poke fun at the idea that everything will be fixed in "Vista... XP... 2000... etc." They point they are trying to make is that nothing changes from major release to major release of Windows. It reiterates Schiller's sentiment that even though 7 is being hyped it is "still Windows". They aren't complaining about Windows being updated, they are complaining about what they consider to be basic, underlying problems with the OS not being fixed.
@Steve: That is the best analogy ever. I can't decide if you are serious or mocking the people who seriously think the first half of your post makes sense... :)
Oops! I meant that to Jack. Ah, well.
This is just the aftermath of me thinking for two seconds, but the only thing I think Microsoft has done to put down apple in a commercial is put them down based on price. It's taken them years to just get to that point, so let's not be hasty.
@Chris Dunning
What would those underlying problems be? Blue Screens of Death, and the other marketing Apple feeds you?
Apple Marketing = Genius. Everyone and their mother mistakes it actual evidence and not just marketing and ads.
@Jack "The Pre is misidentifying itself as an Apple iPod. That violates all kinds of trademark laws"
Sit down before you hurt yourself. Pre's method of syncing with iTunes breaks absolutely no trademark laws. Since you clearly have no knowledge of trademark law, why are you trying to talk about it?
Yep, that's why it's perfectly legal to make a music playing device and call it an Apple iPod.
Oh wait. No it isn't.
Also, it seems that the USB IF has taken issue with Palm doing this too. You can't use another device's identifier.
@Jack:
There are no trademark issues. If Palm had [i]named[/i] the Pre the "iPod Pre", or something like that, it would be a trademark violation, but using the term "iPod" in their metatag code isn't a trademark violation.
There's one thing that bothers me, though: The way that Palm has chosen to emulate the iPod in Media Sync mode, there aren't any "Palm" or "Pre" tags left. I'm not sure what implications that would have, but it seems to me that it may not be such a great idea to [i]completely[/i] erase the differences.
@MEAT!
If we look at a "Software Update" its a new release of software code to end users which enables new functionality and possibly enables new features, while addressing (and hopefully fixing old bugs.)
Pre sync can be called a bug, so really, it is a software update.
It may not violate trademark laws, but it does violate the terms of Palm's agreement with the USB-IF, who have already ruled in Apple's favor on this issue.
Should Palm continue to seek access to iTunes for their devices without going through the proper channels, things could get interesting. Otherwise, there is no news here, outside of the AppleTV support.
@ Jack "Yep, that's why it's perfectly legal to make a music playing device and call it an Apple iPod."
As bhartman pointed out, that isn't what Palm is doing... so trademark isn't even on the table. Even though I am sure it is pointless, because you are probably an Apple fan boi who won't listen to reason (btw... I don't mean to imply that all Apple fans can't listen to reason, just the particularl subset that is too rapid in their love of Apple to see anything that goes against the Jobsian mothership), I will explain why this can't be trademark infringement.
The counterargument by Apple fans like you is that when the Pre is plugged into iTunes, it identifies as an iPod. There are two problems with that argument, from a legal standpoint. First, Palm is not the party affixing the "iPod" trademark to the Pre. iTunes does (which is made by Apple... so legally, Apple is the party that is naming the Pre an "iPod"). Palm just rigged the Pre to exploit iTunes's inability to tell the difference. Not ethical on Palm's part, but not trying to palm off it's products as Apple's (the requirement for trademark infringement). Second, and more important, trademark infringement occurs when someone else's trademark is used at a point of sale or in advertisements. At the point of sale and in ads, it couldn't be more clear that the Pre is a Palm and not an Apple product. People aren't buying the Pre thinking "Because this says it's an iPod when I plug it into iTunes, it must be an Apple iPod," because they don't see that happening until they've already made the purchase. No use at the point of sale or in advertising equals no liklihood of confusion (another requirement for trademark infringement).
I repeat... please sit down before you hurt yourself. You sound like an idiot insisting that you are right when you have been demonstrated to be absolutely, and completely wrong.
Which one of you guys is still running 10.5.7?
yeah i just noticed that too lol...someones been slackin on their updates..
lol you guys changed the picture
ummmm. call me crazy.. but didn't we already have this? At least I've been using this one since the last major iphone announcement... unless i'm mistaken.
I don't think this one is new...
Everything after that first bullet is the same from the original iTunes 9.0.0 release.
Yeah ... well, that's what you get when you just copy and paste Apple press releases. The only question I have is whether or not Engadget gets to charge them for running the advertisement in editorial copy ...
It's not claiming to be anything but the iTunes 9 feature set...
Pre sync broken again?
People own Palm Pres?
I should probably answer your question.. yes it does break Pre sync.
http://www.precentral.net/itunes-updated-902-pre-sync-dead-again
Actually I'm excited about buying a Pre after christmas. I'm just not an iTunes customer so I don't care either way who wins that fight.
yes. and it will continue to be broken until Palm gives up. As it should be.
no Palm probably isn't breaking any laws (false advertising perhaps) but what they are going still isn't cricket. and the USB-IF has called them on it. But they flipped the group the finger and flat said they were going to continue. not cool. it won't be shocking if their license to use USB gets cut on them. oops
also, Templarian, would you rather that they update all the time than never. especially when you can wait on many of the updates and have no loss of function. the Palm Pre folks do it all the time.
Personally, I think that every MP3 manufacturer should start making their firmware sync to iTunes. But that might just be my dislike for closed systems that don't have to be. Apple used to be a cool company that appeared to have better ethics than Microsoft. These days I feel like working with Apple is like joining a regime or cult.
I don't understand why Apple doesn't just license iTunes to Palm if they want it so bad. Increase the iTunes user base and increase iTunes Store customers....not to mention charging and having a conversation with Palm's customers. I seem like lots of wins for Apple rather then stupidly fighting them on it.
In fact why not open up iTunes and license it to many manufacturers or are they worried their hardware will not stack up with the competition. Surely they will end up making a lot more money from content sales then hardware sales..... just thinking out loud so don't shoot me if I am way off the mark
Dave,
Conventional wisdom has been that the iTunes store is a loss-leader and not really a money maker. After royalties, credit card fees, bandwidth, and other misc expenses, there is not much left of the .99. Certainly not enough for Apple to go through the hassle of supporting several different devices. iTunes original intent (and likely current) was to sell the hardware, and now Palm is trying to piggyback off of that. The funny part is that an iTunes library is just a very readable xml file. All Palm has to do is build a small syncing app that reads the information in that file and puts it on your phone. Palm is alienating their customers and looking stupid just to stick it to Apple a little every month or two.
Nice! I was hating the white background for apps and movies and stuff. Download time!