Apple has quickly closed the door on a very nice ringtone hack for iTunes and the iPhone. If you’ve upgraded to iTunes 7.4 to supply ringtones to your iPhone, think twice before upgrading again to Apple’s latest 7.4.1 upgrade for iTunes.
Apparently, simply changing the extension on any AAC file to .m4R, then dragging to iTunes library lets you use the file as a ringtone for your iPhone. The latest iTunes upgrade (7.4.1) kills this ability.
Wow, I’m glad I held off buying an iPhone. I was waiting, hoping to find a way to justify spending the $400-$600 for a new iPhone. Not yet having found the justification, I was biding my time.
Today, Apple announced the new iPod Touch. There’s an 8GB and 16GB model, each with the same form factor as the iPhone, touch screen technology, AND WiFi (802.11 b/g) capability. These new iPods are priced at $299 and $399, and will be shipping later this month. A new iTunes WiFi Music Store allows you to purchase music directly from your iPod Touch. There’s also a new agreement with StarBucks to allow purchasing of music through their store’s WiFi network.
And here’s the kicker: Apple dropped the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and the 4GB iPhone is no longer available. Ouch for those new iPhone customers!
Well, it appears that an iPhone software hack is imminent. CNN is reporting that a software developer group has announced a software-only hack for unlocking the iPhone and making it available for use on networks other than AT&T. It takes about two minutes, and there’s no cracking the iPhone case. While this probably doesn’t bother Apple at all, AT&T may not be so pleased. It appears that the legal issues surrounding this type of hack are still being debated.
The developer group has posted a website called iphonesimfree.com and are waiting only to set up their e-commerce infrastructure before selling the software online.
This will be an interesting development for iPhone sales around the world.
