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Windows Bug Music Software Apple Entertainment

iTunes Stops Working For Windows XP Users 368

An anonymous reader writes: iTunes users who still run Windows XP started to experience connectivity issues this week. As documented in an Apple Support Communities thread, they can't log into the iTunes store, meaning functions like buying content, watching already purchased movies and TV shows, playing DRM-protected content, backing up, updating, and syncing all do not work.
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iTunes Stops Working For Windows XP Users

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 23, 2015 @12:13PM (#49537773)

    This is precisely why you should never OWN your digital content, but rather LEASE it from trustworthy companies like Apple... Oh wait! =)

    • by cusco ( 717999 )

      And nothing of value was lost . . .

    • What the fuck are you carrying on about? What lease? What don't I own? I have local copies of all media I've purchased through the iTunes Store. I have backups on my NAS as well. The only thing I need the iTunes Store for is when it comes to downloading that content it via the iTunes store to a new device. That's not a lease -- that's a FREE BACKUP of my purchases which allows me to add my owned media to other devices with iTunes via the iTunes Store. But hey -- don't let that stop you from posting FUD and
      • by jedidiah ( 1196 )

        If you can't copy it to a Linux box and play it with something other than iTunes then you don't really own it.

        Apple sells a lot of that kind of stuff. If you're not aware, then perhaps you're stuck in 2003 and aren't aware of the newer things they are doing these days.

        Even with the lastest and best supported Apple brand software and hardware, it can glitch while trying to phone home. DRM fail equals playback fail.

  • In other news... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tracerbb ( 865991 ) on Thursday April 23, 2015 @12:17PM (#49537815)
    iTunes continues to work horribly for ALL other Windows operating systems...
    • ITs not exactly great on OSX either.
    • iTunes continues to work horribly for ALL other Windows operating systems...

      Are there any reasons someone would have to use iTunes still? I've only ever done alternative media players/stores.

      • iTunes is very convenient for playing all of my movie content from the DVD's I have ripped on my Apple TV.
        Dump videos into iTunes. Organize them the way you want them. Play the movies smoothly off of the Apple TV pulling content from iTunes home sharing.

        Very simple.
        Glassy Smooth.
        Brainless functionality for my kids and my wife.

  • From TFA: playing DRM-protected content ... [does] not work.

    Did that ever happen to anyone who downloaded something from the Pirate Bay?

    This is the thing with piracy it is in a wide variety of ways a better product. So they're not competing with "free" they're competing with "free AND better". Even if they make it free, people STILL go to TPB. I found it easier to get stuff off TPB than I did from 4 on demand.

    So I went there even though I'd paid my TV license becuase the streaming crap was flakey.

    • by PRMan ( 959735 )
      No. I'm sure that nobody ever got anything that wasn't a perfect copy of the show from the Pirate Bay. They never got viruses, malware, fakes or any other bad thing. Only perfect episodes every single time.
      • No. I'm sure that nobody ever got anything that wasn't a perfect copy of the show from the Pirate Bay. They never got viruses, malware, fakes or any other bad thing. Only perfect episodes every single time.

        Viruses and malware from videos?

        It's not like you get perfect copies off streaming services because they have to run at the speed of your in...buffering...ternet connection. I can leisurely download HD things from TPB overnight.

        In a large number of ways TPB is better. All the shows in one place. Good sear

    • by fermion ( 181285 )
      This is why I do not buy DRM videos from anyone. At some point something will happen where you can't play them. The music is OK because it was never particularly hard to remove the DRM.

      That said, the same thing can happen to pirated content. You hard disk can crash, the file can corrupt, the content can be taken down. If you have good backups you are ok, but in my experience backing up terabytes worth of content is non trivial.

      It is convenient have your licensed content on the cloud. It off course is a

  • Long live XP!
    Hail to the king!

  • by crmanriq ( 63162 ) on Thursday April 23, 2015 @12:24PM (#49537891)

    As the anti-piracy crap is going by, and then the mandatory previews, I say to myself "If I had only pirated this, I'd already be watching the movie."

    Whenever I go to itunes store, I say to myself "this would be so much easier to pirate than to buy. Less time, and I'd already be listening."

    It's not about the cost. It's about the convenience.

    • by schnell ( 163007 )

      It's not about the cost. It's about the convenience.

      So after you conveniently download it from TPB, how do you go about paying the people whose music you downloaded? I hate waiting in Best Buy checkout lines, it's very inconvenient. But I don't think it justifies just walking out of the store with my CD.

  • by harperska ( 1376103 ) on Thursday April 23, 2015 @12:25PM (#49537899)

    To be fair, Apple supported XP longer than Microsoft did. Microsoft has already stated that if you choose to continue using XP, you do so at your own risk. That not only means potential exposure to malware, but also the distinct possibility that third party stuff may at any time stop working. I don't see this a fault of Apple in any way whatsoever.

    • by Nemyst ( 1383049 ) on Thursday April 23, 2015 @12:35PM (#49538021) Homepage
      This. XP is dead, get on with the times, especially something like iTunes where the old excuse of corporate software forcing you to stay on XP most certainly doesn't apply since it's strictly a consumer application.
      • by 0123456 ( 636235 )

        This. XP is dead, get on with the times, especially something like iTunes where the old excuse of corporate software forcing you to stay on XP most certainly doesn't apply since it's strictly a consumer application.

        We keep an XP machine around solely to run iTurds, because we could never get it to work in Wine.

        So you're saying I should have to go and pay Microsoft for that Window 8 crap just so my girlfriend can continue to load music on her iPod?

    • I can install the most recent Windows on Apple computers which Apple won't let you install fairly recent OSX versions on...

      Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 R2 on a 2006 Mac Pro, which Apple dropped support for years ago and infact blocks you from trying to install Mavericks on.

      At least one can say XP was supported for far longer than the 2006 Mac Pro was.

  • What?! (Score:5, Funny)

    by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Thursday April 23, 2015 @12:27PM (#49537919)
    Did iTunes ever really work on Windows?
    • I get some Sql dll error every time I boot up windows 7. There's a fix to it, but it keeps happening. I hate iTunes. I only use it now if I need to backup my idevices or reinstall firmware. It's library management sucks. Check boxes? Copy the whole thing by default? Why can I drag and drop like Winamp when it was in its prime.

  • Funnily enough, the iPod which did not work as a removable HD is the thing that made me switch away from apple, some 12 years ago.

    • Funnily enough, the iPod which did not work as a removable HD is the thing that made me switch away from apple, some 12 years ago.

      Funnily enough the iPod has had disk mode [apple.com] for about 12 years. They must have enabled it right after you switched away...

    • Funnily enough, the iPod which did not work as a removable HD is the thing that made me switch away from apple, some 12 years ago.

      Just throwing this out there but you might want to actually check your facts before saying something publicly that can be shown to be completely false by spending 10 seconds on Google's search engine.

      You've been able to use iPods as removable hard drives as far back as I can remember. I've done it myself.

  • Providing legacy support is in the best interests of Apple and content providers because there are still a large number of users out there with older systems who will buy content if they can easily access it. Making it hard or impossible is a hurdle that kills the sale and encourages piracy. Legacy support makes cents.

    • by jbolden ( 176878 )

      I doubt that. Apple doesn't make all that much from content in the first place. What percentage of content do you think the bottom 16% purchases? I'd be shocked if it is even 1% at this point. The cost of support, especially in terms of a distraction factor in a company structured to only support a small numbers of products, could easily exceed the value.

    • Legacy support makes cents.

      And Apple chases dollars.

  • Apple stopped selling music with DRM over six years ago. But it would seem that the problem is connecting to the Apple Store and purchasing (which hurts mostly Apple) and playing music and videos with DRM _on that computer_. Everything should continue to work phone on iPod, iPhone and iPad.

    Anyone here who has actually listened to or viewed DRM protected content from Apple on Windows XP in the last year?
  • by unimacs ( 597299 ) on Thursday April 23, 2015 @01:13PM (#49538433)
    Funny. It was probably fixed before this was even posted on Slashdot.
  • Using iTunes *and* XP? Wow. Are these people wearing hair shirts too?
  • I think I have about six songs in itunes that are in "protected AAC" format, as I stopped buying stuff in that format early on, as soon as I realized the limitations. I still have a (gen3) ipod in the truck but the sound system in the other car and in the motorcycle understand thumb drives, and once you have that why the heck would you use an ipod? Most phones these days will play music and have removable storage -- why would you carry an extra device?

    Once you realize that only Apple products will play "protected AAC" files, why the heck would you buy content in that format?

    I guess the point I'm making is that if you lost access to content you paid for because itunes no longer supports your OS, this might be a good time to at least re-evaluate how you purchase content. If you must use itunes, it'll rip CDs just fine, and used CDs are available, often for a pittance, at Amazon and other places.

    I can't believe in 2015 we're still saying "just say no to DRM content". That question should have been settled a long time ago.

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