ipod touch & apps - noddy questions

[Maz]

Hello

I need some advice, please.

My daughter wants to get Apps for her ipod touch. Tells me an account needs creating to get them.

I know bugger-all about apps/ipods, so i'd be grateful if someone could answer these basic questions:

1. is the only place to get apps via an appstore?
2. are some apps free? (the apple website i looked at asked me to enter my credit card details (presumably to purchase apps which are not free?).
3. how do you download the apps? i do not have wifi - can they be transferred via the USB on the computer?
4. Any other useful info appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Norm]

Starting at the start, I'm not sure you can get apps for a Touch. Someone who cares about such things will answer that.

1. Yes, Apple **spit** tie everything down so you can only get them from the Apple App Store and developers need to sell your first and second born to get an app approved.
2. Some apps are free, most of the useful ones are free and many games are free.
3. Download them through itunes then upload them via USB.
4. Apple products are hateful things.

 

[rusky]

You can get apps for the touch & you can only get them via the app store which needs an account.

 

[Maz]

Many thanks for the replies.

Better take a deep breath and be prepared to give my personal details to the peope at apple.

When I enter my shoe size, do i put '12' or '47'?

 

[rusky]

13, it's a US comany

 

[Maz]

13, it's a US comany

Trust the yanks to go one higher...reminds me of that scene from Spinal Tap.

 

[BearPear]

If she is running her iPod through the PC then access to the app store will be while hooked up to the PC, you wouldn't be able to transfer apps via USB, they would be downloaded to her iTunes library.

 

[Danny]

13, it's a US comany

At the risk of winning a pedant of the day award, I would point out that it is actually 12.5 as US shoe sizes are half a size bigger than those in the UK.

 

[Deb13b]

Or even better you could jailbreak it and download all your apps for free from places other than iTunes. 

 

[Maz]

Or even better you could jailbreak it and download all your apps for free from places other than iTunes. 

As stated in my first post, I know bugger-all about ipods. Jailbreak sounds like something illegal, is it?

 

[Norm]

It contravenes the terms of the licence but whether it's illegal or not depends on whether you think hardware is something which can and should be licenced.

There's been plenty of discussion with Apple (and Sony as they do the same on the PS3) on this subject, if you have a couple of days to kill reading up on it, but I don't think there's a definitive yes/no response.

 

[Deb13b]

This post pretty much sums it up !

It contravenes the terms of the licence but whether it's illegal or not depends on whether you think hardware is something which can and should be licenced.

There's been plenty of discussion with Apple (and Sony as they do the same on the PS3) on this subject, if you have a couple of days to kill reading up on it, but I don't think there's a definitive yes/no response.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

It contravenes the terms of the licence but whether it's illegal or not depends on whether you think hardware is something which can and should be licenced.

There's been plenty of discussion with Apple (and Sony as they do the same on the PS3) on this subject, if you have a couple of days to kill reading up on it, but I don't think there's a definitive yes/no response.

sony's stance is that it jailbreaking allows pirated games to be played, which is not unreasonable, given how much development goes into game creation and their relatively high price on traditional media.

apple's is less defensible on such grounds. i've jailbroken my ipod touch and have paid for an app that allows me to connect my bluetooth gps module which, as a result, allows me to use apps from the apple app store that turns the ipod into a sat nav for bike and car (both apps are free, but i could spend £60 and get tom tom software).

afaik the only other way to get stuff is from the alternative cydia store, which is the same mix of free and paid for as you would find on the apple app store, and certainly piracy is not encouraged there; the only difference is that they have not had to jump through hoops to get the apps onto apple's store, and many apps simply offer functionality latent to the device that apple prefer to supress.

i strongly suspect that the bluetooth capability on the ipod touch is limited so as to prevent connection of devices which might make the ipod all but iphone without gsm, and apple may make more money from iphones than ipods, or at least upgrade from ipod to iphone for the gps feature or somesuch.

i have to say, and it pains me to say it, that microsoft have the right attitude. they have encouraged hackers to find alternative applications for their xbox kinect, rather than whining about it.

jailbroken or not, though, the ipod touch is a remarkable device, and apple do at least ensure a good user experience.

 

[ChrisKH]

Tip; don't get Wifi or your daughter will come to you every morning bright and early at 6.45 am and say

"Dad, can I have (another) free App please - just type in your password".

My son was doing this every day until I told him the Apps were using up his memory.

"Not according to one of my Apps" was his retort, "I've only used 13% of my memory"

I've had to ration him to one a day.

 

[woohoo]

At the risk of winning a pedant of the day award, I would point out that it is actually 12.5 as US shoe sizes are half a size bigger than those in the UK.

At the risk of being more of a pedant, it depends which chart you choose. See here.

Anyway, back to iTunes, you can always set up "made-up" account details and use an iTunes voucher to fund any purchases – avoids giving them your real details, credit card numbers and shoe size (12 or 13).