The Palm Pre was the only non-Apple device that didn’t require third-party software to sync with iTunes, until yesterday that is. The new iTunes update, version 8.2.1, put an end to Palm’s use of the syncing functionality, which Apple said was completely unsupported to begin with.
Remember a while back when Apple put out a news release on its site stating that is “does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players and, because software changes over time, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players.”
Well, Apple was of course talking about the Palm Pre, and according to PCWorld.com, an Apple spokesperson, Tom Neumayr, has officially stated this.
“iTunes 8.2.1 is a free software update that provides a number of important bug fixes,” said Neumayr.
“It also disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre. As we’ve said before, newer versions of iTunes may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players,” he added.
Over on the Wall Street Journal, Palm spokesperson Lynn Fix said: “If Apple chooses to disable media sync in iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users, who will be deprived of a seamless synchronisation experience.”
Of course, if you want to keep seamlessly syncing your Palm Pre with iTunes for now, you’d better not update to 8.2.1, but this will also mean not updating for bug fixes too.
So if iTunes is snubbing your Pre, you can always get around this by using DoubleTwist, as suggested by Matt Rosoff of Cnet. DoubleTwist is a free application that will sync your media files from a Mac or PC to almost any portable media device.
By Marie Boran
