iTunes Store to stop working for first-gen Apple TV & older Windows PCs on May 25

AppleInsider

As of late May, people with an original Apple TV -- or a PC running Windows XP or Vista -- will be unable to access or re-download content from the iTunes Store, a new Apple support document indicates.

The deprecation is a result of "security changes," the company says. While Apple TV owners will have to buy newer hardware, XP and Vista users can get around the problem by upgrading to Windows 7 or later, assuming their computers meet minimum requirements.

Apple notes that it considers the first-gen Apple TV obsolete, and that Windows XP and Vista are no longer supported by Microsoft. Older versions of iTunes will continue to run on XP and Vista -- just with diminished functionality.

Both Apple and Microsoft have switched to radically different approaches to their platforms. The first Apple TV came with a hard drive, but every newer model is flash- and streaming-based, with comparatively little onboard storage. Windows, meanwhile, is being continually updated instead of sold in major revisions. Customers simply pay for a new license whenever they buy a new PC or tablet or make a major parts upgrade.

MacRumors points out that first-gen Apple TV owners are being emailed about the issue.

soli

The original Apple TV came out in 2007—before the iPhone—and was switched from being Intel-based to ARM-based in 2010. That's a pretty damn good run, and I have to think that people that are still using that Apple TV aren't big on buying or renting content from the iTunes Store.

deepinsider

Apple have become the new Micro$oft, using and abusing vendor lock-in to squeeze more money from customers or to prevent meaningful competition. We can’t get the real Firefox with its superior rendering engine on iOS, which is worse than the behavior that got Micro$oft prosecuted in the 90s. Now they’re dropping support for a product people invested in with the confidence that Apple wouldn’t “pull a Micro$oft” on them. We’re witnessing Apple’s apex—they are going downhill from here.

edited February 2018

digitol

Dear Apple, (Tim Cook). Kindly go fuck yourself.  Seriously though, what a horrible terrible decision.

racerhomie3

deepinsider said:

Apple have become the new Micro$oft, using and abusing vendor lock-in to squeeze more money from customers or to prevent meaningful competition. We can’t get the real Firefox with its superior rendering engine on iOS, which is worse than the behavior that got Micro$oft prosecuted in the 90s. Now they’re dropping support for a product people invested in with the confidence that Apple wouldn’t “pull a Micro$oft” on them. We’re witnessing Apple’s apex—they are going downhill from here.

Shut up boy.
Go use Android then . This is not the 90s when Windows was the only option.

edited February 2018

racerhomie3

digitol said:

Dear Apple, (Tim Cook). Kindly go fuck yourself.  Seriously though, what a horrible terrible decision.

It’s been 12 years.
Most PCs hardly last 5 years ,without maintenance.

riverko

deepinsider said:

Apple have become the new Micro$oft, using and abusing vendor lock-in to squeeze more money from customers or to prevent meaningful competition. We can’t get the real Firefox with its superior rendering engine on iOS, which is worse than the behavior that got Micro$oft prosecuted in the 90s. Now they’re dropping support for a product people invested in with the confidence that Apple wouldn’t “pull a Micro$oft” on them. We’re witnessing Apple’s apex—they are going downhill from here.

Yes, I expected reaction exactly like that.... "Oh Apple, how dare you drop support for 11 years old product"... who else can say their such an old product was still working and supported??? or do you blame eg. Sony, that you cannot play the newest PlayStation 4 games on the PlayStation 1?

jcs2305

deepinsider said:

Apple have become the new Micro$oft, using and abusing vendor lock-in to squeeze more money from customers or to prevent meaningful competition. We can’t get the real Firefox with its superior rendering engine on iOS, which is worse than the behavior that got Micro$oft prosecuted in the 90s. Now they’re dropping support for a product people invested in with the confidence that Apple wouldn’t “pull a Micro$oft” on them. We’re witnessing Apple’s apex—they are going downhill from here.

Have you lost your mind? Did you just quick $can the headline and a$$ume that Apple was $omehow dropping $upport for the AppleTV  as a whole product, and not just the 11 year old 1st generation? That ha$ to be it?  If not, than this is some of the $illiest $h** I have read on here in a while. 

wonkothesane

digitol said:

Dear Apple, (Tim Cook). Kindly go fuck yourself.  Seriously though, what a horrible terrible decision.

Especially, since you know all the facts....
Also: big words, would you them into his face as well? No? I thought so. 

mjtomlin

deepinsider said:

Apple have become the new Micro$oft, using and abusing vendor lock-in to squeeze more money from customers or to prevent meaningful competition. We can’t get the real Firefox with its superior rendering engine on iOS, which is worse than the behavior that got Micro$oft prosecuted in the 90s. Now they’re dropping support for a product people invested in with the confidence that Apple wouldn’t “pull a Micro$oft” on them. We’re witnessing Apple’s apex—they are going downhill from here.

Either you’re trolling or don’t exactly understand what’s happening here?

I, probably like most people who still have and use their original AppleTV, use it primarily to access their iTunes library on their computer. The UI on that system is so damned antiquated, designed to support a much smaller media store. Removing direct access to the store is hardly a surprise, much less a real problem. You can always still buy and rent media from your computer and watch it on the origina AppleTV.

chasm

deepinsider said:

They are the new Micro$oft, but worse... far more evil.

So let me be sure I have your position right: Apple is worse than Microsoft because they will no longer support XP or Vista or 11-year-old hardware, even though Microsoft dropped support of those OSes years ago and never supports 11-year old hardware but ... Microsoft are less evil. Yes, that makes perfect sense.

numenorean

The problem isn't support per se. Obviously, no one expects Apple to continue to support such an old product. The problem is that locked devices like this are useless once support ends. That's what's wrong here. Let's say for example that my perfectly working old Apple TV is donated to another family member. Once it's reset, they (or even yourself) can't download or access anything if support ended because there's nothing there to download or acquire. Remember that you're not buying a subscription, but a hardware product and in the case of apps, a software product that you expect to run on your device. If you could backup your Apple TV, you wouldn't have to re-download apps from Apple, but unfortunately you can't and they're the only provider of what you paid for.

Apple fixed this problem with the iPad by allowing you to download the last working version of that app for as long as the developers allowed it. That made it possible for me to donate my perfectly working first gen iPad to a family member who enjoys it to this day. It should be possible to do the same with an old Apple TV. It can't be that difficult for Apple to do this or have at least a limited workaround to not have to throw away a perfectly working device.

Just pondering...

edited February 2018

deepinsider

chasm said:

deepinsider said:

They are the new Micro$oft, but worse... far more evil.

So let me be sure I have your position right: Apple is worse than Microsoft because they will no longer support XP or Vista or 11-year-old hardware, even though Microsoft dropped support of those OSes years ago and never supports 11-year old hardware but ... Microsoft are less evil. Yes, that makes perfect sense.

Did Microsoft sell them the hardware? No. Your attempt at equivalence fails right there. And Microsoft took plenty of flack for abandoning Plays For Sure and then its replacement the Zune. Apple are starting to hose people the same way, and deserve every bit of criticism they receive. If they stay this course, they will lose relevance and sales, just like Microsoft.

512ke

I hate having to discard a perfectly operational device into the landfill. That feels wrong. 

neilm

Soli said:

The original Apple TV came out in 2007—before the iPhone—and was switched from being Intel-based to ARM-based in 2010. That's a pretty damn good run, and I have to think that people that are still using that Apple TV aren't big on buying or renting content from the iTunes Store.

I regularly use a Gen 1 Apple TV (the 2010 version with a 160GB drive). I like it because it synchs my laptop's contents to its local drive, avoiding the need for the laptop to be present to access my music library. And we regularly rent movies on it too. I also like that movies are fully downloaded and stored locally for viewing.

That said, it's been obvious for some time that this Gen 1 will stop working at some point for any number of possible reasons. I was going to buy a new 4K Apple TV anyway, so it looks like this will be the time for that.

I really don't see much in the way of grounds for complaint in the Gen 1's sunsetting.

edited February 2018

mike wuerthele

512ke said:

I hate having to discard a perfectly operational device into the landfill. That feels wrong. 

Why would you need to do that? Streaming purchased content and your own library from iTunes on a Mac will still function.

You just won't be able to buy content from the store through it.

edited February 2018

mike wuerthele

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slurpy

deepinsider said:

Apple have become the new Micro$oft, using and abusing vendor lock-in to squeeze more money from customers or to prevent meaningful competition. We can’t get the real Firefox with its superior rendering engine on iOS, which is worse than the behavior that got Micro$oft prosecuted in the 90s. Now they’re dropping support for a product people invested in with the confidence that Apple wouldn’t “pull a Micro$oft” on them. We’re witnessing Apple’s apex—they are going downhill from here.

digitol said:

Dear Apple, (Tim Cook). Kindly go fuck yourself.  Seriously though, what a horrible terrible decision.

Amazing how the amount of trolls, insanity, and absolute filth (like digitol) on this forum seems to constantly increase. 

The originally Apple TV is almost 12 years old, running an obsolete OS that has nothing in common with the rest of the ecosystem.  Only an absolute moron, utterly incapable of understanding how technology, hardware, and software actually work, would feign outrage and imply maliciousness because of this decision. 1st gen Apple TVs are not "useless" because of this. They can still perform every other function besides downloading from the store. How many people actually still own and use the 1st gen Apple TV, AND use it to purchase from the iTunes Store? I'm guessing the number is infinitesimally tiny.

Tim Cook can go "fuck himself"? So, you think if Steve Jobs was still alive and in charge (or anyone else), this wouldn't have happened? Based on what? SJ was known for relentlessly pushing things forward and ruthlessly cutting support for older products. If you believe otherwise, you're a moron. Some of you people pretending to be outraged by this (yes, pretending) should stop pretending to like Apple simply so you can troll on this board. 

zoetmb

slurpy said:

deepinsider said:

Apple have become the new Micro$oft, using and abusing vendor lock-in to squeeze more money from customers or to prevent meaningful competition. We can’t get the real Firefox with its superior rendering engine on iOS, which is worse than the behavior that got Micro$oft prosecuted in the 90s. Now they’re dropping support for a product people invested in with the confidence that Apple wouldn’t “pull a Micro$oft” on them. We’re witnessing Apple’s apex—they are going downhill from here.

digitol said:

Dear Apple, (Tim Cook). Kindly go fuck yourself.  Seriously though, what a horrible terrible decision.

Amazing how the amount of trolls, insanity, and absolute filth (like digitol) on this forum seems to constantly increase. 

The originally Apple TV is almost 12 years old, running an obsolete OS that has nothing in common with the rest of the ecosystem.  Only an absolute moron, utterly incapable of understanding how technology, hardware, and software actually work, would feign outrage and imply maliciousness because of this decision. 1st gen Apple TVs are not "useless" because of this. They can still perform every other function besides downloading from the store. How many people actually still own and use the 1st gen Apple TV, AND use it to purchase from the iTunes Store? I'm guessing the number is infinitesimally tiny.

Tim Cook can go "fuck himself"? So, you think if Steve Jobs was still alive and in charge (or anyone else), this wouldn't have happened? Based on what? SJ was known for relentlessly pushing things forward and ruthlessly cutting support for older products. If you believe otherwise, you're a moron. Some of you people pretending to be outraged by this (yes, pretending) should stop pretending to like Apple simply so you can troll on this board. 

I agree with most of what you say, but even though we don't know the specifics of the "security fix", it seems to me that there should have been a software solution that still could still have made this first gen device continue to operate with the store.   After all, it's just downloading (or streaming) a file to the device.  Why should that stop working?    It's easy to say that "well, at 11 years old, it's ancient" if you don't have one (or are wealthy), but if you do have and use one and now you have to spend money that you didn't expect to have to spend to get another (especially if you have more than one), it's reasonable to feel a bit cheated.   It's also bad optics for Apple.   What they should do, at the very least, is give registered owners a $40 coupon towards the purchase of a new one.    

I think Apple's got a problem with this product line anyway - virtually every new TV has Roku or something similar built in.   Apple TV might be better, but it's not enough better to get someone who already has similar functionality included in their TV to get them to purchase the Apple TV, until such time as Apple has an enormous amount of exclusive quality content and maybe not even then, because how much content can any one person watch?  I think Roku was brilliant in getting TV manufacturers to integrate their device.    I just purchased a $219 TV for my elderly mother and even that cheap set had Roku built-in (not that she'll use it).  Apple always wants to go it alone, except when they can't, like in a car dash. 

soli

zoetmb said:

slurpy said:

deepinsider said:

Apple have become the new Micro$oft, using and abusing vendor lock-in to squeeze more money from customers or to prevent meaningful competition. We can’t get the real Firefox with its superior rendering engine on iOS, which is worse than the behavior that got Micro$oft prosecuted in the 90s. Now they’re dropping support for a product people invested in with the confidence that Apple wouldn’t “pull a Micro$oft” on them. We’re witnessing Apple’s apex—they are going downhill from here.

digitol said:

Dear Apple, (Tim Cook). Kindly go fuck yourself.  Seriously though, what a horrible terrible decision.

Amazing how the amount of trolls, insanity, and absolute filth (like digitol) on this forum seems to constantly increase. 

The originally Apple TV is almost 12 years old, running an obsolete OS that has nothing in common with the rest of the ecosystem.  Only an absolute moron, utterly incapable of understanding how technology, hardware, and software actually work, would feign outrage and imply maliciousness because of this decision. 1st gen Apple TVs are not "useless" because of this. They can still perform every other function besides downloading from the store. How many people actually still own and use the 1st gen Apple TV, AND use it to purchase from the iTunes Store? I'm guessing the number is infinitesimally tiny.

Tim Cook can go "fuck himself"? So, you think if Steve Jobs was still alive and in charge (or anyone else), this wouldn't have happened? Based on what? SJ was known for relentlessly pushing things forward and ruthlessly cutting support for older products. If you believe otherwise, you're a moron. Some of you people pretending to be outraged by this (yes, pretending) should stop pretending to like Apple simply so you can troll on this board. 

I agree with most of what you say, but even though we don't know the specifics of the "security fix", it seems to me that there should have been a software solution that still could still have made this first gen device continue to operate with the store.   After all, it's just downloading (or streaming) a file to the device.  Why should that stop working?    It's easy to say that "well, at 11 years old, it's ancient" if you don't have one (or are wealthy), but if you do have and use one and now you have to spend money that you didn't expect to have to spend to get another (especially if you have more than one), it's reasonable to feel a bit cheated.   It's also bad optics for Apple.   What they should do, at the very least, is give registered owners a $40 coupon towards the purchase of a new one.    

I think Apple's got a problem with this product line anyway - virtually every new TV has Roku or something similar built in.   Apple TV might be better, but it's not enough better to get someone who already has similar functionality included in their TV to get them to purchase the Apple TV, until such time as Apple has an enormous amount of exclusive quality content and maybe not even then, because how much content can any one person watch?  I think Roku was brilliant in getting TV manufacturers to integrate their device.    I just purchased a $219 TV for my elderly mother and even that cheap set had Roku built-in (not that she'll use it).  Apple always wants to go it alone, except when they can't, like in a car dash. 

There’s a solution, but it’s not cost effective. You know that Apple TV came out overs decade ago. You know it runs macOS. It probably is still Snow Leopard-based and therefore all the security for it is limited. I used an old iMac as a server that only could get up to Snow Leopard, which meant the version of iTunes was several major versions behind as the most recent update. It still had Home Sharing, so it was useful, but so does this Apple TV today.

So what value do you place on updating everything so that how many people can continue to buy and rent content from the iTunes Store on their 1st gen Apple TV? How many people do you believe would need to do that for all these recoding and testing for a pre-iPhone product? When was the last time the original iPhone had a major OS update? How about the original iPad? How many of those devices exist as compared to the original Apple TV?

I don’t think I’ve seen a more ridiculous topic for people to lose their shit over. He’ll, there are countless more people using the Windows machines that will not longer get support for that old version of ITunes when connecting to the iTS portal, and I don’t think I read a single complaint about that here.

edited February 2018

ihatescreennames

I still own a first gen TV. It hasn’t been plugged in in at least 5 years. This decision won’t have any affect on me. 

As was was mentioned earlier, it’s unlikely to bother the majority of people. I’m not even sure it could handle HD content. It’s been a long time since I’ve used it but I don’t think it supported iTunes streaming. If I wanted to watch a movie from my iTunes library I had to sync that movie to the TV first, which tended to be slow. I had to start the sync well before I planned to actually watch the movie. (My memory may be off. It’s possible it could stream movies from iTunes but my network just sucked and I just went with the syncing option)

I think I stored my music on it as well (mine has a 40 GB hard drive) so playing music from it to the stereo was actually kind of nice. 

Still, this change doesn’t bother me. I have 3 other TVs that are working fine. 

edited February 2018