No more direct sync for Palm Pre users
The expected update to iTunes to disable the Palm Pre’s ability to sync with the application has occurred with the latest 8.2.1 iTunes update. Palm has been touting the Pre’s Media Sync feature, which allowed the device to trick iTunes into believing it was a native iPod. Naturally that didn’t sit too well with Apple, who released the latest update, which in typically vague fashion “provides a number of important bug fixes, “ and more importantly, “also disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre.”
Apple has always warned that it doesn’t support or test iTunes’ compatibility with non-Apple digital media players, so it was just a matter of time before the release of an update that would cripple the Pre’s iTunes syncing ability. Palm Pre users can of course choose to fore-go the 8.2.1 update and continue to enjoy the Media Sync feature, but the “important bugs” the update also addresses will remain.
It remains to be seen whether Palm will choose to develop a counter-update, but the company would probably be better off developing their own syncing tool or simply rely on the syncing tools from third party developers. Palm Pre owners who have already updated to iTunes 8.2.1 need not despair though. Aside from using third party apps to sync their music collection they can also use the manual method of plugging in the Pre via USB, putting it in USB drive ma=ode and dragging and dropping music. Not quite as streamlined as syncing directly with iTunes, but it gets the job done.
[Apple Insider, ars technica, jkOnTheRun]
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