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Unfortunate requirements for iTunes 6

Stampyhead

Stampyhead

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 3, 2004
2,294
30
London, UK
I just bought my little niece an old iMac 333 mHz so she can have her own computer for doing homework, browsing the internet, and putting music on her iPod. When iTunes 6 came out, she tried to download it but was told that you have to have at least a 500 mHz processor to use it. Now, I'm not one to complain, especially about Apple products, but I think it's too bad that Apple decided to lock out a large number who have older computers with this latest release. I understand that using video from the iTMS requires a faster processor, but perhaps they could have simply made it so that downloading videos is disabled for slower users, but the rest of the program would work for them? Any thoughts on this?
I guess my niece and my mom (she has a Pismo Powerbook) will be stuck with iTunes 4 until they can afford to upgrade...
 
im not sure about the requirements for itunes 5, you might be able to find and use that somewhere, but the only addition from 5 to 6 was the addition of video, which is processor intensive, and probably why 6 has the requirement, so if you can find 5 out there, thats probably the best, and aren't missing out on much in my opinion between the two.
 
Aside from the UI, the difference between iTunes 4 and iTunes 6 is negligible, so apart from the video content - which the machine's unable to run anyway - your niece really isn't missing out on much.
 
Stampyhead said:
I just bought my little niece an old iMac 333 mHz so she can have her own computer for doing homework, browsing the internet, and putting music on her iPod. When iTunes 6 came out, she tried to download it but was told that you have to have at least a 500 mHz processor to use it. Now, I'm not one to complain, especially about Apple products, but I think it's too bad that Apple decided to lock out a large number who have older computers with this latest release. I understand that using video from the iTMS requires a faster processor, but perhaps they could have simply made it so that downloading videos is disabled for slower users, but the rest of the program would work for them? Any thoughts on this?
I guess my niece and my mom (she has a Pismo Powerbook) will be stuck with iTunes 4 until they can afford to upgrade...
Click to expand...

Another vote for checking and possibly/hopefully downloading 5 on that comp. There is no difference that i can tell at all between the versions except that a little video tab in the table of contents. Thats about it! Good luck!
 
joecool85 said:
I installed iTunes 6 on my beige in my sig no problem.
Click to expand...
Really? That's interesting. Everyone I know who has an older comp and tried to install it (it downloads just fine) got an error message. I'd be interested to know how you got it to work.
I thought of trying to download 5, but it doesn't seem to be available anymore. Does anyone know where i could get it? (or does anyone still have the .dmg file sitting on their desktop from when they downloaded it?)
 
Like others have said, there's no major difference between iTunes 4 and 6 beyond the new interface and the search bar. There were just a few minor features added, such as a "smarter shuffle" and Folders in the source list, but you still wouldn't be missing much if you don't upgrade. In fact, I'd say that the interface in iTunes 5 was a step backwards. While this is off topic and others have covered this topic in greater detail (such as Jon Gruber), the different window radius really really bugs me and I still haven't really gotten used to it.

As for having the .dmg, I'm sure most people, like me, installed it through Software Update and so don't have one lying around.
 
as others have said, 4 and 5 are much the same as 6. Beyond that, I don't think it's unreasonable that they're releasing software that won't run on a computer released what, 6 years ago? I mean, it's nice if they do continue to support such old hardware, but a 6 year old computer is getting up there; they can't support things forever.
 
I installed iTunes 6 on my Pismo with no problem. I have a G4/550 mHz upgrade, and I guess the installer recognized it. Don't think I'll be using video thanks to the pokey ATI Rage Pro (8MB) video card, but I do have iTunes 6.
 
mms said:
As for having the .dmg, I'm sure most people, like me, installed it through Software Update and so don't have one lying around.
Click to expand...

A short while back, someone posted a link to a site that had archived all of the previous versions of iTunes, and made them available for download.

I ran a quick search, but wasn't able to turn it up. Can anyone oblige?
 
fklehman said:
I installed iTunes 6 on my Pismo with no problem.
Click to expand...

iTunes 6 is up and running fine on my G3/400mhz Pismo. 512mb RAM. I didn't get any error messages when downloading or installing.
 
Brize said:
A short while back, someone posted a link to a site that had archived all of the previous versions of iTunes, and made them available for download.

I ran a quick search, but wasn't able to turn it up. Can anyone oblige?
Click to expand...
Here's the complete list of previous iTunes. ;)

BTW, I'm too still using 4.9.
 
Stampyhead said:
Really? That's interesting. Everyone I know who has an older comp and tried to install it (it downloads just fine) got an error message. I'd be interested to know how you got it to work.
I thought of trying to download 5, but it doesn't seem to be available anymore. Does anyone know where i could get it? (or does anyone still have the .dmg file sitting on their desktop from when they downloaded it?)
Click to expand...

I think part of the requirements would be the QuickTime requirements necessary to access certain features. Of course, you should receive a warning telling you that you can't do everything available without QuickTime x.x.x. It should work fine on standard music as long as you don't try to use Apple Lossless or other new formats.
 
I have a 300 Mhz iBook, and i downloaded it fine!! the videos play alot less choppy than if i use Quicktime, dunno why yours doesn't work?
 
4.9 is fine for managing music on an iPod. And it still has brushed metal which has been done away with :(! I guess its for good once everything switches over in Pony or whatever 10.5's called.
 
Thanks for your responses. I'll maybe check out the link for iTunes 5. I'm sure they are fine with version 4, I just want to make sure they don't get locked out of using the iTunes Music Store.
 
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