how does Apple decide which mp3 players can work with itunes? Do they charge?
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M$3 Answers
The only reason certain older MP3 players can work with iTunes on the Mac is because Apple already had support for them before they launched the iPod, and didn't want people to get angry at them for removing support.
The only reason certain Motorola phones can sync with iTunes is because Apple had a partnership with Motorola to put iTunes support into the ROKR, the SLVR, and the RAZR v3i. People hated it - syncs were slow, sound quality was bad, the interface was decidedly un-Apple and there was an an artificial limit placed on how many songs you could have. Long story short, the phones flopped epically, the partnership ended and Apple later went on to make the iPhone.
The only reason devices like the Pre can sync with iTunes is because they have code in their firmware to impersonate iPods when connected by USB; however, this is not supported by Apple, and furthermore, of questionable legality. Essentially, it's a hack. Apple actually did circumvent that hack with an update to iTunes, but Palm countered with an update to WebOS.
However, there are third-party (unofficial, unsupported, and liable to break at any time) plugins like BadApple and iTunes Sync that enable syncing from iTunes to any MP3 player that shows up as a drive in Finder/Windows Explorer. Note that protected (pre-Plus) iTunes music will not work on non-iPod devices, and for that matter, many older MP3 players can't play AAC files.
TL;DR: First question: yes. iPods only.
Second question: Technically, no, because they make the iPods in the first place.
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M$Any device that boasts iTunes sync capabilities is either doing it through a separate piece of software that just happens to know how iTunes organizes music (i.e. BlackBerry Media Sync) or a device that tricks the computer into thinking it's an iPod (i.e. Palm Pre as mentioned above). In either case, if Apple changes the way iTunes works, it can break the ability for anything besides and iPod/iPhone/Apple TV to sync with it.
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