Pre's iTunes Hack Detailed

Posted By: Ryan Kairer Thursday, June 4, 2009 1:40:33 PM

Well known computer hacker DVD Jon Lech Johansen's, aka DVD Jon, has posted a pair of articles on his personal blog which detail how the Palm Pre is able to connect with Apple's iTunes software. (via Slashdot) It turns out that when "Media Sync" is selected on the Pre, it talks to to iTunes and returns specific XML info about the device which identifies itself as a generic iPod.

When the Pre is in "Media Sync" mode it identifies itself as an Apple iPod. However, it's only the Mass Storage interface that identifies itself as an iPod. The root USB node (IOUSBDevice) still identifies the device as a Palm Pre (not visible in the image above). This means that Apple can very easily update iTunes to block the Pre.

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VID/PID?

PhrkOnLsh @ 6/4/2009 2:17:24 PM #

What is the Hexadecimal VID/PID?
(asked @PalmInfoCenter on twitter, but this would probably work better)
Best Regards,
Ryan Rix
TamsPalm - The PalmOS Blog

STOP WHINING! If you hate PalmOS so much, get a winmob device and go whine about it on a winmob site!

RE: VID/PID?

Ryan @ 6/4/2009 3:33:19 PM #

hmm, I don't have a PC here at the moment to try that software you asked about. Is this available somewhere in Mac OS?

Anti competitive?

trophyofgrace @ 6/4/2009 2:52:21 PM #

Several other products show up in iTunes as devices. I've even had generic mp3 players from Sandisk and etc that show up in iTunes.

If Apple blocks it, they're being anti-competitive and should be sued for it. They should allow iTunes to connect to any media device under the sun.

Look at WMP. Sure, Microsoft wants you to use a Zune, but any mp3 player will happily sync with it.
Current PDA: Treo 600. Lineage: Too long to list...

list of 3rd party players supported by iTunes

pmjoe @ 6/4/2009 2:57:04 PM #

As many have pointed out, there is a decent sized list of 3rd party players that are supported by iTunes.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2172

If Apple intentionally blocks the Pre, people will just buy music from Amazon. Doesn't sound too smart to me. For that matter, if Apple intentionally blocked a specific device while allowing others, they might be liable for damages depending on what their procedure is for allowing 3rd party players.

BTW, supporting common protocols isn't much of a "hack". The Pre *may* be doing what any 3rd party MP3 device would do. This blog author doesn't deserve credit for taking a screenshot of the USB device info and pointing out the obvious. Strangely, though admitted by the author, the screenshot presented does not include the root USB node (IOUSBDevice) info he claims would be necessary to block the Pre anyhow.

RE: list of 3rd party players supported by iTunes

bhartman34 @ 6/4/2009 4:45:15 PM #

pmjoe wrote:
If Apple intentionally blocks the Pre, people will just buy music from Amazon. Doesn't sound too smart to me.

That's what I was thinking, too. Anyway, iTunes has largely dropped the DRM from the store, hasn't it? (I don't have an iPod, so I wouldn't know.) As long as there's no DRM on the AAC, it seems a rather trivial thing to sync the Pre with the music through good ol' drag-and-drop.

BTW, supporting common protocols isn't much of a "hack". The Pre *may* be doing what any 3rd party MP3 device would do. This blog author doesn't deserve credit for taking a screenshot of the USB device info and pointing out the obvious. Strangely, though admitted by the author, the screenshot presented does not include the root USB node (IOUSBDevice) info he claims would be necessary to block the Pre anyhow.

I'm not sure about this one. My understanding (limited as it is) is that you can't just hook any MP3 player up to iTunes and sync it. I wouldn't call that something for Apple to brag about, though.

Mac/PC

zinzan @ 6/4/2009 10:37:16 PM #

I thought the Pre only interacted with iTunes on Mac and not with iTunes on PC? Is that correct?
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"

I-Tuns updates no problem!

bussie1966 @ 6/5/2009 12:04:41 PM #

I don't see the problem if Apple updates I-Tunes.

Just don't update your I-Tunes version. You don't need to have always the newest version of this terrible program...

RE: I-Tuns updates no problem!

twrock @ 6/5/2009 4:43:58 PM #

bussie1966 wrote:
You don't need to have always the newest version of this terrible program...

Impossible! No way! I must always have the newest version of everything. If I don't upgrade, I'll miss out on all those great "features" the companies keep adding. (Even if I don't know what they are or how to use them or if they really are nothing more that the company exerting even more controls over how I use my computer.) And I might fall behind everyone else. I might not be as..., as..., as COOL anymore.

That would be awful.

Hey Palm! Where's my PDA with Wifi and phone capabilities?