Last year, I had a lot of trouble with the legibility of the codes inside the winning Pepsi/iTunes caps. I would sometimes have to guess what a letter was, e.g., M vs. N or U vs. V. I'd type it one way, have it rejected by iTunes, and type it the other way(s) until I got it right. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who ran into this problem.
This year, the codes are much more readable. They are printed in a clearer style and appear darker. Since I've won a good number of them so far, I had a good sample size with which to study the codes they use, which are alphanumeric (made from letters and digits) and each 10 characters long, e.g., P3E4P 6S7I9.
I found that they use these 29 digits and letters:
To test this theory, I decided to use look-alike characters when entering codes for tunes I won. I started with some caps that had Os. I found that I could enter either O or 0 for an O on a winning cap and it would be accepted by iTunes. The same for Is: you can type either I or 1. And the same for Us; you can type either U or V.
This was nice work by Pepsi/Apple, and I appreciate it. We get fewer frustrations; they get fewer annoyed customers or service calls.
I'll have to win some more caps before I can try entering D for O, 2 for Z, 5 for S, and 8 for B. If you have any winning caps with O, Z, S, or B, please enter it as D or 2 or 5 or 8 instead and post here to tell us if it worked. There is only about a week left in the promotion!
This year, the codes are much more readable. They are printed in a clearer style and appear darker. Since I've won a good number of them so far, I had a good sample size with which to study the codes they use, which are alphanumeric (made from letters and digits) and each 10 characters long, e.g., P3E4P 6S7I9.
I found that they use these 29 digits and letters:
3 4 6 7 9
A B C E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W X Y Z
and they never use these 7 digits and letters:A B C E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W X Y Z
0 1 2 5 8
D U
The reason is clear: legibility! This way, we can't confuse 0-D-O, 1-I, 2-Z, 5-S, 8-B, or U-V.D U
To test this theory, I decided to use look-alike characters when entering codes for tunes I won. I started with some caps that had Os. I found that I could enter either O or 0 for an O on a winning cap and it would be accepted by iTunes. The same for Is: you can type either I or 1. And the same for Us; you can type either U or V.
This was nice work by Pepsi/Apple, and I appreciate it. We get fewer frustrations; they get fewer annoyed customers or service calls.
I'll have to win some more caps before I can try entering D for O, 2 for Z, 5 for S, and 8 for B. If you have any winning caps with O, Z, S, or B, please enter it as D or 2 or 5 or 8 instead and post here to tell us if it worked. There is only about a week left in the promotion!