iTunes 8 causes Windows Vista BSOD

Filed under: iTunes

Some Windows Vista users are having significant problems using iTunes 8, which crashes the operating system with a “blue screen of death” when an iPod or iPhone is connected to the PC.

Apple today released a tech note, suggesting to uninstall Apple Mobile Device Support, restart the computer, and re-download and re-install the iTunes 8 installer. It’s unclear what about Apple Mobile Device Support was causing the problem.

According to Macworld and ZDNet, Apple simply replaced the files associated with Apple Mobile Device Support (usbaapl.sys or usbaapl64.sys) with the versions shipped with iTunes 7.7.

Computerworld highlighted several irate comments from an Apple Discussions thread on the subject, including precious gems such as “I love how Apple owns up to problems… IT’S NOT US! IT MUST BE YOU! OR MICROSOFT! OR YOUR MOUSE! OR YOUR CHAIR!”

Adorable.

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Original post by Robert Palmer

Create a Genius playlist on the iPhone and iPod touch

Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone

Love it or hate it, Genius is the marquee feature of iTunes 8. Basically, it formulates playlists based upon a restricted song in your library. iPhone and iPod touch firmware 2.1 added it to those devices, and it has worked well in my experience. Here’s how you can have your iPhone or iPod touch generate a Genius playlist for you (Note that you must sync with iTunes 8 to get the Genius icon on your iPhone/iPod touch).

First, touch “Playlists.” You’ll see the “Genius” option at the top of the list. Tap that, and a new window appears. From there, touch the song you want to be the basis for the playlist. Your iPod will work for a second, generate the list and immediately start playing the first track.

While it plays, tap the screen to bring up the familiar progress bar. You’ll notice the Genius icon is displayed, indicating that it’s working on a Genius playlist.

Touch the back button to refresh the list (force the iPod to manufacture new choices) or create a new one. You can plus save the playlist from here. Note that Genius playlists are named for the original target track.

You can view screenshots of the process in the gallery below.

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Original post by Dave Caolo

Mac 101: Save a Genius playlist in iTunes

Filed under: iTS, iTunes, Mac 101

The feature of iTunes 8 that Apple wants to you notice is called “Genius.” Basically, it generates playlists, either from your songs or the iTunes Store, based upon a track selected from your library. In that post, we’ll look at creating and saving a Genius playlist on your Mac.

First, choose the target track in your library. I wanted to generate a playlist for work, so I selected a mellow track by Band of Horses. Next, go the Genius button (with the icon) in the lower right-hand corner of the iTunes window.

Presto! Your playlist is created. But there’s still room for tweaking. At the top of the window, you’ll see the track upon which your new playlist is based. Next to that, a drop-down menu lets you choose the number of songs to include. Choose from 25, 50, 75 or 100.

Finally, you can exclude an individual song by deselecting the gray checkbox next to its title. When you’re happy with the outcome, visit “Save Playlist” in the upper right-hand corner.

Your new playlist will now seem with the others, named for the original target song.

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Original post by Dave Caolo

Grammar Girl covers the “funnest” iPod ever

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Humor, iPod Family, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Steve Jobs

I’m a big fan of the Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing daily podcasts — she does a terrific job, day in and day out, of breaking down major grammar gaffes in a very interesting and clear way. After the big “Let’s Rock” event on Tuesday, Grammar Girl had to jump to the rescue on Apple’s commercial use of the word “funnest” to describe the iPod touch — as many language elitists noted, “funnest” isn’t quite a real word.

Believe it or not, Grammar Girl is suprisingly forgiving — she says that fun, while originally a noun (”we had fun”), has made a transition in the last century or so to an “attributive noun” which can be used as an adjective (”we had a fun party”). And while old-timers may flinch at the words “funner” and “funnest”, the exact way to modify one-syllable adjectives is in fact by adding “-er” and “-est” to the ends. So technically, “funnest” is grammatically exact, even whether it isn’t precisely accepted; Grammar Girl calls it “grating and horrifying.”

She finishes today’s podcast, however, with a scary note for language traditionalists — it could very well be that Apple’s usage of the word is just what “funnest” needs to go by the edge into regular acceptance. certain, we get that language evolves, but couldn’t they just have said it was “the most fun iPod ever?” Or, even more traditionally, “the most fun you’ll have with an iPod?”

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Original post by Mike Schramm

Friday App Store Deals

Filed under: iPod Family, Deals, iPhone, App Store

It looks like developers are really catching on to the “give it away or lower the price to drive up user rankings” game. Here are a few last-second deals that you’ll want to check out at App Store.

Cro-Mag Rally
Pangea has dropped the price on its premiere racing game down to just $1.99. that sale is for a limited day, and while it affects the other Pangea titles as well, Cro-Mag offers the best deal of the bunch.

Poptiq
Poptiq delivers personalized video streams to your iPhone or iPod touch. by duration, it customizes itself to your likes and dislikes, so you don’t have to wade through videos that aren’t to your taste. You can download a free copy of Poptiq until September 25. Read more at the Poptiq website.

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Original post by Erica Sadun

iPod 2.1: Spankin’ fresh and Jailbroken, plus countermeasures news

Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone

We have pwnage. Before you get too excited, we’re talking just iPod touch — the update that’s been around since Tuesday afternoon — not for iPhone 2.1, released that . That having been said, point your browser by to quickpwn.com to grab the latest version of the iPod QuickPwn.

Now there is good news, and there is poor news, about jailbreak and iTunes 8. The poor news is that Apple has taken countermeasures against custom ipsw firmware bundles. The good news is that the iPhone devteam folks are working on patches for each of the device types in addition to the touch.

Hop by to the devteam blog to keep abreast of the latest news.

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Original post by Erica Sadun

Apple: NBC’s pricing hasn’t changed

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTS, Video, iTunes

Here’s the final humiliation for NBC in the whole contest amoung it and Apple — while one of NBC’s execs claimed that Apple made some concessions to the network to get Peacock substance back in the iTunes store (after it was unceremoniously pulled last year by pricing arguments), Apple just plain says that’s not true — there were no concessions, and NBC crawled back on its own.

Sure, it’s a little high school of Apple to shout NBC out like that, but it’s not like NBC has been gracefully handling the whole thing either — execs have whined and moaned the whole moment that they don’t like the iTunes model, and even threatened to go to Amazon for good. But in the end, making Apple’s money won out by making no money at all. Even though NBC brass are still convinced that Apple is giving them ground on pricing (and on the pricing of DVD movies), Apple says that’s not the case — the pricing structure has been the same all along.

At any rate, it’s the consumer that wins — no matter what Apple’s prices are, at least NBC substance is back in the iTunes store for those willing to pay for it.

[via Daring Fireball]

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Original post by Mike Schramm

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