Nothing to see here: Apple’s newly released iTunes 9.0.2 update handily ousts the Pre back to Palm. Time and time again, Palm have gained backdoor access via hotwired USB routes to iTunes, tricking Apple’s media software into syncing the Pre as an iPod. And time and time again, their efforts have been stymied by a protective (and fully within-its-rights) Apple.
The new update improves accessibility support and adds a dark background for viewing media in grid mode.
Also released yesterday, Apple TV’s 3.0 software update came free and adds the following functionality (from AppleInsider):
- Experience iTunes Extras: Buy select movies with iTunes Extras and take your entertainment beyond the credits and behind the scenes. Access special features, watch interviews and trailers, view photos, and more right from Apple TV.
- iTunes LP, now on your TV: The visual experience of the record album returns with iTunes LP. Download select albums and experience a beautifully designed interactive world — many are created by the artists — full screen on your Apple TV. While you listen to your favorite songs, you can dive into animated lyrics and liner notes, watch performance videos, view artist and band photos, and enjoy other bonus materials.
- Genius Mixes: This new feature searches an iTunes library, finds songs that go great together, and creates multiple mixes, all automatically.
- Visual aids — Events and Faces: Apple TV brings the ease and organization of iPhoto to the big screen with Events and Faces. Events lets users flip through photos grouped by event, like “Beach house” or “Vegas trip.” Faces uses face detection to identify people in photos and face recognition to match faces that look like the same person. Click the Faces view and Apple TV shows you a corkboard featuring a snapshot of each person named in a photo collection.
- Streaming Internet radio: Browse thousands of streaming radio stations and every genre imaginable, including rock, reggae, classical, and jazz. Just click a station and begin streaming. Apple TV now includes stations in high-quality HE-AAC formats for your listening pleasure.
In certain circles, iTunes is considered a bloated, heavy, slow piece of software, but nevertheless, Palm are hard at work crooking USB protocols to their advantage and so that the Pre can be seen as an iPod from within iTunes. Incidentally, Apple’s rival have been reprimanded by the USB Implementers Forum on grounds that “usage of any other company’s Vendor ID is specifically precluded” [digitaldaily].
[via PreCentral] … Read more
