[LionMage]

This incident actually hits home for me. My girlfriend has an iBook that she was using as her primary computer with her iPod. Recently, her iBook died spectacularly, and repair isn't an economically viable option. The problem is, my girlfriend didn't back up any of her iTMS purchases, and she didn't back up any of the rips she did; yes, she could re-rip literally hundreds of CDs, but that's a huge undertaking.
When this iTunes plugin was announced, I fired off an e-mail to her to go get this so she could back up the music on her iPod to a G4 desktop system that she now uses. But it got yanked before she could download the plugin, and I had to go research alternative solutions...
I'm pretty sure that Apple's primary excuse for killing iPodDownload is that it functions as an iTunes plugin, thus changing the behavior of iTunes (e.g., allowing you to copy music from the iPod into iTunes, something that iTunes does not do by intentional design). Apple wants to avoid the appearance of supporting piracy. You'll notice, though, that there are dozens of stand-alone apps that do similar things to iPodDownload, and they are still available. The moral of the story? If you think there might be a legal issue with your software, don't develop it as a plugin for one of Apple's iApps.

[ndelc]

I'm sure the only reason they set it up this way is to appease the record companies. That was probably one of the conditions that they had to agree to in order to have the DRM allow you copy to as many iPods as you choose.
That being said, I agree that this would be a very useful option, one that I know I'd like, within the constraints of the law. I'm afraid it was probably a political decision.

[ALG]

Which is fine if the only thing you use your iPod for is to listen to music.
I ran into this problem with sony ......... I have a mini disc walkman recorder/player and it is virtually worthless for this very reason. I seldom listen to music on the go. What I use them for is to record like my classes and lectures. The only work around I found for the walkman was to use a capture program like CEP and play the mini disc real time and capture it to my computer. As a college student I do not have that kind of time. so I just had like 350.00 worth of equip. to use as a paper weight.
We can blame the DCMA for all of this headache.

[SPOOF]

That should be DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

[hillstones]

Some of you get it, some of you don't.
The MUSIC INDUSTRY required the one-way traffic for the iPod. Since they did their best to shut down Napster to reduce piracy, they were not about to let Apple allow two-way traffic with the iPod. As some of you already pointed out how easy it could have been to copy THOUSANDS of songs from one person to another in a matter of minutes.
Before digital files, things were very different. We recorded CD's to cassettes to listen to them in cars. We borrowed the CD from a friend to record it to a cassette if we weren't sure about buying it. The music industry didn't really care about stopping that because it was not an exact duplicate of the original. It could not be mass-duplicated without any loss of quality. The technology wasn't there yet.
Now things are different. Suddenly the consumer is willing to accept some loss of quality for convenience! No one ever thought of copying their CD's to their computers because the files were huge, and drives at that time were not very big. The music industry still didn't have anything to worry about at that time.
Now they do. People are becoming accustomed to listening to compressed versions of their CD's because it is more convenient. They are willing to sacrifice some sound quality for the convenience of taking their entire collection with them. The small file sizes and high speed internet allowed everyone to have friends everywhere. Letting your friend borrow that new CD suddenly became letting the world borrow that CD. Is it stealing? Yes. I don't care what excuse you have, if you didn't buy it, you stole it.
So part of the restriction on the iPod placed by the Music Industry was to have one-way traffic only, for that particular computer only. As long as Apple made the device secure in which their software did not allow the music to be easily transfered from one computer to another, the industry was satisfied. I cannot take my iPod to my brother's house, plug it in his Mac, and transfer the music off of it using Apple's software. That is the key issue....Apple's software.
So when this programmer wrote a plug-in to circumvent Apple's iTunes software, yes, that is a big no-no. That is why the other programmer got a warning when he circumvented the sharing over a closed network and opened it up to the internet. it gives the appearance that Apple's software allows this restricted function, and I am sure Apple does not want this kind of liability on their hands.
Yes, there are other programs that allow the song files to be transferred off the iPod. But they are stand-alone programs that do not circumvent iTunes. There are still ways to transfer the music. I can copy the song files to the data side of the iPod and copy them somewhere else. But I am not using Apple's software program to do it. So Apple is just trying to protect their program to make sure it functions per the requirements they agreed upon with the Music Industry.
Am I the only person that does not destroy my iTunes library after transferring songs to my iPod??? I cannot believe how many people out there transfer their songs to the iPod, then delete the files! The iPod compliments iTunes, it wasn't intended to replace iTunes. Am I the only person that enjoys listening to music on my Mac as I work? Having the iTunes library is a blessing as I no longer have to grab a new CD every hour. People...don't delete your iTunes libraries! Hard drives are cheap! In addition, BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP! Especially backup your iTunes Music Store purchases! Get an external FireWire drive and use it as a backup! It is fast and reliable! Or, if you have a SuperDrive, burn the files to a DVD-R.

[MacCheetah3]

Hi

In reply to:

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Am I the only person that does not destroy my iTunes library after transferring songs to my iPod??? I cannot believe how many people out there transfer their songs to the iPod, then delete the files! The iPod compliments iTunes, it wasn't intended to replace iTunes. Am I the only person that enjoys listening to music on my Mac as I work? Having the iTunes library is a blessing as I no longer have to grab a new CD every hour. People...don't delete your iTunes libraries! Hard drives are cheap! In addition, BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP! Especially backup your iTunes Music Store purchases! Get an external FireWire drive and use it as a backup! It is fast and reliable! Or, if you have a SuperDrive, burn the files to a DVD-R.

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I'm with ya'! I highly agree.
MacCheetah3
Apple PowerBook G4 Titanium 1GHz, 1GB, 60GB, SuperDrive, Airport, Mac OS X, 20GB iPod (4G)
Debug Computer Services http://www.click2debug.com

[mistersquid]

I love Apple. I love the First Amendment. I love education. That said, I am making this software available from my educational web site, run by the University of Virginia which has a history of telling organizations that threaten them with lawsuits to go figure it out. I'm not saying UVa won't ask me to stop redistributing this file, nor that they won't knuckle under pressure from Apple, but you never know until you try.
The Internet is dead! Long live the Internet!
http://www.people.vi...Download1.0.sit