Apple posts iPod touch 2.1 firmware update

[AppleInsider]

Original iPod touch owners on Tuesday night got first crack at the 2.1 feature set with Apple's promised firmware update for first-generation players.

The update is available through iTunes and adds many of the new features present in the second-generation iPod touch that aren't dictated by hardware choices.

This includes the Genius feature for automatically creating a playlist of related music, software-related optimizations to battery life, and a host of additional fixes and other adjustments.

Apple hasn't posted a full list of updates.

As promised, the software is a free upgrade for any iPod touch owner already using version 2.0 firmware or later; those using any version 1 software must pay $9.99 to unlock and download the 2.1 update.

The version 2.1 update for iPhone and iPhone 3G users will be free but will appear slightly later, launching on Friday.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[ingenious]

I was really excited about both updates, and I still love iTunes 8, but I had trouble getting my iPod touch 32 GB with OS 2.1 to sync without getting error 13213.

Here's what I discovered over at Apple Discussions.

First, power off your iPod touch completely by holding down the top button and then sliding the bar on the top of the screen.

Second, quit iTunes 8.

Restart iTunes 8.

Without turning your iPod back on, connect it and it should sync normally.



So far this has worked for me!

[Spunkmeyer]

Funny how iPhone users have to wait... wonder if they're concerned about the impact it will have during a business week.

[Booga]

Originally Posted by Spunkmeyer

iPhone version 1.0 firmware users need to pay, yes?

iPhone? Probably not. iPod Touch? Yes.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by ingenious

I was really excited about both updates, and I still love iTunes 8, but I had trouble getting my iPod touch 32 GB with OS 2.1 to sync without getting error 13213.

Here's what I discovered over at Apple Discussions.

First, power off your iPod touch completely by holding down the top button and then sliding the bar on the top of the screen.

Second, quit iTunes 8.

Restart iTunes 8.

Without turning your iPod back on, connect it and it should sync normally.



So far this has worked for me!

Good info, but I'd like to point out that not everyone needs to do this. For me 2.1 installed fine and worked fine first time.

What I would like to know is if anyone has any experience using the Genius feature yet on the iPod touch. For me it basically does nothing at all.

I was expecting a Pandora like experience where the mobile iTunes store could suggest similar music to what I have in my iPod and while this works rather well on the desktop itunes store, I don't see any such feature on the iPod touch mobile store. I'm not sure if this is the way it's supposed to be or not. Anyone have any ideas?

Since the "Genius playlist" feature is something I don't need or want, I don't have it enabled in iTunes, but I do have the genius recommendation sidebar enabled. On the iPod, I can see the button for letting the iPod make a genius playlist for me based on the playing song, (it doesn't do anything because I don't have the Genius playlists activated), but there doesn't seem to be any feature for Genius to recommend tracks to me on the mobile iTunes store.

Is this not in there? Or do I have to enable stupid genius playlists to get the other feature to work? I really don't want to enable a feature I don't want just to see if perhaps that activates the feature that I do want.

Sometimes I wish Apple didn't have such a bee in it's bonnet about "discoverability" and simply put out some actual explanations for their new features. Oh well.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by Spunkmeyer

Funny how iPhone users have to wait... wonder if they're concerned about the impact it will have during a business week.

I imagine it's to do with that whole "stager your releases" lesson they learned with MobileMe a little while ago.

[slapppy]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

I imagine it's to do with that whole "stager your releases" lesson they learned with MobileMe a little while ago.

Exactly. Thats fine with me.

[technosmurf]

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[technosmurf]

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[technosmurf]

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[Akac]

Originally Posted by technosmurf

- While a song is playing, there's a new "play arrow" icon near the top right hand corner of the screen, next to the battery status. This is helpful, since it was confusing before to know if a song was in a "play" state or a "paused" state while browsing for other songs or creating on-the-go playlists (recently, I haven't been using headphones on my iPod touch as I often use it just for browsing web pages).

On my iPhone 2.02 and even in 1.x that was always there.

[Akac]

Originally Posted by technosmurf

- Under General > Sounds, you can now individually control which sound effects are activated.

I think that was always there. Its on my iPhone 2.02 as well.

[RichL]

Let me get this straight, Apple, I've got to pay another $9.95? What gives? Why are you the only PMP manufacturer on the planet charging for firmware updates?

I adore my iPod touch and I've owned nothing but iPods for 5 years. However, I'd seriously consider moving to another platform if this kind of behaviour continues.

[nutts]

Originally Posted by RichL

Let me get this straight, Apple, I've got to pay another $9.95? What gives?

Not another no. If you already paid $9.95 for the upgrade to 2.0 then this one is free. If you haven't yet paid for 2.0, you need to pay the $9.95.

I'm not aware of any other PMP manufacturer that has introduced major new features like the App Store, an email client etc as part of a firmware update, so I guess there is nobody to really compare to. Not that I agree with having to charge of course, but there does seem to be a legal reason (sarbanes oxley).

[RichL]

Originally Posted by nutts

Not another no. If you already paid $9.95 for the upgrade to 2.0 then this one is free. If you haven't yet paid for 2.0, you need to pay the $9.95.

Oh cool, that's fine then. Panic over.

I'm not aware of any other PMP manufacturer that has introduced major new features like the App Store, an email client etc as part of a firmware update, so I guess there is nobody to really compare to. Not that I agree with having to charge of course, but there does seem to be a legal reason (sarbanes oxley).

The Zune got a major update for free. But that's a moot point. I was complaining because I thought that I'd need to pay $9.95 to upgrade from v2.0.2. I was "happy" to pay for the app store upgrade because I knew that there was a lot of value in the App Store.

I'm dumb for reading the news wrong.

[irishrover]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Original iPod touch owners on Tuesday night got first crack at the 2.1 feature set with Apple's promised firmware update for first-generation players.

The update is available through iTunes and adds many of the new features present in the second-generation iPod touch that aren't dictated by hardware choices.

This includes the Genius feature for automatically creating a playlist of related music, software-related optimizations to battery life, and a host of additional fixes and other adjustments.

Apple hasn't posted a full list of updates.

As promised, the software is a free upgrade for any iPod touch owner already using version 2.0 firmware or later; those using any version 1 software must pay $9.99 to unlock and download the 2.1 update.

The version 2.1 update for iPhone and iPhone 3G users will be free but will appear slightly later, launching on Friday.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

Hi, first time poster here!

I tried upgrading my iPod touch to the 2.1 firmware but got a warning that the update will delete ALL music and videos on my iPod, so I cancelled the update

Has anyone had this trouble? really wouldnt wanna lose EVERYTHING just for a few new features, plus because i recently reformatted my laptop i have no backup of the music on the harddrive!

[e1cap1tan]

I upgraded my touch last night to 2.1.

This morning I used the App Store on the iPod to update some applications. I was BLOWN AWAY by how fast they installed (easily 5x faster than before) AND THE ICONS STAYED IN THEIR ORIGINAL POSITION!

THANK GOD! Finally!

[technosmurf]

[Edit]

[technosmurf]

[Edit]

[dfiler]

Originally Posted by technosmurf

Yes, I agree -- installing new Apps (and installing updates to current ones) is much faster now (the "thermometer bar" fills up a lot faster, then there's just a short delay before the app becomes fully usable, unlike before where the system would get stuck for more than a minute to "finish up" the thermometer bar, making me wonder if I should restart the iPod touch in order to finish up the app install).

Thermometer bar? That's hot. Much hotter than, oh, i don't know... a "progress bar".

But yes, this fix is great news. The app install process was previously quite clunky, locking up the phone, taking forever, and moving your icons around.

[Mav5]

How long did it take to download the iPod Touch update? It wont download on my computer. It estimates ridiculous times like 36 hours then before the bar reaches 25% it says that there was an error downloading. I've tried it on my MacBook, and my room mate's MacBook Pro.

[grahamw]

I was hopeful that my Nike+ plugin would activate the Nike+ features on my gen 1 iPod Touch.

No such luck. *sigh*.

Genius is quite swanky though. It seems to consistently pick songs that I want to listen to - I haven't skipped a track since the update.