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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Apple responds - iTunes is 'SpyTunes' no more

Macworld UK:

Apple has changed the way its new "MiniStore" feature works, adding a dialogue to it which allows users to decide if they want to enable it or not.

Critics had complained that the "MiniStore" feature turned the world's favourite media player into "Spyware" because it secretly gathered data about what songs music lovers played.

Today, the MiniStore works differently. When its window is activated a dialogue box appears which explains: "The iTunes MiniStore allows you to discover new music and videos right from your iTunes Library. As you select items in your Library, information about that item is sent to Apple and the MiniStore will show you related songs or videos," the company explains.

Apple also makes a solemn promise: "Apple does not keep any information related to the contents of your music Library".

It then offers users a choice - exactly what the company should have done when it initially launched the MIniStore - of whether to activate the feature or not.

I'm glad Apple fixed this issue so quickly. Not to be a jerk about it, but Apple is usually pretty cavalier about this kind of thing, and of course the crazies are A-OK with anything the company does, even though they'd be in the front of the line to burn down Redmond if Microsoft did something identical.

[ Posted at 3:04 PM | Permalink ]