Apple confirms: Pre locked out of iTunes

July 15, 2009 | Paul Boutin | Comments | |

palm-pre-itunesApple PR wrangler Natalie Kerris has officially confirmed to BusinessWeek what Pre owners have been tweeting: “iTunes 8.2.1 … disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre. As we’ve said before, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players.”

Just this second, Palm spokeswoman Lynn Fox has sent out a counter-snipe: “Palm’s media sync works with iTunes 8.2. If Apple chooses to disable media sync in iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we can consider.”

Anyone else up for Mobile Fight Club? It’ll be more fun than battling press releases.

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About the Author, Paul Boutin

Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • Dumb move by Apple. Signals they are worried about the Pre.

    I say that as an iPhone owning household.
  • I think this whole thing is the result of a slow news day. Apple makes a media player product as an extension of its' portable electronic devices. It syncs with those devices as well as PCs and Macs. They've chosen not to sync with other portable electronic devices. Whatever. Get over it. Tomorrow will still come.

    If other companies want to sync multimedia with their devices, hire some developers and do something about it -- stop whining ;)