Fortune: Palm Pre syncs flawlessly with iTunes

We've previously reported on the emerging showdown between Apple and Palm over Palm's latest phone, the Palm Pre. The phone, set to come out the weekend before Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference, is already said to have several technological improvements over the iPhone.

But now, there's an additional incentive to those who may not want the original iPhone. Fortune magazine has discovered that if you plug a Palm Pre into a Mac, it will sync content from iTunes with no issues. According to the article, the iTunes Music Store will recognize the Palm Pre the same as it does an iPhone or an iPod. However, it will not load the DRM-protected music that the iTunes Music Store used to sell.

The article states that there is third party software that provides a bridge between non-Apple devices and iTunes. However, the Palm Pre has the code built right into the device -- a boon for those wanting an alternative to the iPhone, but possibly setting the teeth of Apple's legal team to gnashing. To date, there has been no response from Apple, but previous analysis has suggested that Apple just might have a case against Palm.

[Via CNNMoney.com/Fortune Magazine]

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Source: http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/

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We've previously reported on the emerging showdown between Apple and Palm over Palm's latest phone, the Palm Pre. The phone, set to come...

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Rob Roark

In the posted screenshots from Engadget, it appears that iTunes thinks its and iPod, based on the icon presented. If so, it sounds like Palm has simply figured out a way to make iTunes think the Pre is an iPod and sync that way.

May 29 2009 at 1:03 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Eric

There are other players that worked with iTunes for Mac (not Windows) in the past. I don't know if they survived the Intel switch, but they did exist.

May 28 2009 at 10:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Johnny Thrash

Palm is still in business? Hmph...

May 28 2009 at 8:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

kirankonathala

Palm Pre is a joke if not released for GSM markets! I mean, seriously, how big of a deal is it to pack in GSM radio into the units and sell more compared to the chosen few (CDMA users)? Talk about exclusive contracts but won't they make more money by selling more handsets though?

May 28 2009 at 4:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to kirankonathala's comment

Do a search, supposedly its coming to ATT and T-Mobile at the conclusion of its exclusivity agreement with Sprint in like six months. There are also rumors of a deal being struck with O2 in Great Britain. Palm really just needs to survive 'till December which is dependent on a decent launch.

May 28 2009 at 10:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

dmang88

I thought a lot of non-Apple mp3 players synced DRM-free files with Mac iTunes, just not the windows version of iTunes.

May 28 2009 at 1:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

tony d

Correct me if I'm wrong, but iTunes started out as SoundJam in the OS 9 days before Apple bought it. I believe it has always been able to sync with other mp3 players. Unless, of course, Apple has removed that ability. If not, surely it'll be gone by the time the new iPhone comes out, which usually means an iTunes update is also inevitable.
As far as lawsuits go, didn't Palm hire Jon Rubenstein ( I think he ran the iPod division) whom I would bet knew this and exploited it. I don't think Apple has a lawsuit if they left a "backdoor" open. However, if he used confidential information, Palm is in deep doo-doo.

May 28 2009 at 1:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to tony d's comment

Jesus

when iTunes came out the ipod Did not exist, so itunes sync with almost any MP3 player the most famous at the moment those RIO MP3 players, but as the iPod started to get more "in" Apple started to remove those capabilities to sync with 3rd party

May 28 2009 at 1:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joey

Apple should leave them alone on this. I think allowing other devices to sync with ITunes can further cement its dominance as a Multimedia Library manager. I don't think anyone is going to give up their IPhone just because another phone can sync music with ITunes. Its time Apple put out a SDK for ITunes to allow other devices to sync up.

May 28 2009 at 11:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Joey's comment

Jon

Apple makes its money from hardware and doesn't make a great deal of money from software or the iTunes store. So it does not make business sense to make it easy for other manufacturers to interface with iTunes and cut out an Apple hardware sale.

May 28 2009 at 3:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

I suspect this is from DVD Jon.

May 28 2009 at 11:26 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to LD's comment

Byran

DVDJohn has his own software that syncs with phones- Doubletwist. I bet he's chomping at the bit to make this work with the Pre if the iTunes solution goes up in flames.

May 28 2009 at 1:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

required

"...will not load the DRM-protected music that the iTunes Music Store used to..."

Why exactly does Apple want so much more money from me to make my library iTunes-DRM free?

May 28 2009 at 11:26 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Darren

If it's not a two-way sync then it's not very useful. Most of my smart playlists depend on the Last-Played field in order to remain fresh, not to mention that I need to be able to rate my music from my device.

May 28 2009 at 11:23 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply