Scooplet: the Palm Pre syncs with iTunes
It came up briefly at CES in January when a Palm (PALM) representative let the cat out of the bag (see here). Nobody followed up.
But with more and more Palm Pres appearing in the wild — in the hands of Palm employees, Elevation partners, one of my high-school buddies, even the Boy Genius — we can now confirm this little secret:
Plug a Pre into a Mac and it syncs, seamlessly, with Apple's (AAPL) iTunes.
In fact, the iTunes Store treats the Pre just as it would an iPod or an iPhone with one two exceptions: it can't handle old copy-protected songs or, naturally, iPhone apps.
Third party programs that sync music with various non-Apple MP3 players — including the Palm Treo and 700p – have been available for some time. But team Pre has apparently built the necessary code right into the device's firmware.
They certainly have the know-how. The team is chock-a-block with former Apple employees and is led by Palm president Jon Rubinstein, who built the original iPod for Steve Jobs.
How Apple legal will respond to a presumably unauthorized invasion of their music store remains to be seen.
Asked about the Pre during a quarterly earnings call in January, COO Tim Cook said Apple would use whatever weapons it has at its disposal to fight companies that rip off its intellectual property.
An Apple spokesperson, reached for comment earlier this week, would only say that the company does not respond to rumor and speculation.
UPDATE: From John Paczkowski's coverage of the Pre demo given Thursday afternoon by Palm's Jon Rubinstein at D7: All Things Digital:
- Plug the Pre into a PC and you’re offered the option of using the device as a USB drive, charging it or beginning a “media sync.” Interesting, using media sync the Pre does indeed sync with iTunes, though it’s hamstrung by Apple’s DRM protected songs. Can’t imagine Apple’s too happy about that. Presumably, Apple legal is already drafting a letter. Pre appears to make iTunes think it’s an iPod.
- How is Apple going to feel about that, asks Walt. Rubenstein dodges a bit noting that there are a variety of ways of getting music out of iTunes. Walt pushes back pointing out that this is the first non-Apple device that is recognized as an Apple device by a Mac. Rubenstein dodges again. McNamee jumps in, refers to Apple as a monopolist and says people should be able to use music that they purchase in what ever way they see fit.
- Media sync feature also works with iPhoto and syncs photos to the Pre. That’s not likely to go over well at Apple either.
For an explanation of how the Pre does this — and how it is different from how, say, RIM and Nokia translate iTunes library files — see Jon Lech Johansen's primer here.
UPDATE 2: Palm lists "Palm Media Sync" first among the features it trumpets in its post D7 press release:
Palm media sync is a feature of webOS that synchronizes seamlessly with iTunes, giving you a simple and easy way to transfer DRM-free music, photos and videos to your Palm Pre.(2) Simply connect Pre to your PC or Mac via the USB cable, select "media sync" on the phone, and iTunes will launch on your computer desktop. You can then choose which DRM-free media files to transfer.
See also:
well guy i am so mad, i want to cry,
Well i was at the sprint store at 840am and finally was able to get in at 930. i got myself a pre. i love the phone. Unfortunately when i got home, after i took the plastic protectorout of the screen i saw that there was a little screen crack, nothing major so i decided to return to the sprint sore, by the time i got there, till now the crack is getting bigger and now he scree is not even functioning at all..i told them about it, but they want me to pay an extra $119 to get the phone fixed, or to contact palm who is being unfair as well
This wasnt my fault, i didnt drop the phone or anything, i am so mad and thy want to charge me more for something i didnt do. On top of that, they dont even have a phone left there, so i am stuck…i really feel bad really really…i dont know what to do. If you got advice, message me at http://www.PalmPreForum.org thanks.
Did one of the commentators write: no other Non Apple devices sync with iTunes? What?
People have been syncing their blackberries and Windows mobile smartphones with iTunes for a long time
i like to read here that company does not respond to rumor and speculation.
that great for any innovation and development,
thankg
MacRumors has a very good article quoting DVD Jon about the parlor trick used by Palm to make the Pre work with iTunes: it mimics an iPod when addressing itself as an external USB device. Jon Johannsen concludes that Apple can simply nuke this trick in the company's next iTunes update. He might be right. Here's the link to the story:
http://www.macrumors.com/2009/05/29/palm-pre-emulating-an-ipod-to-accomplish-itunes-sync/
If I were contemplating a Pre, that would not give me confidence in buying one. Despite some cool things, Palm has done a very good job of hyping a product that basically no one has had the chance to test in depth prior to the launch. If it's a pig, all we see is the lipstick. Regardless of who makes a product, I've learned to look beyond the breathless headlines and hype, and wait for real-world results.
Given how thin our pocketbooks are these days, I recommend that you do the same. No sense getting burned by good PR.
Nokia's E and N series phones also sync with iTunes seamlessly. They have done for some time.
They also sync with iSync and iPhoto – seamlessly.
See http://europe.nokia.com/A4423134 for the plugins.
ex ped: Nokia's plug-in allows their phones to read iTunes library files. That is not the same thing as conning iTunes into thinking a non-Apple device is an iPod. There's an explanation of the difference here.
I just thought I would point out, for those who have not been using iTunes recently, and or are not very familiar with the content in the store, that actually, virtually every single music track offered in iTunes is now unprotected. I believe that now, only very few tracks remain in protected format, while almost every other single track from every artist present in iTunes is no unprotected non DRM format iTunes Plus. The downside is, many tracks have increased in price ever since iTunes allowed variable pricing for individual downloads.
If the Pre can't handle "old" copy protected songs and/or DRM preotected songs (both statements appear in this article), then how is that equivalent to the Pre synching with iTunes??? Sounds like it actually DOESN'T completely synch….aren't most of my songs DRM protected in iTunes. This article makes no sense.
You could always sync non-Apple devices with iTunes on the Mac. I used to sync a Creative Nomad II with iTunes when it first came out in 1999 or so.
It's only on Windows where each music player is expected to bring its own software, so Apple did that with the iPod.
@Harvey: Apple has already provided built-in support for many mp3 devices and an iTunes SDK. See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2172
Don't really know what is new here with the Pre.
ex ped: As noted earlier, only five manufacturers are supported, and they don't include Palm, Microsoft or RIM. See also the update from D7. The Wall St. Journal crew seemed to find this feature newsworthy.
Please tell me that it doesn't *just* sync with iTunes. I can't stand that program and happily use Winamp to manage my music library. Palm Pre is on my wishlist but only if it doesn't force me to use software I loathe. 
Music I don't care whether it syncs. I'm assuming there's no way it will ever sync apps, but if it did I would switch in a second to the Pre once it came to ATT.
Zune DOES support AAC file format, just not copy protected AAC. I know this because I previously had a fairly large collection of AAC files ripped from CD's into iTunes, and recently ditched my old iPod Video for a Zune 80. My collection still works apart from copy protected songs I bought off of iTunes.
Actually, Zune does support AAC. Playing AAC files is no big deal. After all, it is the official successor to mp3. Even my crappy LG phone plays AAC files.
IMO Apple should either license the code for syncing with the iTunes Store, or better yet make it open source. After all they allow billions of people running Windoze to do this now on their PCs, why not on their mobile phones too? The simple logic: the more people that buy media from the iTunes Store, the more money goes to Apple. And, the more people start using iTunes to buy and sync media on their mobile phones, the more likely they are to see how easy it is, and therefore be attracted to other Apple products. Apple won't lose any business (if someone has decided to get a Pre or Blackberry, they are going to buy it anyways, with or without iTunes), but they will certainly increase business. Why they are keeping this from use on other mobile phones is a mystery (and it makes no sense at all).
This would only really be a problem for Apple if the iTunes Store pushed people to use the iPod and not the other way around.
If you're getting a Palm Pre it's probably for reasons other than whether it can sync with iTunes. Apple may as well be happy that they can sell songs and video to Pre owners as well.
This is only a big deal now because soon all music on the iTunes Store will not have DRM, making the playing field slightly more level.
The only wrinkle in this is if the ex-Apple developers at Palm are using undocumented API features to connect to iTunes. You can bet that Apple would find a way to inhibit use of those features, either legally or through the software.
I'd rather Apple just leave Palm alone to compete. The iPhone needs a strong competitor to push innovation, be it hardware, firmware, software, or application stores.
Also, the Pre might be the first high-profile device from a company other than Apple to play AAC files, a superior format to MP3.
I can't quite grasp why people are saying "other MP3 players work already with iTunes" – of course they do – but they don't play songs downloaded from iTunes or AACs (at least most of them don't).
The ability to play and sync AACs from the iTunes Store has big implications.
The Blackberry and Zune cannot play AACs – and also don't support hard drive access – at least officially or easily.
Any device that supports hard drive access is going to sync with iTunes but not AAC data and therefore not iTunes data.
Okay, your Creative Muvo is recognized by iTunes, but it does NOT sync with it. You can drag and drop content onto third-party music players, but you can't SYNC them in the same way an iPod or iPhone syncs. That's the critical difference (that I'm assuming) Palm has apparently figured out.
"I hope Apple fights Palm by innovating, rather than by blocking technology through legal means (or software blocks)." Posted By Ken Jackson, Seattle, WA : May 28, 2009 10:16 am
If they cross over the legal line, I hope Apple sues the pants off them!
Lots of third-party devices sync with iTunes; I used to have a Nike MP3 player that did, and my Creative MuVo does as well.
This is pretty much a non-story.
ex ped: The list of compatible players — here — includes a total of five manufacturers: Apple, Creative Labs (Nomad), SONICBlue (Rio), Nike (psa]play) and Nakamichi (Soundspace 2). Note that RIM, Microsoft and Palm are not on it.
You know all sorts of older MP3 players sync with iTunes, right? I used to have a Nike psa[play, and a Diamond Rio, and both worked flawlessly when plugged into the first few versions of iTunes. Yes, they continued to work after the iPod was introduced. In fact, the instructions for updating the firmware of the psa[play mention using iTunes to do so:
http://www.rioaudio.com/support/rio/downloads/psafirmware/nikepsa_firmware-mac_162.txt
I see nothing wrong with this, and although Apple is pretty litigious, they should only see this as a good thing. Another way to make even more money from their music store.
That being said, I'm no Palm Pre fanboy. I love my iPhone! *gives it a hug*
1. COMDEX hasn't existed for a few years. This article probably refers to CES. This error tells me that no fact-checking happened.
2. Yea… no. Without getting too technical (or legal), there's a reason that no other non-Apple devices sync with itunes.
ex ped: Aaaargh. CES. Fixed. Thanks.
I hope Apple fights Palm by innovating, rather than by blocking technology through legal means (or software blocks).
PED:
Rubenstein did not create the iPod, Tony Fadell and his engineers did. Further, who cares if a Pre can sync with iTunes if you can't use the App store?
ex ped: Dale, as I understand the iPod's history, Fadell and Rubinstein (with an "i") can both claim paternity.
"Plug a Pre into a Mac and it syncs, seamlessly…"
Which begs the question – what happens on a PC with iTunes?
I'm pretty sure there's a Mac-only SDK available from Apple for integrating music-playing mobile devices with iTunes; it's just that nobody ever used it because it didn't support copy-protected music, which used to dominate the iTunes Store.
For those of you who are a little bit annoyed by the cat and mouse game being played with iTunes and the Palm Pre, MediaMonkey 3.2 was just released and it adds support for music, album art, and playlist synchronization to the palm pre.
It's available at mediamonkey.com.
-Rusty