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Recycled Computing

Yes, iTunes 9 Will (Mostly) Run on G3 Macs

- 2009.09.16

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It was great to see Steve Jobs up and running around about as well as a man with a new liver can be expected to. But the big question for me was how would all the new changes to iTunes and the iPod touch affect me with my G3 Pismo PowerBook.

iTunes 9 and G3 Macs

I know that this is also a great concern in the Mac-verse, and that some of you have been holding your breath wondering if I would be able to update to iTunes 9.

iTunes 9 on Mac OS X 10.4
iTunes 9 runs just fine on older, slower Macs with OS X 10.4 'Tiger'.

Let's face it - my Pismo is just getting up there in computer years (very similar to dog years, but shorter). Apple claims you need a 1 GHz PowerPC G4 just to play standard video from the iTunes mothership, and I've got a measly 550 MHz G3 processor. In fact, iTunes 9 doesn't even show up on Software Update for either my Pismo or the 450 MHz G3 iMac that I use as my iTunes Jukebox.

Never one to be shy, I downloaded iTunes to my Pismo and my G3 iMac at the same time.

A Great New Feature

Okay, the universe did not crash around me, and neither computer has blow up yet (knock on your rainbow Apple logo). The new iTunes allowed me to synch my iTunes library from my Pismo to the G3 iMac! Eureka! That was really what I wanted out of my reckless (and perhaps feckless) software update.

I was contemplating a hacksaw or battleaxe approach to making sure that the library on the G3 iMac was the same as the one on my Pismo. The Home Sharing feature worked great, and after 401 songs wirelessly winged their way to the iMac, I was a happy camper. I have yet to try this with one of my children's MacBooks, but it's not like I want any of that modern, angst driven, alternative stuff anyway. More Humble Pie! More Jimi Hendrix! More music the kids call "classic" or "old school"!

What doesn't work? iTunes LP and iTunes Extras don't work. After all, the graphics card on the Pismo was developed in the Stone Age. However, Genius Mixes works fine, and Improved Syncing will give me greater control on the pages of icons on my first generation iPod touch. I can't wait to put them in order and delete those free Apps I downloaded (for reasons which escape me now). The redesigned iTunes Store renders okay.

Mixing Old and New

The one thing that we should recognize is that old Apple stuff still works with new Apple stuff. Imagine a 10-year-old Windows laptop running Windows XP and a recent version of Microsoft Office. I can't. I don't think it's possible. I'd love to see somebody prove me wrong, though.

However, I also have a fly in the ointment. After downloading the iPod touch update, I discovered that my weird looking iVoice microphone would not work. My first generation iPod touch does not recognize it. In fact, it told me so. The iVoice attaches through the dock connector and, as the first generation has no microphone hookup through the headphone jack, I cannot use Skype with my iPod.

Is this some clever ploy to get me to buy a newer iPod touch? It won't work, you know.

I don't know if I have told people in the Apple Department of Software Updates, but always add stuff and never, ever take stuff away. LEM

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