iTunes 8.2 breaks jailbreak due to basic communication protocols, bye bye Pre sync?

by Justin Horn on Jun 2nd, 2009 @ 10:45 am

UPDATE It looks like iTunes 8.2 does not break Pre syncing after all (read more)

I don’t personally jailbreak just becuase I just don’t care enough to bother, but I know a lot of people do. Yesterday I read an alert from The iPhone Blog stating not to upgrade to iTunes 8.2 if you are a jailbreaker:

It seems like it has but @MuscleNerd claims it is unintentional on Apple’s part.
“Today’s iTunes 8.2 update changes the way your computer talks to the device. This affects things like QuickPwn and PwnageTool when they try to identify what’s connected. Also, ssh over usb breaks due to same reasons. Fixes are in the works but for now avoid 8.2″

Then compare that to the most likely way Palm implemented the Pre sync described by Jon Lech Johansen:

So how has Palm most likely enabled the Pre to sync directly with iTunes? By doing the following:

When you select “Media Sync” on the Pre, it will switch its USB interface to use Apple’s Vendor Id and the Product Id for a specific iPod model
The Pre exposes a filesystem through Mass Storage Class that mimics the structure of an iPod
The Pre responds to Apple’s custom USB command and returns XML info about the device

Now add in a side of John Gruber’s take on why Palm is not using the official iTunes API:

Second, this API is old and Apple no longer licenses it to third-party device makers. Look at the list of players — they’re from the MP3 player stone age. In fact, this API is so old that it dates back not just to Mac OS 9, not just to before there was a Windows version of iTunes, not just to before Apple introduced the first iPod, but all the way back to before there was even iTunes. It dates back to SoundJam, the Mac MP3 player published by Casady & Greene that Apple bought to create the foundation for what became iTunes.

Based on the above I feel like that the Pre may not sync on iTunes 8.2 and I also think lots of people planning on buying a Pre have already updated to 8.2 not knowing about this compatibility issue. So you might be wondering, did Apple do this on purpose? A lot of people will say no, but if it really does break the sync I’m going to say yes becuase I’m not yet convinced, even though I hinted at it yesterday, that Apple  has decided break its mold and release iPhone 3.0 firmware (which requires iTunes 8.2 to install) several weeks before the 3rd gen iPhone.  So I’m only left feeling like they put out iTunes 8.2 now to break the Pre syncing less than a week before the June 6th launch.

I do want to see the Pre do well to add some healthy competition to the iPhone / Blackberry dominated hand held computer (I just can’t say “smart phone”) market, but if the Pre sync breaks on iTunes 8.2 this is going to look really bad for Palm.

Follow me on Twitter @justin_horn

View 1 Comments
Apple vs ?, iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Speculation

1.
1. iTunes 8.2.1 breaks the Palm Pre sync, the war beings! | When Will Apple?

   July 15th, 2009 2:25 pm

   [...] this and start a feud with Palm. We even tossed around the idea of Apple killing the Pre sync a while back when 8.2 was released shortly before the Pre hit the streets.  Well according to Pre|Central Apple [...]

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