This week in Apple news

In the past week, Apple has taken several steps to restrict usage of its popular iTunes music store.

The company announced it would require customers of older versions of iTunes to upgrade to more recent versions if they want to continue purchasing Apple's online music. That move affected users of iTunes 4.2; those users were forced to upgrade to versions 4.7, 4.6 or 4.5.

Apple also disabled its iTunes plug-in for transferring songs off the iPod with the latest version of iTunes 4.7. That feature allowed iPod owners to copy songs from the music player to an iTunes library, a feature Apple did not support. In the past, the computer maker has used its latest iTunes versions to disable support for third-party software that adds unintended file-sharing capabilities to the popular jukebox software.

Apple also is keeping a tight rein on the list of products that customers can review at its online Apple Store. The store sells both Apple-made products, such as computers and the popular iPod, and non-Apple products, such as Canon digital cameras and iPod accessories. But Apple prohibits customers from posting reviews of Apple-made products on its store site. The company briefly posted a notice on its site, where it gave itself a "5 Apples" rating on all its products, before removing it. The company previously had posted the comment, "We give all Apple products a rating of '5 Apples' because we think they're great...Would you trust us to display less-than-perfect ratings on our own products? We didn't think so."

Also on the iPod front, music lovers checking into fine hotels may find in-room iPods as part of the hotel amenities. A new four-star hotel in Manhattan is one of the latest boutique hotels to offer guests the use of Apple's popular music gadget during their stay. The iPods come preloaded with as many as 2,000 songs and are available for each of the hotel's 200 rooms. Out West, The Crescent in Beverly Hills features an iPod Music Minibar in each guest room. The 40-room hotel, which has a lounge-bar theme, introduced the gadgets, and installed speakers, last year. The devices there also come preloaded with music, with a focus on jazz, lounge and electronica.

Apple is also finding that push sometimes comes to shove. The company, when threatening to push longtime Mac developer Arlo Rose's product aside, prompted the developer to jump ship to Windows with his Konfabulator. The Konfabulator software allows easy access to a variety of small applications called widgets.

[coolfactor]

poor article

This article has a number of negative connotations that put
Apple in the penalty box unfairly.

First, the article starts with "In the past week, Apple has taken
several steps to restrict usage of its popular iTunes music store."
That's not true. They're not preventing users from accessing the
store, but just doing so from an older version. iTunes is a free
download and the iTMS is an online service, so there's no reason
to continue using an older version.

Second, the article states "Apple also disabled its iTunes plug-in
for transferring songs off the iPod...". Again, leaving the user to
believe they're restricting something that was previously
permitted. The said plug-in is not an Apple product so referring
to it as "its iTunes plug-in" is incorrect. However, this is clarified
as the reader continues down the article.

The article goes on to talk about Apple "prohibiting users from
rating Apple products". Again, another negative approach to
something that needs to be clarified. I stand by Apple's position
of not allowing Apple products to be rated at their own store,
but then again, it would be interesting to see the results if they
allowed it. :-)

And Apple isn't pushing Arlo aside. They're creating a platform
that Arlo can build a very successful business on, but is
choosing to go his own way. His choice.

That was a good reply about this story

Cnet often makes a bad name for Apple Computer, if you are thinking about an Apple this is anot a good place to look for information about Apple, I have just got myself a new PowerMac G5 Dual and I aqm never going back to Microsoft ever agian , I had been a hard core MS user for years and thought the same things about the Apple that other MS users did, and all I have to say about the Sh-t that MS users say about the Apple is so not true, so do your self something if you are looking to buy of just learn about the Apple, do it somewhere but do not do it here

Ash

Cisco Network Admin