Apple Planned Obsolescence

Over the years, I have been an active supporter of Apple, owning two iMac desktops, a series of iPods, and a iPad. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I bought a replacement for my dying iPad and treated my wife and me to new iPhones, a poster boy for the Apple Annual Report.
Much to my surprise, when I tried to transfer to these shiny new devices my music from the iTunes on my iMac, I discovered that it was incompatible with the new products. The person at Apple Support cheerfully advised that, unfortunately, I needed to upgrade my iTunes to the current version and that, because the OS on my iMac needs to be upgraded to accept it but cannot be, I am SOL and need (wait for it) a new computer. No backward compatibility for me. The computer otherwise works fine. I just transferred music to the old iPad a month ago.
This has me a bit steamed. I use the desktop exclusively for iTunes and occasionally to do word processing. With the iPad, I don't need to use it to surf or answer e-mail. I'm thinking of just getting a cheap PC desktop or laptop for my limited needs. The guy at Best Buy suggested an Apple Mini with a cheap monitor. I kind of don't want to send any more money Apple's way.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

Go to iTunes and enable the cloud/iTunes match ($25 a year) and download your content from Apple directly to your phones via wifi. The mini is also a good idea. I have four Macs on my network as of right now. A Macbook Pro in i7, i5 and Intel core 2 duo and a Mini i5. The core 2 duo still runs the current version of iTunes. The mini is my dedicated music server.

 

The new Mac Mini's are the very essence of 'planned obsolescence' with no quad core processor choices; and non upgradeable ram after purchase... as the ram chips are now soldered to the mother board.

 

I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that your iMac can't run the iTunes update. You've totally bought into their ecosystem and they pull this stunt? I don't have a good solution for you. I run iTunes on a HP laptop and sync my phone & iPods from it with no problems. I'm not running the current iTunes update but only because I usually stay a couple of versions behind. You can probably find a cheap laptop that would do the trick, but damn, you shouldn't have to.

 

Your iMac must be very old to not be able to use Yosemite. According to the Apple website, iMacs from Mid-2007 on are supported (http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/).

After a number of years, older computer hardware and newer software are just not compatible anymore. That happens with Windows as well. It's the way of the world. Surely, nobody promised you eternal upgradablity, when you bought the iMac 7 or more (!) years ago.

BTW, how much does Microsoft charge for a copy of Windows 8.1? And how much does Apple charge for a copy of OS X?

 

Is your imac running an Intel processor?

 

It may have been an unreasonable expectation that my iTunes would work with the new Apple devices, but it was a bit of a shock to see that it doesn't.
Apple doesn't charge for the OS upgrade, but that doesn't help me a whole lot here!

 

I'm still steamed at Apple for the crummy UI that goes with the upgrade to Yosemite. I want my old interface back. Well, technically I did get it back by switching back to Mavericks.

 

Have you tried other solutions than iTunes to put content on your iOS devices? There's iMazing and its older version DiskAid.

 

Tbh, I find that the reason I sometimes run into problems like this with my macs is because they last longer than my other computers. The PCs I own tend to fry before they have a chance to become obsolete. That said, I was really annoyed when Apple moved away from the 30-pin connector. Having a proprietary connecter is one thing, but changing it up after integrating into the infrastructure is just annoying.

How old is your computer btw? because I'm running the newest itunes on an almost 8 year old imac.

 

The very basic Mac mini has 4GB of RAM standard and can be configured to 16GB. Solution to not upgradeable RAM is to buy it configured to your intended use. All my Macs currently have 4GB of RAM (each) and I have no issues, my Mini originally had 2GB and ran Yosemite without issue.

 

This is pretty much how computers work - hardware improves, software more than keeps pace, and old machines are left in the dust. 7 years for a computer is pretty good.

FWIW, I sometimes have to use Mavericks or Yosemite on a MacBook Pro of the same vintage, it's not an enjoyable experience. The hardware just can't keep up.

 

I have a first-gen Mac Pro that is stuck on 10.7.5, which is frustrating, but it's not "planned obsolescence", it's related to the architecture of the older processors and the fact Apple would basically have to write two versions of the OS to work on both old and new and that's not really feasible.

As somebody else pointed out, if I had a PC as old as this Mac, it would be a joke to even think about trying to install the latest version of Windows on it, and any version that would work is no longer supported by Microsoft. It's a testament to the longevity of Macs that this is even a conversation.

 

I have been an Apple user for 20 years. For their computers I never upgrade the OS aside from minor debugging updates because the OS that came with the hardware was designed for it. I never have any issues if I stick to this rule. Otherwise I find if I upgrade to an OS that is released years after my computer was made I face some compatibility problem or at the very least I find out the hard way it will run slow. For iOS devices I know already once the battery no longer holds an adequate charge it is time for a new one.

 

It sucks, but as others have pointed out it's not just Apple. It's really disgusting to think how quickly consumer electronics become landfill these days. I have a KLH Model 21 table radio that my Dad bought 50 years ago. It's never been serviced other than one time I opened it up to clean some contacts. It still works perfectly. How many things could you buy at Best Buy today and still expect them to work in 50 years? Probably none.

 

I keep the most current version of all software (including OS) on my Macs and I have not had any serious speed issues. I just installed Yosemite on a mid 2010 MacBook Pro without incident. My first Mac used OS7!

 

I've heard this many times but software and hardware is improving so fast that at some point ( with every brand ) they have ticket go of older rigs. Trying to make new software and hardware fully compatible with older just slows down the new stuff.

It makes sense actually. But technology is evolving faster than ever.

 

What year is your Mac from ? Which model ?

 

A radio does not have an ever changing OS that's gets faster and adds more to it every 18 months or so. But I get your point.

 

It's about seven-eight years old.
Thank you all for your comments. I feel substantially less outraged.

 

Sorry to hear that. If you know how to build your own PC, you can save a lot of time and money as opposed to a pre-built PC or a Mac.

 

I'm happily still using an early-2008 Macbook (I replaced the hard drive and battery not long ago) that can't run anything newer than circa-2011 OS X 10.7.5 (Lion), and I've been lucky so far in being able to routinely update iTunes to the latest version and manage an iPhone 5s and an iPad 3. My dedicated portable music device is a now-ancient 32GB 3G iPod Touch.

I agree with Rolltide that these issues aren't really a matter of planned obsolescence, but rather relentless and dramatic innovation. To focus on the limits of backwards incompatibility leaves out all of the nearly miraculous cool things these newer devices can do.

It's completely different than home audio gear IMO. For hi-fi I try to buy stuff that's extremely robust and well-made and enduring, and so far the investment has paid off.

 

that's super old!

I try to plan on a 3 year lifespan for computers at the rate hardware and software change. 2 years for smart phones.

That's my biggest problem with the "I hate the new iTunes/can I switch back to the old iTunes" threads. Sure, you can do that, but you just need to change with the software. It's far easier than trying to play catch up down the road.

 

Agreed. 7-8 years is a lot of life out of it.

 

But that's not unreasonable life for a mac. They actually keep working! My imac is six years old and runs great! I'm still running 10.6 just fine. No plans to upgrade soon. It does everything I want and more!

To the OP: You must have non-intel mac running a system earlier than 10.6. Yeah, there's not much you can do at this point. But to get a mac with the specs you need to run the latest version of itunes (with the specs I just pointed out) you can pick up a used one for peanuts (less than the price of an iphone). why not pick up a used intel imac off craigslist for less than 200 bucks that will run the lastest itunes and stick it in a sewing room as your music syncing mac? No need to blow big bucks on a new mac.