Macintosh Tech Support Since 1995
iTunes
NetShare
Aug 16th
When NetShare became available on the App Store (the second time 8/1/2008) I bought it and downloaded it. I hadn’t even tried to set it up or use it. Within an hour of downloading it the apps on my iPhone stopped opening. So I did a restore to my iPhone which took more than an hour. Everything looked good but when I went to open an app on my iPhone it wouldn’t. So I went into iTunes and told it to not sync apps, therefore removing them. Then I syncing again to reinstall them. It didn’t work, the apps on my iPhone still wouldn’t open. I decided to delete all of the apps from iTunes, re-download them and then reinstall them on my iPhone.
Hours later I had re-downloaded all my apps except one, NetShare, why? Because it wasn’t available anymore. Apple had for the second time pulled the app from the store. Only they removed my ability to download it even though I bought it.
After sending iTunes Support a message that I was unable to re-download NetShare they sent me this reply on 8/4/2008.
Dear Rob,
Thank you for purchasing from the iTunes Store. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I am unable to add “NetShare” back to your account.
The iTunes Store is not responsible for the loss of purchases and encourages customers to back up their purchases regularly. If an item needs to be replaced, you can restore your purchases from the backup and avoid the need to purchase replacement copies of titles from your collection.
Additionally, please make back up copies of your new purchases on a regular basis. These articles explain the backup process:
How to back up your media in iTunes
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n302392
Use a Smart Playlist to make regular backups of your music in iTunes
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n93474
iTunes: How to backup and restore playlists
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n93763
To learn more about purchasing on the iTunes Store, choose “iTunes Help” from the pull-down Help menu in iTunes. Click “Purchasing music, video, and more” on the right.
The iTunes Store Terms of Sale is available for your review at:
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/sales.html
Thank you for your understanding Rob. We appreciate your business and look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Eric
iTunes Store Customer Support
Their reply being completely unacceptable I replied back with this message today (8/16/2008 8:09 PM).
Your reply is unacceptable. The reply is basically saying “Thank you for buying from the App Store but you can’t have what you paid for.”
I did download the app one time but due to problems with my iPhone I cleaned out my apps from iTunes because they wouldn’t open on my iPhone at the time. I then redownloaded them all except NetShare because it was no longer available.
But why is it not available to me when I bought it? I understand that it’s not for sale anymore, but I should still be able to download it. Like I can every other app I bought.
You’re letting the fact that it was pulled from the store carry more weight than the fact that a customer bought it and would like to download it.
It doesn’t even matter if I had not downloaded it or if I had downloaded it 10 times. I’ve had the iTunes store allow me to redownload music that I hadn’t backed up before my HD died.
If you’re not using the magic kill switch on this app and giving everyone who bought it a refund then I should be able to download it again.
I don’t want a refund I want what I paid for. Please re-add NetShare back to my “Check for Purchases” so I can have it back.
Thanks
Within 5 minutes of sending that message I received this email (8/16/2008 8:14 PM).
Dear Rob Jones,
iTunes has issued you a full or partial refund for your payment.
Message from merchant: memo
—————————————————————-
Original Payment Details
—————————————————————-
Date Payment Sent: Aug. 1, 2008
Amount: $10.69 USD
At first I didn’t think that I could have received a refund that quickly from a message that was 5 minutes old until I received this message from Apple (8/16/2008 8:31 PM)
Dear Rob,
Yes, I understand that you want it back, but it simply isn’t going to happen. It is no longer available. That means it doesn’t exist, thus, cannot be downloaded again. What your asking for is basically the same as going to your local car dealership and telling them that you should be able to buy a model of car from them that they stopped making and selling, just because you had one before.
Please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience this download has caused however. I have taken the liberty of refunding your purchase of $9.99 plus any applicable sales tax. The credit will be posted to your account shortly. Unfortunately, as I stated, I can’t add the item back to your account for download.
I hope the information I’ve provided proves to be helpful to you Rob, and thank you for your understanding.
Thank you for being a valued iTunes Store customer. We appreciate your business and hope you have a wonderful day.
Sincerely,
Eric
iTunes Store Customer Support
Wow, his analogy is so wrong I don’t even know where to begin. Apple did exactly what I said I didn’t want which was give me a refund and didn’t do what I asked for which was re-download NetShare.
The iTunes Station, WAPL The Apple
Mar 22nd
In a previous article of mine I describe a new type of subscription service. It was more of a try before you buy solution.
I believe that Apple can have a plan to start a subscription based service for music. But unlike all of the comments about how people don’t want to rent music, this is more like XM Radio. Imagine paying a small monthly fee to Apple in exchange for unlimited listening to many channels of music. I don’t think the service will work if Apple doesn’t automatically make channels get music for their particular genre. Nearly identical to the way that XM has an 80’s channel. It would need to be similar to a radio station.
Apple would need to differentiate between renting music and a music station with many different channels. All songs are purchasable, the channels only play songs that you can buy. Unlike radio where you listen to what they want to play, with The iTunes Station you pick the channels you want to listen to and you may even have options to filter it specifically to your tastes. For instance, I like 80’s music, but only from about 84-89.
Apple probably already had something like this in mind and the newest iPods and iPhone are fully capable of playing music channels from The iTunes Station.
I would certainly consider trying it to see or hear rather some new music. Since I listen to mostly my own music instead a radio stations I’m sure I miss out on songs I would buy.
You can take this a step further and Apple could provide The iTunes Station for free with advertisements between songs just like a regular radio station. They could also provide this service over the internet as an internet radio station. There would be a ticker tape that could be clicked on taking you to the iTunes track in the iTunes Store for purchasing. How would they benefit? They would focus on playing music you don’t already own (when local to your machine). This way if you hear something you want to buy, click a Buy button while the song is playing from The iTunes Station and you own it. There are several models that could be used for this type of service, I describe just two of them.
The key for Apple is to remove the perception of renting music. Presenting it as a radio station (WAPL The Apple) will accomplish that.
Are you ready for iTunes Movie Rentals?
Jan 6th
There will be several ways to watch iTunes Movie Rentals assuming the rumors are true.
First and foremost the movies will be rented from the iTunes Store. So you can watch it on your computer.
But how do you watch it on your TV? A couple of ways, first would be the Apple TV. It connects to your TV and you can tell it to download all new content on your computer.
The second way would be if you have and new iPhone, iPod touch, iPod nano or iPod classic. You would sync your movie rentals to one of these devices and with the use of a special $50 Apple Composite AV Cable or Apple Component AV Cable you can connect all of these devices your your television. You can even buy a special Universal Dock if you want to control the playback with the Apple Remote.
I have an iPhone, the Composite AV Cable and the Universal Dock for watching content from my iPhone on my TV. I looks quite good with the videos I’ve tried.
My predictions for the January 15th 2008 MacWorld Expo Keynote presentation by Steve Jobs:
1. New less expensive Apple TV, I’m guessing around $150. This hasn’t been in the rumors at all it just makes sense to me.
2. New hi-end Apple TV with 1080p output and 5.1 audio, DVD (Blu-Ray upgradable). Possible combining of the Mac mini and Apple TV.
3. Movie Rentals.
4. New MacBook Pros. Redesigned.
5. New MacBook Pro to replace the un-replaced 12″ PowerBook.
6. New Apple Universal Remote.
7. New MacBook that has built-in 3G network from AT&T, that way it’s connected from everywhere.
8. New Apple displays with HDMI. Easily connect to Apple TV
9. New iTunes 8 after the show.
10. iPhone update with new features never been announced.
We’ll probably hear about Starbucks, Microsoft Office 2K8 with Roz Ho, AT&T Pres about 3G and the show will end with musical talent (possibly a black male).
