Macworld Senior Contributor Kirk McElhearn has several excellent tips for iOS owners looking to sync their large iTunes library with their iPad, iPhone or iPod. Their libraries are so big that they exceed the capacity of their devices, which forces them to pick and choose what items they want to sync.

McElhearn walks users through two methods for syncing an oversized library. Each method lets you control which tracks are synced and which ones are not. The most efficient method allows users to sync playlists, individual artists, specific genres and even selected albums with their iOS device. You can read about the two methods in the article on Macworld's website.

When your iOS device runs out of storage space originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When your iOS device runs out of storage space originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Also, iTunes 11.0.3 has improved the songs view and has support for multi-disc albums, in that they now appear as a single album, which is great.

You can download it now and check out the changes right away. Have fun.

iTunes 11.0.3 now available originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 16 May 2013 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iTunes 11.0.3 now available originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 16 May 2013 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The wait is over. Random Access Memories, Daft Punk's first proper album* since 2005's Human After All, is now streaming in its entirety over at iTunes. It features guest spots and contributions from Chilly Gonzales, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams, Julian Casablancas and others. While the album doesn't officially hit stores until May 21, its leak earlier today most likely brought about this early stream.

Head over to iTunes to stream the album in one glorious 74-minute track. Don't worry, that's just the format of the stream. If you're not sold on Daft Punk or have been living presumably dance-free under a rock for a few years, we've included their delightful tune "Get Lucky" featuring Pharrell Williams for your listening pleasure below.

*Yes, they did the soundtrack for Tron: Legacy. No, we don't count that as a proper album.

New Daft Punk album Random Access Memories streaming on iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

New Daft Punk album Random Access Memories streaming on iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Speaking to CNNMoney, Microsoft's chief financial officer Tami Reller said, "The welcome mat has been laid out [for Apple]. It's not for a lack of trying." Note that Windows 8 customers can use iTunes, but only on the desktop. That's a less-than-optimal experience, and poor Surface RT users are without iTunes altogether, as the device wont' run non-Microsoft desktop software.

As CNNMoney points out, Apple's position is understandable. With the best-selling tablet in the market, why would it rush to make Microsoft's offering more competitive?

Still, Reller believes that the Windows app store will feature all of the most popular apps from Apple's App Store by the holiday season. "That's not just our goal, but it'll be realistic to achieve that. We're almost there."

Microsoft: Apple reluctant to build a "Metro" iTunes for Windows 8 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 10 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft: Apple reluctant to build a "Metro" iTunes for Windows 8 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 10 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you're having a hard time getting iTunes and App Store links to launch from Google Chrome right to the app from your browser, MacStories editor-in-chief Federico Viticci has found a nice workaround in the App Store support community.

The workaround requires editing program files, so be careful if you're new. The issue deals with Chrome's protocol handlers. If your issue is with iTunes rather than the Mac App Store look for the line that says "itms" instead of "macappstore." Here's the hack from support community member Dahveed.

1. Close Chrome

2. Open "/Users/[my user name]/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Local State" in a text editor. TextEdit will do fine.

3. Look for the line "macappstore": true, under "protocol_handler":

4. Delete this line and Chrome will start to prompt you to open MAS links.

5. Change the true to false and MAS links will open without prompting.

6. Save the file and Quit the text editor.

Double check to make sure this is actually a problem for you before you dive head-first into that code, but if you've been aggravated by this glitch, we're happy to have passed this information along.

Make Chrome open iTunes store links in iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 09 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Make Chrome open iTunes store links in iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 09 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has been steadily beefing up its in-app purchasing policy to prevent children and adults from inadvertently buying items from within an app. As spotted by App Advice, Apple recently added a new disclaimer about in-app purchases to its App Store on the iPad.

The new "Learn More About In-App Purchases" page explains what in-app purchases are and how they work. Apple also gives tips on how to limit in-app purchases using parental controls.

You can find this page in the featured section of the iPad App Store, directly below the "What's Hot" section. There you will see a "Learn More About In-App Purchases" card. Tapping on it will bring up the full page.

Right now, this information is only available on the iPad. We assume it eventually will land on the iPhone App Store and the iTunes desktop version.

Apple posts 'Learn more about in-app purchases' in iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple posts 'Learn more about in-app purchases' in iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not content to put yet another spin on the standard birthday song, this became an ode to drunken iTunes purchases (I believe "drunken iTunes binge" is a cousin of the "eBay blackout").

It's a catchy number, and will certainly be stuck in your head after watching the video. Mike also gets bonus points for using Cassingle[TM] as though it is still an actual word. It's a self-shot video, mostly likely from a built-in iSight camera (I am guessing -- at the end of the video you can hear the "Submarine" system beep pretty clearly before he stops recording, but it could be a third-party webcam instead).

Oddly, this song is not yet available on iTunes, or anyplace else that I can find. In the meantime, the video is below, and fun to watch (or just let it play in a background tab as you tap your toe).

Mike Doughty's musical 10th birthday gift to iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mike Doughty's musical 10th birthday gift to iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is celebrating "A Decade of iTunes" with a cool interactive timeline in the iTunes store. The timeline pulls out milestones for iTunes each year. For example, on September 7th, 2005 it says "iPod nano replaces iPod mini and goes on to become the bestselling music player ever."

Each year also displays the the Top Ten bestselling singles and albums. The entire timeline is actually really cool -- especially if you're an Apple history buff. There's no way to grab a direct link to it, but to see it just open up iTunes, go into the iTunes store and look for the "A Decade of iTunes" white carousel banner at the top.

Apple celebrates 'A Decade of iTunes' with interactive timeline originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple celebrates 'A Decade of iTunes' with interactive timeline originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We'll find out how Apple's financial fortunes are faring a bit later this afternoon, but for now, there's a report out of The NPD Group showing that Apple now dominates home digital video the way it does the digital music market.

The numbers are staggering: Apple's iTunes Store had a 67 percent share of electronic sell-through (EST) for television shows in 2012. How big is that? The nearest competitor was Xbox Video with a 14 percent share of EST.

The stats were also in favor of Apple for feature-length movie downloads, with the company pulling in a 65 percent share of EST. Xbox Video and Amazon Instant video weren't even close in the competition, each having a 10 percent share.

While Apple's lead wasn't as incredible in the internet video-on-demand sector, iTunes still led the way with 45 percent of the market. Despite Amazon Instant Video's popularity, it has less than half of the movie rental traffic of Apple at just 18 percent.

Russ Crupnick, senior VP of industry analysis at NPD, believes that Apple's early moves in the market allowed the company to dominate the digital sales and rental markets for movies and that customer satisfaction is what's keeping the numbers high. Crupnick notes, "We've seen big-name entertainment retailers lose share, and even close, as their customer satisfaction metrics faded; however, that's clearly not the case with iTunes. Customers are quite happy with the store."

NPD Group: iTunes owns the internet video market originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

NPD Group: iTunes owns the internet video market originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When purchasing any of the above items using iTunes 11 on a Mac or Windows PC, or an iOS device running iOS 6 or later, you're now presented with Later and Download (or Download All) buttons. Tap Later and the purchased items will be added to your iTunes account and accessible to stream or download in the future via Apple's iTunes in the Cloud feature.

The option to 'download later' is exclusively applicable to TV seasons, Season Passes, movie bundles, music box sets, individual movies and TV episodes.

Apple outlines the specifics of the new software tweak in the following updated support document. Lastly, note that the prompt will only appear for users in countries where Apple provides iTunes in the Cloud support.

Apple adds 'Download Later' option for large media files on iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple adds 'Download Later' option for large media files on iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Timbuktu is an iPad magazine meant for children, and as our friends over at TechCrunch have noted, its developers recently rethought how it implements in-app purchases. The previous incarnation of Timbuktu (and most famously, Smurf Village, among others), made in-app purchases too tempting and easy for children. The result was high rates of in-app purchases, which was good for the company, but bad for parents who didn't approve of the large associated costs.

Before, Timbuktu had little virtual bubbles that you "popped" to make an in-app purchase. The interface was clearly designed to pique childrens' interest, perhaps too much so. Now, Timbuktu has implemented a subscription plan, so that parents can buy lots of content all at once, and then kids can be free to discover it themselves without accidentally spending any money they're not supposed to.

That definitely sounds more reasonable. It's worth noting that there are other ways to block in-app purchases. For example, Apple's Restrictions settings lets you to disable all in-app purchases entirely. Also, you can customize the amount of time iOS will require your Apple ID between successful App Store purchases. By default, it's set to 15 minutes.

Keeping your children from spending too much on in-app purchases is an avoidable problem, and it's good to hear companies like the makers of Timbuktu are taking steps as well.

Kids' iPad magazine Timbuktu rethinks in-app purchasing model originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kids' iPad magazine Timbuktu rethinks in-app purchasing model originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nearly 10 years after the iTunes Music Store first opened up for business, iTunes remains the market leader in digital music downloads.

According to a research report published by the NPD Group earlier this week, iTunes accounted for approximately 63 percent of all digital music downloads in 2012. Trailing behind is AmazonMP3 with a somewhat respectable 22 percent share. While Amazon has a ways to go before even getting close to Apple, the world's largest online retailer has been making significant gains in that regard. In 2011, Amazon's share of the digital music download market checked in at 15 percent, representing a solid 50 percent increase year over year.

"Since the launch of Apple's iTunes store, digital music downloads have become the dominant revenue source for the recorded music industry and iTunes continues to be the dominant retailer," said Russ Crupnick, senior vice president of industry analysis at NPD. "There's a belief that consumers don't need to buy music because of streaming options, when in fact streamers are much more likely than the average consumer to buy music downloads."

The report adds that 44 million Americans downloaded a digital song or album last year.

To help contextualize the raging success that is the iTunes Music Store, Apple in early February announced that consumers had downloaded over 25 billion songs. That averages out to about 15,000 songs downloaded per minute.

The iTunes Music Store currently offers over 26 million songs to choose from and is available in 119 countries.

iTunes maintains its music download dominance as Amazon plays catch-up originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iTunes maintains its music download dominance as Amazon plays catch-up originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you have an iTunes account for your children and are looking for an easy way to keep their balance replenished, look no further than the loose change sitting on your counter. It only takes a trip to your local grocery store and a few minutes of your time to turn your change into an iTunes gift certificate.

You are probably familiar with the coin-counting service Coinstar, which offers cash in exchange for your loose coins. Instead of receiving a cash voucher next time you turn in change, select an iTunes gift certificate and you will receive a receipt with an iTunes redemption code.

The funds will be added to your Apple ID and you can use it to buy iOS Apps, OS X apps, music, movies and books. Coinstar waives the coin-counting fee with these gift certificates, so you will walk away with your full balance. The coin-counting service occasionally offers an iTunes promotion that'll give you an extra $10 when you redeem a minimum amount (usually $40). You can find promotions on Coinstar's Special Offers webpage or be alerted via email when you sign up for a Coinstar account.

There is one small restriction with the gift certificate -- you must have a minimum of $5 in change or cash. Also, not all Coinstar machines offer iTunes gift certificates. You can use the search feature on Coinstar's website to find a supported machine.

Put your change in a money jar and you will be surprised at how much you can accrue over the course of a month. We redeem about $20 to $30 each month in change, which goes a long way to help purchase educational apps, games, music, movies and books for our children.

You can find out more about the iTunes gift certificate by visiting Coinstar's website.

Parenting tip: Refill your iTunes balance using your spare change originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Parenting tip: Refill your iTunes balance using your spare change originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rockstar, the developers of the very popular Grand Theft Auto series, has kindly set up playlists for every one of the series' radio stations, for use in both iTunes and Spotify. The GTA series is well-known for its music, and when Rockstar ported both GTA3 and GTA: Vice City over to iOS, we were fortunate enough to get the great soundtracks with them. But, of course, you can't always be playing the game, so if you want to listen to the music on your own, you can load one of these up in iTunes, and listen away.

Unfortunately, the games' commercials are not available in iTunes. Rockstar has set up a special "Advertising Council" site to let you listen in directly to the hilarious parody commercials from the series instead.

And of course this is all done in prelude to the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 5, expected sometime later on this year. No word yet if there'll be a Mac (or even an iOS) release for the newest game, but we'll keep an ear open.

[via Joystiq]

Rockstar shares the Grand Theft Auto soundtracks on iTunes and Spotify originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Rockstar shares the Grand Theft Auto soundtracks on iTunes and Spotify originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As of Tuesday morning, searches for iOS apps on Google weren't resulting in overt links to Apple's iTunes Store. Direct links to apps on iTunes appeared deeper within Google's search results than usual.

Reports of the quirky search results were first made public on Facebook by AppsFire co-founder Ouriel Ohayon. "Something really weird start to happen on google [sic]," he said. "It has become impossible to find iPhone and iPad apps looking for them in the search engine with a normal query."

To be fair, finding links to iPhone and iPad apps on Google wasn't impossible, just a tad harder. Other iTunes-centric oddities in Google's search results were also documented by TechCrunch and TheNextWeb.

Naturally, some out-there conspiracy theories sprang up quickly, with some speculating that Google was deliberately trying to make links to iTunes much harder for users to find. For Google, however, the integrity of its search algorithm and corresponding results is something it takes extremely seriously. A deliberate move to sandbag iTunes results for iOS apps would be atypical, to say the least.

So just what, exactly, was going on?

Well, The Verge reached out to Google for comment, and there appears to be a plausible explanation behind the lower profile iTunes links. A Google spokesperson explained:

We've been having some issues fetching pages from the iTunes web servers, and as a result some people may have had problems finding iTunes apps in search easily. We're working with the team there to ensure search users can find what they're looking for.

Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land, who posted a Twitter conversation between Ohayon and Google search savant Matt Cutts where Cutts notes some issues loading iTunes web pages, speculates that the problem may be the result of duplicate content on Apple's end.

Sullivan posted the following image of a query for WhatsApp Messenger as an illustrative example. The arrows below point to listings for the app that are essentially the same, albeit from different national instances of the iTunes Store (the US and St. Lucia, in this case).

"This suggests that Apple might have a duplicate content issue happening," Sullivan writes, "perhaps one that's become recent, for some reason. With duplicate content, you have two or more pages that are virtually identical to each other. That can confuse search engines and sometimes have the effect of 'splitting the vote' when it comes to ranking, so that neither page wins."

While this problem may have cropped up in parallel with the 403 page loading issue that Cutts cites, Sullivan does note that Microsoft's Bing search engine seems to have no trouble locating the iTunes pages for apps. Bing might be crawling iTunes pages on a different schedule, or Microsoft's culling algorithm for pages with access issues might be less aggressive. In any event, Cutts insists that the issue isn't on Google's side.

Rest easy, conspiracy theorists. Google may be challenging Apple with Android, but it's unlikely that it's purposefully manipulating its search results to obscure iOS apps.

Google explains why iTunes search results were missing in action originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google explains why iTunes search results were missing in action originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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US District Judge Richard Sullivan ruled in favor of Universal Music Group in a case involving the resale of songs bought on iTunes, reports AllThingsD. UMG filed the suits against startup ReDigi, a service that lets users resell their music library.

In a judgment filed over the weekend, Judge Sullivan shot down the multiple arguments ReDigi used to defend its practice of reselling songs. Sullivan said in his decision that consumers can't sell their music library without consent from the copyright owners. This kills the practice as large music companies like Universal are not likely to approve the reselling of music anytime soon.

US District Court: Users can't legally resell iTunes songs originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 02 Apr 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

US District Court: Users can't legally resell iTunes songs originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 02 Apr 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There has been a string of high-profile cases where children have racked up thousands of dollars in credit card charges through in-app purchases. In these cases and others like them, the iOS devices used by the children have not been properly locked down by the parents.

In this three-part series, we will show you how to set up a kid-friendly iTunes account, lock down your device to prevent in-app purchases and perform some maintenance that'll prevent your tot from sending emails or tweeting on your behalf. You can jump into part two below, where we take a deep dive into the settings and show you how to lockdown your iOS device.

Set up a Passcode

The easiest way to lockdown an iOS device is to add a passcode, which will appear when you turn on or wake up the device. The passcode will prevent your child from turning on the device and going to town when you are busy doing dishes, driving or otherwise occupied. Using a passcode is a first-line defense and won't prevent errant purchases. It'll merely give you control over the iOS device and let you determine when your child uses the iPad or iPhone.

To set a passcode, go to Settings > General > Passcode Lock. Change the setting so that the Passcode is on, the Require Passcode is set to immediately and the Simple Passcode option is off. A simple passcode is a four-digit number that can be quickly learned by any tech-savvy child who watches their parent tap in the code. Select a longer alphanumeric code that'll be difficult for your child to enter, but easy for you to remember.

Enable Restrictions (Parental Controls)

Once you have a passcode on your device, you will want to dive into the Restrictions, aka Parental Controls. This is the one area you don't want to ignore. If you have a device that you are using with your child on a regular basis, be sure to configure the parental controls.

To find the Restrictions, tap Settings > General > Restrictions. Tap "Enable Restrictions" and enter a four-digit password that you child won't guess. At the top of the Restrictions' screen is a list of apps that is allowed on your device. If you don't want your child accessing the camera, Safari, iTunes and other apps, you can turn them off here. When they are off, they no longer appear on your home screen.

Directly underneath the allowed apps is the "Allowed Content" section. This section lets you set the ratings for Podcasts, Music, Movies and other media on the iOS device. You can restrict access to explicit content by adjusting these settings to an age-appropriate level. Also in this section is the In-App Purchases slider which should be set to off, if you want to block all in-app purchases. If you want to allow IAPs, you can leave them on and control purchases by changing the "Require Password" setting to "Immediately" and not the default 15 minutes. This will force your child to enter a password every time they try to make a purchase. Speaking of passwords, don't give your child the password to his or her iTunes account. It will give them unfettered access to their device and will undo all your security settings.

Other settings in the Restrictions allow you to control what apps have access to your contacts, calendars and other personal information. You can read more about each of these settings in this support document on Apple's website.

Enable Guided Access

Guided Access is an accessibility option that was added in iOS 6. This feature limits your device to a single app and lets you control which app features are available. You turn on Guided Access by going to Settings > General > Accessibility > Guided Access. When you turn Guided Access on, you will need to select a passcode to turn it off and adjust the settings. Once again, choose a password that your child won't guess and you won't forget.

Once Guided Access is enabled, you can launch the app you want your child to use and then triple-click the home button to turn the accessibility feature on. You can adjust the settings to disable motion input, touch input and hardware button control. You can also select the part of the screen that you want to disable. Once you are ready, click start to turn on Guided Access and your child will be limited to using this one app.

You may not use Guided Access all the time, especially with older children, but I would recommend setting it up on each device that you hand over to your kids. You never know when you may need it. I also set it up on my personal devices for those moments when I hand over my iPhone to my children. It's easy to enable and it lets me give my phone to my child and not worry about them getting into my email or Twitter account.

Restrict WiFi Usage

One nifty way to limit your child's online consumption is to block their access to the internet using the WiFi access timers available on your AirPort wireless router. Macworld's Christopher Breen describes how to block iOS devices in an article from earlier this year. You will need to know the MAC address of the iOS device (Settings > General > About) and must have a Mac with the AirPort Utility software installed on it. You can follow his step-by-step procedure on Macworld's website.

Securing your iPhone or iPad for your children, Part 2: Setup iOS parental controls to prevent in-app purchases originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Securing your iPhone or iPad for your children, Part 2: Setup iOS parental controls to prevent in-app purchases originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There has been a string of high-profile cases where children have racked up thousands of dollars in credit card charges through in-app purchases. In these cases and others like them, the iOS devices used by the children have not been properly locked down by the parents.

In this three-part series, we will show you how to set up a kid-friendly iTunes account, lock down your device to prevent in-app purchases and perform some maintenance that'll prevent your tot from sending emails or tweeting on your behalf. In this first post, we start at the beginning and show you how to set up an iTunes account that you can safely use on your child's iOS device.

Set up an iTunes account without a payment method

Before handing over an iOS device to your child, you should set up an iTunes account for him or her. This account should be separate from your personal iTunes account and should only have access to a limited amount of funds. As noted by Macworld, you can easily create a new Apple ID account that does not have a credit card or any other payment option attached to it. No payment method means there will be no errant charges. Here are the steps to follow when setting up a credit card-free account:

1. Open iTunes on your desktop and find a free app in the App Store.
2. Click on the buy button and select "Create Apple ID" in the pop-up dialog box.
3. Enter in the email address information (the Apple ID), password and security questions required to establish a new Apple ID. Choose a password that your child cannot guess and do not give the password to them.
4. In the payment screen, make sure "None" is selected and enter in your address information.
5. Verify the Apple ID by following the verification instructions sent to the email address used to set up the account.

Re-purpose an old iTunes account

If you have an old iTunes account kicking around, you can also re-purpose that account for your child. To make it kid-safe, you'll have to remove any payment information from the account first. To remove a payment option, open iTunes on your desktop and click on "Store" and then "View My Apple ID" in the menu bar at the top. You will see your current payment information in the Apple ID Summary section, along with a link to edit that payment choice. Click this "edit" link and then select "None" for the payment method.

You can also remove payment information on an iOS device by going to Settings > iTunes & App Stores > Apple ID > View Apple ID > Payment Information > None. This latter on-device method does not work with iTunes accounts that use PayPal as a payment source.

Add Money using a Gift Card or Allowance

If your child only wants to download free apps, then you don't have to do anything else with their iTunes account. Most likely, though, your child will encounter a paid app they want to download, and you will need to add a funding source to their iTunes account. Don't add a credit card or a link to your PayPal account. Instead, use a gift card or set up an allowance to add a limited amount of money to their account. Gift cards are available to purchase within iTunes, from Apple's online store or at major retail stores like Best Buy, Target and Walmart. You can also turn in loose change at a Coinstar machine and put that balance on an iTunes gift card. You can redeem a gift card in iTunes or on your child's iOS device using these instructions provided by Apple.

If you don't want to bother with gift cards, Apple has an allowance option that uses the parent's iTunes account to add money (in amounts from $10 to $50) to the child's account each month. You can read how to set up an allowance on Apple's support website.

Once the iTunes account is created and set up with a safe funding source, you are now ready for a deep dive into the settings where you will learn how to set up a passcode, restrict in-app purchases and hide apps from the home screen. We cover these security measures in part two of our three-part series.

Securing your iOS device for your children, Part 1: Setting up a kid-friendly iTunes account originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Securing your iOS device for your children, Part 1: Setting up a kid-friendly iTunes account originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UK father and police officer Doug Crossan took an extreme measure when he discovered his 13-year-old-son had racked up £3,700 (USD$5600) via in-app purchases on the iOS App Store. After Apple refused to rescind the charges, Crossan decided his next best move was to report his son to the authorities for fraud.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, Crossman's son made more than 300 purchases in apps like Plants vs Zombies, Nova 3 and more. These freemium titles cost little to nothing to download, but include in-app purchases to unlock content within the game. Crossan said that he and his son believed the games were free and didn't understand that these in-game extras cost real money.

Crossan told the Daily Mail that he tried to work with Apple to get the charges reversed, but the company refused. Apple allegedly argued that it is the parent's responsibility to lock down their iOS device. There is a parental control setting that prevents errant purchases by adding a password lock to all in-app purchases or by disabling the feature entirely.

To get the charges reversed by his credit card company, Crossan had to report these purchases as unauthorized to the Action Fraud Hotline, which means his son could be held liable for these charges. Crossan admits he doesn't want to see his son arrested, but he does "want to embarrass Apple as much as possible."

Crossan isn't the only parent facing this problem of excessive in-app purchases. Earlier this month, a UK tot accrued £1,700 ($2500) in charges after his Dad entered his iTunes password to download a free app from the App Store.

UK cop turns in his son after Apple refuses to refund App Store spending spree originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

UK cop turns in his son after Apple refuses to refund App Store spending spree originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As writer John Paczkowski notes in an AllThingsD article today, iTunes was originally "conceived as a low-margin 'break-even' operation intended to drive hardware sales" -- in particular sales of iPods. Now that the iTunes Store is used to sell more than just songs and videos, it's turning into a "significant profit center for the company".

Paczkowski was commenting on numbers from Asymco analyst Horace Dediu, who notes that now that Apple has folded its in-house software group into iTunes, Apple software is having "significant implications for iTunes margins." The software, including items like iWork, iLife, Final Cut Pro, Aperture and more, has much higher profit margins than traditional iTunes items like music, books, video, and apps.

Dediu deduced that Apple sold about US$3.6 billion worth of its software products in 2012, and that profit margins for software is usually about 50 percent. If that's the case for Apple -- and Dediu is usually correct in his assumptions -- then iTunes is generating operating margins of about 15 percent on gross revenue. That's about $2 billion in profit for 2012, or as Paczkowski so eloquently put it, one "hell of a way to break even."

iTunes is more than earning its keep originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iTunes is more than earning its keep originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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