I can confirm they don't mess with the ID3 tags. There are a multitude of easy to use applications that will rename mp3s based on their ID3 tags. You can easily copy a file from the iPod (because, surprise, its not some magical custom filesystem. Maybe a custom folder structure, but that stops no one). Honestly, I have no clue why they rename the music files. It really could possibly help improve performance. I don't really know. It could be a way to ensure that files never have the same name. They could just be the unique ID to the file and instead of changing the ID3 tag, they just change the filename. It eliminates the need of a relationship of ID to filename. All it needs is the ID and the information about the song. It doesn't need another column about where to find the file because, bam, the ID and the filename are the same. Is this really the case? I have no clue. But I'm just saying, they do *not* mess with the ID3 tags and its not a custom filesystem as its easily read by Windows as a harddrive and you can copy stuff to it. Filesystem != folder structure/hierarchy. I wrote software for a digital x-ray machine. Think we named every file created after the animal and what body part? Hell no. We used a unique identifier. it was virtually impossible for another file to get created with the same name (virtually, not actually).

I've copied mp3s off an ipod. I've run software that uses the ID3 tags to rename them in a format of my choosing (normally "artist - album - track - title.mp3").

I have an iPhone 3G. I actually still feel remorse about buying it because of purchasing a product from Apple. I feel better when I buy from Microsoft than when I buy from Apple. I still feel remorse at buying from MS, but sometimes I need what they provide. Sometimes I need what Apple provides. I don't have time to wait around for someone to do it the right way. Honestly, I think the Pre may be pretty close, but I'm not switching mid-contract. When my contract is up, I may consider it though.

Why do you insist that Palm is "resorting" to this? I applaud them for it. I like iTunes. Now, I'm not being forced to purchase an iPhone (though, I'm not gonna lie, I do own one, but at least in the future, my options may be open) just so that I don't have to deal with extra software. I think its absolutely ingenious what Palm did. They're enabling their customers to not have to relearn anything. They're not forcing their customers to drop their media player of choice. They're not forcing their customers to run multiple library management software suites. They're making the life of the customer easier for them. THEY GIVING THE CUSTOMER WHAT THEY WANT.

Why are you so anti-customer and so pro-corporate? You cannot justify your position and actually care about the consumer in anyway? Apple is absolutely anti-consumerist here. They're not giving a really large portion of the population what they want. Palm is filling that niche. iTunes isn't going to be a make or break for many people. Most folks will either like the Pre or the iPhone better than the other. Palm is at least making it easier for its customers. Kinda like how APPLE CAN BOOT WINDOWS TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR PEOPLE WHO USE WINDOWS. If Apple was so great, why'd they have to resort to boot camp to convince people to switch to a Mac? Isn't their OS good enough to stand on its own that they wouldn't need to reassure folks that they can still run windows? (Honestly, i don't believe that, but basically, your argument applies there. Either you don't have faith in Apple's OS and think they need to rely on Windows OR your argument is full of shit. You're not getting modded down because people disagree with you. You're getting modded down because your argument is horrendously weak, has nothing to do with anything, and really only consists of you trying to insult Palm because they were intelligent enough to sell a product that people want.

If someone wants to stick with iTunes, they have to buy an iPhone and nothing else? So Apple is definitely not about choice in your opinion. You either have to go all Apple or no Apple at all. Whatever happened to buying products you like. Apple's intention for iTunes to sell iPods/iPhones notwithstanding, iTunes is a standalone application. There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to use one and not the other except for completely arbitrary business reasons, which in the end, are bad for the consumer. Pre is being the good guy here. They realize good software. They don't want to take that away from their consumers. They also don't want to burden them with more software. Apple is making their customers' lives difficult. If they use iTunes, they're still Apple customers. Maybe they aren't purchasing the other things Apple wants to sell them, but since when do you get to punish your customers because they only buy one product and not everything in the entire store.

Don't be mistaken. Apple isn't punishing Palm with this one. They're punishing consumers who've decided to buy a competing product. Apple is kind of a dick like that. I'm not saying other companies don't do it, but lets call a spade a spade.

CDMA world phones will actually also carry a GSM chip as well so it will work abroad (CDMA is bigger in the US than the world in general). So it can use GSM when CDMA is absent. The only technical reason is that it requires an entirely different chip in the phone. So, most phones come with one or the other, however, some will come with both.

There is a small difference. Not all cell networks are compatible. If all cell phones had to work on all networks, manufacturers would have to spend more to create different phones or just jam every chip in there like they do with world phones. It *could* cause handset prices to jump (above retail, not subsidized) at least temporarily until the market works itself out and they can figure out how better to address the issue (ie: how many of each phone generally goes to each network, is it cheaper to make different models as opposed to one model, etc.)

You don't *have* to get rid of iTunes. However, it creates another job. You now have to manage those other two mp3 players manually. If you have hundreds of songs, it could be quit a hassle picking and choosing what goes on there. iTunes can do it at a click of a button. I'm just saying its an added hassle and if the Pre users can get that feature elsewhere in another music library, they may decide to just use that one program instead of two.

No, you're still blinded by a certain je ne sais quois. You're not assuring that yours is being used to enhance his at your expense. Before it went down, he was using yours at no one's expense and it benefited the customers. I doubt someone's loyalty to iTunes will cause them to not buy a Pre (because if they're that loyal, they'd buy an iPhone). Its an added bonus that only benefits the customer.

You're devaluing YOUR product to YOUR customers at YOUR expense. The iTunes is not driving Pre sales. Someone's use of iTunes will not stop them from getting a Pre based on its compatibility with iTunes. Its a feature thats there to keep YOUR users using YOUR product.

You're assuring YOUR software's value is LOWER to YOUR CUSTOMERS at YOUR expense. The Pre was NOT costing you any significant or even noticeable expenses in any way. Apple was not complaining about Pre users calling their help line. That wasn't an issue.

Your argument is EXACTLY the same as people who think Google owes newspapers money. They think Google is making money of their product, so they should get some. However, thats not the case. An entity is providing a service that was not there in the first place that makes the current existing product more valuable to consumers.

Palm added value to iTunes. Apple took it away. Its that simple. It's also fact if you look at it logically. Stop letting your emotions get a hold of you. People for whatever reason see this as unfair, but its completely based on emotion. They think Apple is getting taken advantage of, but thats simply not the case.

They didn't dupe anyone. Apple has duped its customers with their whole, "it just works" slogan. Apparently its only, "it just works... assuming you buy this other product as well... but if you buy a competitor's product, we'll break it on purpose."

::sigh:: The whole purpose was for people who already use iTunes. They HAVE a syncing app. iTunes is *NOT* required for the Palm Pre. Why does everybody not seem to understand this? This was for those folk who liked iTunes as a music management suite and didn't want to have to either manage two libraries OR get rid of iTunes completely. Its as if Apple is saying, "You didn't buy one of our hardware products? Well, you can't easily use one of our software products from a related market."

How can one say Apple is *NOT* leveraging their software to sell hardware? I'm not saying that practice in and of itself is wrong, but its wrong when you leverage it so that it can only sell your own hardware and not anyone else's. Though, I'm not surprised as Apple has been doing this shady and unethical practice for years.

Your last statement is absolutely false. One manufacture differentiates itself from another by trying to increase the value of their own product, not decrease the value of others. All Apple is doing here is not improving their product, but kicking another one. Thats awful business practice and terrible for the consumer. Its working backwards. Give people incentive to purchase your product, not take away incentive from others. Its asinine, petty, and stupid and only works for companies that have a stranglehold on a particular market. They no longer care about the customers, but only about themselves. It reminds me of this other company not too far back that are currently dominating another software market, particularly the OS market. You may have heard of them, they're called Microsoft. Apple is practically taking pages from MS's playbook here. Apple fans can decry MS all they want about how evil they are, yet they're completely blind to Apple doing the *exact* same thing.

At what point did iTunes customers stop being your customers? At what point did you decide to screw over your customers because they dared buy a competitor's product in a DIFFERENT MARKET than iTunes?

I don't understand the irrational spread of the idea that iTunes and iPods are somehow the same product. Yes, they work together and yes, Apple included a syncing feature in iTunes for the iPod, however, iTunes is FIRST a music library/digital goods store, it's second a syncing program. Your customers shouldn't be required to purchase a separate piece of hardware to take advantage of a feature that is in no way proprietary and solely doesn't work with other things because Apple said so.

Digital download-only games for the PSP are cheaper than UMD games. UMD games also available for download are again, cheaper. They're not $10, but they're significantly cheaper. Also, they're tied to your PSN login name, not your system. You can play the games on other systems as long as you can log in. If you can't log in, then I believe it has to be the system you purchased it on or at least one thats been logged in with your name before. I've transferred games from various PSP's and to and from a PS3 (game played on both systems) before.

Do you think Apple wants a bunch of calls from Pre users? Do you think there aren't a whole lot of them who don't know or don't care that Apple isn't responsible for it? All the users will know is that Apple purposely broke a certain functionality of their phone on purpose. That'll be awesome for Apple's PR team.

There's absolutely no trademark issue. Trademarks are for consumer protection. Its to stop people from assuming your product is somehow related to another. The user will never assume its an Apple device as they know full well its a Palm device. Only the machine will be confused.

I'm more upset that he got a patent for changing the shapes from square to a triangle. This doesn't show any real creativity to even constitute a design patent. Its like a themed keyboard. Like if someone decided to make a keyboard using various shapes just for style. I doubt that could be patented either.