iLounge

1

Let’s see ...

Broken live updating in smart playlists - check
Non-functional accessories that work with 2.1.2 - check
Screwy playlist sorting - check

Yep, sign me up for 3.0!  Maybe if Apple paid attention to these deal-breakers they’d have a few more takers.

Posted by rockmyplimsoul on December 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM (PDT)

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@rockmyplimsoul
Live Updating of Playlists has been fixed a few times since 2.1.2.
Unfortunately it gets broken again with the next update; hence having been fixed a few times.

Posted by Dan Woods on December 21, 2009 at 8:51 PM (PDT)

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I am iPhone User. adn its good news for me. I am eagerly for upgrading my OS to iphone OS 3.0.

Posted by Adam on December 22, 2009 at 5:33 AM (PDT)

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Most developers I know use their iphone on 3.0, but invest in an ipod touch to run 2.1.2 to check compatibility before giving their apps to beta testers.  I know this can’t be 45% of all ipod touch users, but added into the percent of people who use their iPod Touch as a music and web browsing device, and don’t need a bunch of apps or any new features, it might be substantial.

Posted by Dan on December 22, 2009 at 6:00 AM (PDT)

5

As Chitika researcher Daniel Ruby points out, this number becomes even more surprising when one considers that the majority of iPod touch units sold in the last six months came with OS 3.0 pre-installed.

It’s worth pointing out here that this statement from Chitka is incorrect. The iPod touch did not include OS 3.0 until after the third-generation models were released at the beginning of September. The old second-generation iPod touch units were still being sold with v2.2 until that point—and in fact as we pointed out in another news item earlier this month, refurbished second-generation units also still include v2.2 and require the buyers to also pay for the v3.1 upgrade.

Posted by Jesse Hollington in Toronto on December 22, 2009 at 6:39 AM (PDT)

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@Dan Woods: No, live updating for chained smartlists has been broken for months, through multiple updates; anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t really taking advantage of smartlists. Regardless, for those smartlists that do still work, their sort order is completely random no matter what you tell it.

Apple is reaping what they’ve sown. Half-assed support of what many consider key features, and charging money for what really should be core functionality just because they think they can get away with it. As the study shows, they’re not getting away with it and I’m glad. The updates should, one, be free, as it’s the cost of keeping loyalty to a platform that doesn’t have contracts binding consumers to under threat of financial penalty, and they should be paying more attention to the core features like smartlists, shuffle by album, etc., that have either never worked or are currently broken via incompetent programmers and project managers who don’t understand that these features are not just important to many users, they are flat out deal breakers.

Posted by Code Monkey in Midstate New York on December 22, 2009 at 9:30 AM (PDT)

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I upgraded recently, and the only reason was that an app I really wanted to use wasn’t supported on earlier versions.

The app was free, so I justified the purchase that way.

Posted by maxiewawa on December 22, 2009 at 1:02 PM (PDT)

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Maybe people are just tired of having to re-jailbreak every time Steveo releases a minimalistic OS update!

Posted by The Digital Alchemist on December 22, 2009 at 5:47 PM (PDT)

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i don’t feel it has anything to do with the price tag but the lack of understanding from the user.  anybody on ilounge is probably technically savvy enough to know what the update includes and if it is something they need.  buy when i look at my friend’s ipod touch’s they usually don’t run os3.0 not because they didn’t want to upgrade but because they didn’t know an upgrade existed.  my nieces are the worst offenders of this, not only have they not upgraded their os but i will notice that most of their apps are not updated as well.  which is funny because they won’t use certain apps like facebook because it to buggy.  i think apple needs to better promote updates to the user for both the os and apps.  Also I should note that free os upgrades might actually benefit apple.  this would definitely help to keep people from jailbreaking their touch’s and would probably give the user less problems with their apps.

Posted by jim svare on December 23, 2009 at 10:35 AM (PDT)

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I think that pretty much hits the nail on the head.  Apple has no way of getting any realistic stats for how many click-wheel iPod users haven’t updated their firmware either, but I think you’d find the numbers to be similar.

I know a lot of iPod users who almost never even plug into iTunes—they load on the music they like and just use the iPod to listen to pretty much the same playlists all the time.  It’s not at all uncommon to see a click wheel iPod model like an iPod nano or iPod classic lagging two or three firmware updates behind.

Posted by Jesse Hollington in Toronto on December 24, 2009 at 7:34 AM (PDT)