NewMexiKen hasn’t installed the latest version of iTunes yet, though it’s available.
The reason I’ll wait is that this new version, 6.0.2, comes with what some are calling spyware and adware. Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing has more:
Apple’s latest iTunes update, which, by default, switches on the “MiniStore,” an advertising/recommendation section that uses your current song-selection to recommend other songs that you can buy from Apple. In order to accomplish this, it must transmit your listening habits to Apple.
The problem is that Apple doesn’t inform you when you update your iTunes that you’re also turning on a system that transmits your private information to Apple and third-party partners. There’s no indication (apart from the recommendations) that this is going on, nor is there any information about what Apple will do with that information.
Apple has posted an article on How to show or hide the MiniStore in iTunes:
You can show or hide the MiniStore by choosing Show MiniStore or Hide MiniStore in the Edit menu or by clicking the “Show or Hide the MiniStore” button …
iTunes sends data about the song selected in your library to the iTunes Music Store to provide relevant recommendations. When the MiniStore is hidden, this data is not sent to the iTunes Music Store.
Still, Apple should have been more up front about this and made the option a choice to be made on installation. NewMexiKen isn’t paranoid on this privacy stuff. You can’t surf the web all day in fear. What I don’t like is Apple acting like Microsoft. One hopes that if enough of us wait to install the mini-store Apple will get the message.
By the way, in case you’ve wondered, you don’t need an iPod to use iTunes on your Mac or PC.