Freedom for the iPods

Apple’s success in the market of mobile media players is unbroken: iPods and iPhones are spotted everywhere, even the white headphones have long been an indication that here is not an “ordinary” MP3 player, but the Deluxe model from Apple doing its work.


Forcibly


And with the iPad, the success continues despite the high price and various hardware limitations. Granted, the use, functionality and extensions of the iPod touch and iPhone models look the same and impress, but there is this software, which is mandatory for the Apple devices: iTunes.

Tanklaster


The iTunes installation is a prerequisite for using the iPod or the iPhone at all. If virtually any other MP3 player can be massaged as a mass storage device, iTunes software is a prerequisite for the Apple device to transfer audio, video and images.


But not just data synchronization is the reason why you can not get it without iTunes: The setup package comes with the necessary drivers for Windows, so that the devices can be detected at the USB port. Unzip the iTunesSetup.exe with an archiver such as 7-Zip, find the installation file for the drivers in the AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi


But also the use is not very much: in the end, however, the firmware updates, which make the installation of the entire package unavoidable, because finally you can with iPod and iPhone does not always remain with an older firmware version, otherwise the installation of new programs Is denied. This update mechanism can not be performed on the player itself, and there are no alternative tools to update.


ITunes has its strengths: the shop is a rich offering, the podcast selection is clear and offers something for everyone. If your main employment is to play new media files on the iPod or to exchange with older people, iTunes looks like guns on sparrows: Under Windows, the software appears sluggish, complicated and cumbersome


Why can not I connect the player to any computer with iTunes, and when activating the sync option, I receive the message that all currently available data is deleted? Why can not the transferred media files be copied back to the computer as with any other player?


And: Why do I need to have media files indexed by the media library before I can copy them to the iPod / iPhone? If you just want to play a few files from an extensive MP3 collection on the player has lost with iTunes, and who already owns a large music collection, but only now an Apple player owns, will be about the hour-long indexing of the files Through iTunes ".