RSSCould a standards body force the iTunes-Pre issue?
By Angela Gunn | Published July 28, 2009, 9:21 AM
Palm's plea to the USB Implementers Forum -- the nonprofit group organized by the companies that developed the USB spec -- is an interesting but potentially dangerous gambit for the Pre's home team.
Engineers at Palm re-established via a firmware upgrade the Pre's ability to connect to iTunes late Thursday evening, to the continued annoyance of Apple's closed-source partisans -- especially, no doubt, since Palm's John Traynor made a point of prefacing the news with Steve Jobs' "and one more thing" catchphrase. As it did in the previous workaround, the Pre's firmware now passes to iTunes a Vendor ID indicating it's an Apple device, allowing the phone to download content legally purchased by its user.
Palm also said on Thursday that this isn't just about tricking one machine with another; it's a standards issue, and they're taking their case to the USB IF. Company spokesperson Lynn Fox cited the rules (PDF available) laid down by the organization and said, essentially, that Apple's violating the USB standard by treating its assigned Vendor ID as a digital rights management (DRM) mechanism.
Gutsy, especially since some observers think Palm is itself in violation of the USB rules when it spoofs Apple's ID. The workaround, according to multiple sources, involves the Pre telling iTunes that it is an Apple-made mass storage device (with the ID 0x05ac), rather than a device from Palm (vendor ID 0x083). Though the company may believe that "openness and interoperability offer better experiences for users by allowing them the freedom to use the content they own without interference across devices and services," as Fox put it, this could be an expensive way of putting Elevation Partners' money where their mouth is.
The online reaction has been predictably tumultuous, with a monotone chorus of "we could have told you so"'s from the Linux and open-source communities countered by high-pitched squawking from Macolytes, some of whom seem so personally put out as to be incoherent. "But isn't it Apple's right to keep iTunes exclusive?" fumed blogger "ccjames" at Tech Tribe news. "How long have they been developing it, keeping it available, free, and working on iPod/iPhone features? One of the iPhone's major selling points is that everything syncs with iTunes." ("Everything" in this context meaning, perhaps, everything in the blogger's Trapper Keeper.)
Six companies are represented on USB IF (HP, Intel, LSI, Microsoft, NEC and ST-Ericsson). The organization has -- probably wisely -- made no comment to date on the situation.
I'm not saying I'm a fan of what Apple has done, but what Palm is doing is clearly a violation of the USB IF's rules, which explicitly prohibit using another vendor's Vendor ID. Palm, on the other hand, is making a plea to the USB IF because they *think* what Apple is doing is against the open nature of USB. (When you get an ID, you sign a form that says "Unauthorized use of assigned or unassigned USB Vendor ID Numbers and associated Product ID Numbers are strictly prohibited.")
It's always been the case that iTunes has worked only with iPods/iPhones (and, occasionally, other Apple-approved devices--actually, several in the pre-iPod-domination era). But as I recall, this is the first time Apple has proactively *stopped* another device from working. In addition to checking the device's name (usually some sort of mass storage device called iPod), they're also checking the Vendor ID (and looking for Apple's)--this is how Palm got around Apple the second time, according to several sources (previously it still identified itself as an iPod but with Palm's Vendor ID).
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|And to conclude, since I forgot... :)
What Palm really needs to do is write their own software to sync, as so many others have--it's easy to read the XML version of the iTunes database and use this information to sync. That would end this cat-and-mouse game (unless Apple changes the XML file's format, but I don't think they've ever done so in a backwards-incompatible way--in fact, it's just nice that they even write an XML file, since the actual database has been binary for several versions now).
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|I look at it this way. You want to use iTunes, use an Apple Device. You want to sync your PRE? Use something else. Palm users should quit whining about synching with iTunes and Palm should either come up with their own software or do it like all the others do.....as a disk drive.
This is like saying I bought an Intel motherboard and complaining that AMD chips don't work in them. Intel controls what kind of chips work. Apple wrote the software so for them to keep it proprietary to their devices is their choice.
End of story.......move on.
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|"Apple wrote the software so for them to keep it proprietary to their devices is their choice."
I hope you're also defending MS in that case...
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|tmiller,
An appropriate analogy would be Intel requiring you to buy an Intel manufactured motherboard as opposed to one by a 3rd party like ASUS. ASUS can make motherboard that are compatible with Intel processors, just like Palm being compatible with iTunes. The difference is Intel doesn't lock out 3rd party motherboards like Apple trying to lock out 3rd party music devices.
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|What? It's my God given right to use whatever device I want with iTunes.
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|Sorry..God owns shares in Apple..You're s*** out of luck or a new liver.
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|Portable Music Playing Devices are to iTunes, as Applications are to Windows. If it's iTune's right to only allow their own devices connect to it, would it also be Microsoft's right to block iTunes and force people to use Windows Media Player?
You're either for companies being open and working for the consumers, or you are for them protecting their own little space and blocking 3rd party products.
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|Considering that Microsoft was/is causing problems for QuickTime, Real Player, and others to favour WMP; is there a distinction?
iTunes is software to manage an iPod and its music. There is a way to create plug-ins for devices, though it's not as simple as the hack that Palm are using. What Palm have done could certain hurt them in the long run, clever or not.
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|I can't believe how effective Palm's marketing strategy has been on this. Their referral to the USB Implementors forum is the icing on the cake since they are the ones who are in fact violating the USB rules. LOL. Yet all the anti-Apple web sites, like Betanews keep being spoon-fed on this non-issue.
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|@Fatty: "Yet all the anti-Apple web sites, like Betanews keep being spoon-fed on this non-issue."
Your joking right?
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|Oh, I'm sure he sees it everywhere: http://www.theonion.com/..._claims_new_iphone_only
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