iTunes vids failing on 5th gen iPods; GPS in iPhone code; more

[AppleInsider]

Owners of Apple's early video-capable, fifth-generation iPods have found that some recent iTunes Store videos refuse to play. Also, beta versions of the iPhone's 2.0 software emulator make reference to currently unused GPS features, Apple has released its Aperture SDK, and Sony has acquired the company that provides track titles for iTunes.

5G iPods stalling on newer iTunes videos

Owners of Apple's previous-generation, full-size iPods are reporting on the company's support forums that many videos released through iTunes from April 10th onwards aren't playing properly on their devices.

While no apparent changes have been made to the videos, any attempt to play them stalls out or plays only one component, such as audio. Videos either obtained from different sources or those posted to the Apple-run service before April 10th work properly, even if purchased after the apparent switchover date.

The issue is described as independent of the exact version of iTunes and persists after restoring iPods or reinstalling iTunes.

Apple hasn't offered an official explanation or solution to the problem, but is now known to be "working toward a resolution" and may have at least resolved the issue for videos purchased within the past two days, which some users say are playing properly. Newer players such as the iPod classic and iPod touch haven't encountered playback difficulties.

iPhone 2.0 code mentioning GPS support?

Apple has built in hooks for iPhone GPS features that aren't possible with the current hardware, according to a user's report sent into iPhone Atlas.

Reader Steffen Voigt notes that the background process for location data in the iPhone Simulator component of the SDK points to use of the NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) spec used by many GPS devices to format navigation data.

While basic GPS information is necessary for the iPhone and iPod touch to triangulate their 2D positions using cellular or Wi-Fi signals, the code also makes specific references to features that can't be simulated by Apple's current methods. This includes both satellite info as well as live location information, such as speed and time.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based firm hasn't discussed any changes to its mapping code for the iPhone, which for now has been left to rough, manually updated position estimates in Google Maps.

Apple releases Aperture SDK

Making good on promises of third-party plug-in support for Aperture 2.1, Apple this week has released the Software Development Kit (500KB) for the photo management software.

The platform lets programmers write code that adds new features for editing and exporting images handled inside the program.

A number of extensions from outside companies have already been made available on Apple's developer site for Aperture.

Sony snaps up music identifier Gracenote

In a late announcement, Sony on Tuesday evening said it would acquire Gracenote for $260 million in a friendly takeover.

Previously named CDDB, the smaller company is best known for its large, partly user-built database of album and track titles that help automatically fill out song details during the CD import process.

Gracenote's service is currently used by Apple's iTunes as well as other playback programs.

The company says it will continue to run its existing business separately from Sony but that the integration will "accelerate" next-generation features by virtue of Sony's connections to content (via Sony BMG and Sony Pictures) and digital services.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[trevorlsciact]

oh ok

[eAi]

You've messed up one of the links, hiding a large chunk of the article...

[bsenka]

It's not just older iPods. Some of new video podcasts out of iTunes don't work on my new iPod classic either, including the ones from Macworld. iTunes won't even load the Macworld ones onto the iPod. "incompatible file format" for something like that.

[Mizhou]

Originally Posted by eAi

You've messed up one of the links, hiding a large chunk of the article...

Messed up a link? I would say one of the paragraphs is pretty messed up:

Apple has built in hooks for iPhone GPS features that aren't possible with the current hardware, according to a third-party plug-in support for Aperture 2.1

It starts off with iPhone and GPS, but I don't think that those references to GPS was found in the Aperture SDK. It's more likely to be found in the iPhone SDK.

Another thing is that Apple released Aperture SDK, but that has nothing to do with neither iPhone nor GPS whatsoever.

[joek]

plus building in support into an SDK for future features just makes sense.

Apple built in full color support into the Newton SDK, yet there was never a color Newton.

[chwebdesign]

Sony beat apple to the punch on this buyout... I think Sony knows what it is doing - although apple and sony work well together Sony now has some key tools under their control which can lead to political conflicts in the future if Apple and Sony piss each other off for whatever reason...

Just my 2¢

[8CoreWhore]

[bugsnw]

It's not just the iPods. I've had the AppleTV since it came out and just recently discovered that about 25% of my videos on it won't show video. I"m not sure when this happened, and it may be linked to upgrading to version 2, or it could be that iTunes somehow corrupted the video playback while leaving the audio alone.

Puzzling. I'm going to reformat the affected videos via Visualhub and see if saving over the old version fixes the problem. Oddly, some of the videos that don't play on the AppleTV play fine on the iPod and vice versa.

[MsNly]

I use Handbrake, so it's all good

[DaveGee]

Originally Posted by Mizhou

Messed up a link? I would say one of the paragraphs is pretty messed

Nope it's simply a messed up link in their html... They started an href= with a " but ended it with a '.

Here is the text as it should look:

iPhone 2.0 code mentioning GPS support?

Apple has built in hooks for iPhone GPS features that aren't possible with the current hardware, according to a user's report (see link below) sent into iPhone Atlas.

Reader Steffen Voigt notes that the background process for location data in the iPhone Simulator component of the SDK points to use of the NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) spec used by many GPS devices to format navigation data.

While basic GPS information is necessary for the iPhone and iPod touch to triangulate their 2D positions using cellular or Wi-Fi signals, the code also makes specific references to features that can't be simulated by Apple's current methods. This includes both satellite info as well as live location information, such as speed and time.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based firm hasn't discussed any changes to its mapping code for the iPhone, which for now has been left to rough, manually updated position estimates in Google Maps.

Link: http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/04/2...e-gps-support/

Dave

[jawporta]

I say dont buy videos from Apple. If they are going to pull this shit download videos from bi torrent sites and rip them with visual hub. There's more of a selection, they're free and they will always work. If they dont it didnt cost you anything.

[NasserAE]

Apple should consider putting the iPhone bluetooth into serious work. They can use it to connect bluetooth GPS antennas and other nice accessories.

[echosonic]

THIS IS BULLSH--T.

Gracenote was 70% or more built by its users, and for them to sell out to Sony is ridiculous. I can not believe they would pull such a stunt.

Trust an internet indie, get bent over. The only good thing about gracenote was that they were relatively neutral in all things music. They simply provided a means by which to identify work across all platforms.

now, however, who knows.

I do not trust Sony.

Next up, Craig Newmark sells out to google for billions. CL Adwords to follow shortly.

[TheSpecialist]

Well this sucks.... I don't trust Sony in this. If Apple and Sony get a fight they might use it in their advantage. Maybe Apple should build up their own database to not be dependent on Sony?

[DaveGee]

Originally Posted by echosonic

THIS IS BULLSH--T. Gracenote was 70% or more built by its users, and for them to sell out to Sony is ridiculous. I can not believe they would pull such a stunt.

Hmmm I could see you getting upset with the kids who started CDDB, evangelized the internet at large to fill up its database and then proceed to sell the work of others **TO** Gracenote (back in 99? earlier??) but this is ancient history.... Gracenote is and always was a for profit company and seeing that they can sell out to Sony is no surprise to me.

Frankly what the (trying hard not to use a bad word here) ... what the _people_ that founded CDDB did was a huge slap in the face to cooperative gathering and sharing of data... All they did in fact was to simply write some crappy SQL database code to store the CDDB information and everything of VALUE (aka the data itself) came directly from the contributing public. Sure they had some servers but if my memory isn't totally shot most of those were on many of our great campuses of higher learning and NOT something they were footing the bill for themselves.

I'm just glad it didn't have an enormously negative effect on the 'work as a team to get the job done' attitude that has made the net so powerful.

Sure the sale when it first happened made me sick... it still does... but lets direct our anger at the right three individuals.

Dave

[reachingforsky]

Those CDDB/Gracenote kids...pure genius. I wish I had been a part of something that sells for almost $300 mil. Sell-out? What fantasy are you living?

[teckstud]

Doesn't make sense that nothing has been changed in the videos yet they stall- does it?
Must be that they are now optimzed for the newer iPod OS. First the video-out compatibilty issue , the games, now this. They need to rectify this fast.

[jamiec]

Originally Posted by Mizhou

Messed up a link? I would say one of the paragraphs is pretty messed up:


It starts off with iPhone and GPS, but I don't think that those references to GPS was found in the Aperture SDK. It's more likely to be found in the iPhone SDK.

Another thing is that Apple released Aperture SDK, but that has nothing to do with neither iPhone nor GPS whatsoever.

Makes perfect sense to me. The article indicates that there is code in the Aperture SDK to handle geotags from the iPhone, implying future GPS support for the iPhone.

[minderbinder]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Doesn't make sense that nothing has been changed in the videos yet they stall- does it?
Must be that they are now optimzed for the newer iPod OS. First the video-out compatibilty issue , the games, now this. They need to rectify this fast.

Obviously, something did change in that batch of videos.

And people have reported already that it is being fixed, most new videos don't seem to have this problem. I don't know if they've gone back and fixed the older ones yet.

And it sounds like apple hasn't given a response about letting people download fixed versions (or refund/credit), although they may be waiting until they have confirmed that all videos are fixed - it would be a pain to have people trying to download again before fixes are all done.

Some people seem to think this is an attempt to make the old ipods obsolete, but it looks more like someone just screwed up and tweaked codec settings without checking compatibility.

[Chris_CA]

Originally Posted by jawporta

I say dont buy videos from Apple. If they are going to pull this shit download videos from bi torrent sites and rip them with visual hub. There's more of a selection, they're free and they will always work. If they dont it didnt cost you anything.

Great!
Keep music/movie prices high and loaded with DRM for those who want to be legal.
Thanks!

[minderbinder]

Originally Posted by jawporta

I say dont buy videos from Apple. If they are going to pull this shit download videos from bi torrent sites and rip them with visual hub. There's more of a selection, they're free and they will always work. If they dont it didnt cost you anything.

Dear jawporta,

I just bought a car and it broke down already. Next time should I just steal one instead?

Please advise.

-m