Should Palm Have Re-Enabled iTunes Sync? 62

I dont use Itunes cause I always thought it was a big piece O' overated poo. I think its awesome what palm is doing. Any one that owns a pre should not be using Itunes anyways. Amazon is a much better company. There are tones of third party software that works fine. I need a option that says "I think its awesome but screw apple and Itunes."

btw, i voted for the second option, but palm should creat their own or partner with someone who want to do this.

i understand why they havent (time and money) created their own yet, but hopefully they will one day.

Has Palm or Sprint advertised the Pre as iTunes-compatable yet? I mean, their commerials don't say anything about what the Pre can do, and the copy literature doesn't promote iTunes support, so I don't see any harm in the re-enabling or future disabling of iTunes sync support.

I imagine that from Palm's perspective, Apple and Palm don't have to go cat and mouse ad-infinitum, trapped in an epic, lifelong battle.

Instead, Palm just has to keep up with it long enough for there to be a critical mass of Pre owners and sympathizers to sway public perception against Apple's anti-competitive behavior. Ideally, this kind of ballsy behavior would influence other phones/digital audio players to jump on the bandwagon and hack iTunes support as well. I'm guessing that Palm hopes that with enough loud voices, Apple will give up and back down.

I don't think Palm should have "fixed" the iTunes sync issue or even list it as a feature from the beginning if there was a chance Apple would remove it. If Palm talked to Apple ahead of time and they ok'd it, then it would be fine. But by doing it on the sly, they're going to be hurting their users who use iTunes on a daily basis. Everytime Apple releases a new version, those users will not be able to sync their music (at least the way they're used to doing it).

We all know the reason Palm included this feature was to try to steal away iPhone users who loved using iTunes. But unless they can figure out a way to prevent Apple from "fixing" iTunes, this game they're playing is not going to end well for them.

I don't use sync applications, simple USB drive mode works for me. But I find the back and forth amusing even though it's only occurred once thus far.

I do not use iTunes and am currently using MediaMonkey to great statisfaction.

I don't think this is really about Palm syncing with iTunes at all. I think it is mostly a free publicity thing. Just look at what made the news articles all over... it wasn't that WebOS went to 1.1 and had new features. Every article is talking about Palm re-enabling the iTunes sync AND making a direct comment back to Apple. Apple clearly has the edge in terms of news articles on a regular basis, I rarely see anything about the Pre and usually when I do it is in regards to the iTunes war.

I think Palm is playing a very good game. I don't think it is taking extended periods of development time for them to play this cat and mouse game. At the same time Palm is forcing Apple's "monopolistic" hand.

True Palm should be working on their own software while they wage this war, but there are plenty of 3rd party options that get the job done until that time.

As it stands, I don't see a real downside for Palm on this issue.

Legally:
They are using open source and if Apple challenges further, I don't think it will be cut and dry... in fact it could come back on Apple.

User Experience:
Plenty of options and for those die hard iTunes users, rejoice while it lasts. I don't think it will turn people away from the Pre wondering will I be able to sync or not, because it really is a mute point.

Press:
Palm is getting everything they could dream of in terms of coverage and buzz. At the same time Apple's biggest defenders are those under iAnythings brain washing.

Overall:
It is an interesting Fencing match that keeps the buzz going for the Pre while it settles in to it's own.

I say "Go Palm! Go!"

I just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in here.

A lot of people compare how Palm is syncing with iTunes to how other vendors such as RIM are doing it (via some third party interface).

I repeatedly hear people whining about how Palm is "lazy" and should "write their own media software instead of piggy-backing off iTunes".

These people quite simply are oblivious to / ignorant of the paradigm of the Pre. They're stuck in an old paradigm. (This is the same old paradigm that people live in who want palm desktop sync, etc.-- it's not bad or wrong to prefer that method of working, it's just not paradigm the Pre was designed for.)

Palm's goal is not to reinvent the wheel with regards to applications that people are already using and familiar with, but create a device that can integrate as seamlessly as possible into the systems they're already using. Gmail, Facebook, Exchange. ITUNES. It only makes sense that Palm would try to offer iTunes integration, because they know how many people already use iTunes to manage their music. It's not a function of laziness. It's a function of user experience being the priority.

Who wants to use Palm software to manage their music when they've already got an extensive library managed by another app? Do you know what a pain that is? Who wants to use TWO libraries if they still have an iPod they want to use? (This never worked for me-- there was a time when I owned both an iPod and a Sony mp3 player, and Sony's software was just crap, look where they are in the portable music market now.)

Seems like a given that iPod users will continue to use their iPods and therefore continue to keep iTunes around anyway, this saves a lot of headache to not duplicate the function of music management software.

How elegant would a 3rd party interface to access iTunes be? Not nearly as transparent and elegant as the current solution, even if some people prefer something different like DoubleTwist. Palm's goal here is not to try to rip off Apple or anyone else, the goal is to create the a fore mentioned seamless integration with users' current systems.

Now, here's my other thought. As I mentioned earlier, people always point out that other vendors have interfaces for "syncing with iTunes". I submit that the only difference between Palm's solution and others' is how we think about them. In essence they all use some form of software to accomplish the task of leveraging a user's iTunes library. It's just that the software used to get the Pre to sync with iTunes is not installed on your desktop computer, but rather on the Pre itself. The Pre doesn't by default show up as an iPod device, you flip a switch or activate some software, so to speak, to get it to sync.

Self-righteous Apple fan-boys can complain all they want about how iTunes is designed to help sell iPods and that what Palm is doing is shady, but I submit that a) it's not fundamentally different than what anyone else is doing that Apple is *not* trying to break (a la third party interfaces installed on the PC) as far as enabling other devices to leverage iTunes, and b) there has never been any stipulation that only iPod owners / users could use iTunes. It's been available for anyone to use to organize their music regardless of what portable devices they may own (or they may own none at all) and regardless of whether or not they own a Mac. (Here's a wild idea-- what if how well the Pre plays nice with a Mac actually supports the ultimate goal of selling more Macs?)

Apple will continue to dominate the portable media player market, and iTunes will continue to support that endeavor. But we don't all want iPhones or AT&T, so it's nice that we can still use our iPods and Pre's with the same music library. I just think it may be a bit late for Apple to backpedal on just how proprietary and exclusive they want their music system to be.