I went to sign it, but i refuse to sign anything that is written so poorly. In my opinion (which means nothing, and i hope its wrong) Apple wont even look at something written that poorly. Good idea, whoever wrote it needs to learn proper grammer for something as important as a petition.

Although I agree with your point, I can't help but be shocked that a post like this now exists on this site. Not only does the tone of the writing sound upset, but there's also a request to sign a petition. I applaud your courage for posting it because it will upset a lot of people.

It's refreshing to see, IMO, an honest consumer perspective because I believe magazines aimed at consumers have forgotten who their demographic is. Now I don't feel like I'm the only one who ever gets mad at Apple some times. Now back to my new iPhone purchase. Cheers!

Although I agree with your point, I can't help but be shocked that a post like this now exists on this site. Not only does the tone of the writing sound upset, but there's also a request to sign a petition. I applaud your courage for posting it because it will upset a lot of people.

It's refreshing to see, IMO, an honest consumer perspective because I believe magazines aimed at consumers have forgotten who their demographic is. Now I don't feel like I'm the only one who ever gets mad at Apple some times. Now back to my new iPhone purchase. Cheers!

I find it amazing this day in age that people will complain about spending $20 for some additional apps(good ones from what I hear), that you don't NEED in order to use the iPod Touch.
Everyone acts like Apple is not a corporation who is in the business to make money. They are. They aren't going to give everything away free, and 20 dollars in a price of a DVD.
Apple faithfuls(I consider myself one) have simply been spoiled.
I don;t think you have no problem paying for new software for your computer.
While free is nice, I don't see anyone complaining when someone like Adobe releases newer/better software, and asks you to pay for it.

Remember, you bought an iPod, not a iPhone. Apple sells games for the iPod. Why wouldn't they sell Applications?

Apple spent time and money to develop some new stuff, but isn't going to give them to me for free? OMG! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! Next they'll start charging for new hardware too.

are links to stupid opinion editorials such as this one intended to be a new feature of the BETA Macworld.com homepage?

1. stupid links
2. uninformative headlines
3. time-wasting layout
4. bad design

and, now, lousy content.

No, thanks.

(http://www.macuser.com/people/ipod_touch_owners_wake_up_and.php)

What a whiner. Sheesh.

I'm not sure which number mine is on the petition but I've signed it and will also be complaining directly to Apple. It probably won't do much good but it's at least worth a try since this action is just plain wrong. The Apple TV receives a big update and that's free so I honestly don't see why iPod Touch users are being charged to put back what Apple spent money taking off. Yes, we all know that the applications being released for the Touch already existed because the thing is an iPhone and the only reason why they weren't there in the first place was because Apple wanted to differentiate the products more.

The software should have been there in the first place and it is disgraceful that Apple is charging for what new owners get for free. Any suggestion that this is being done for SOX reasons is just nonsense because a) other companies release major software updates for their hardware for free, and b) they could have just charged the same $5 fee that was levied for the Wireless N upgrade last year. This nothing more than greed and those people supporting it should be ashamed of themselves.

If $20 is too much. Get a paper route and stop whining about it.

I don't see the problem with Apple charging $20 for extra software that didn't come with the original iPod Touch, that no one expected to be on their iPod Touch when they bought it, and that no one is forced to pay for. If you don't want the apps don't buy them! Apple never told you that they were included! You have nothing to complain about. I think we should be happy that old users have the option of buying the new software. Remember the iPod "5.5G"? If you wanted the search function on your iPod you had to buy a new one, no software update at all.

I think what apple did was perfectly fine. They gave an option to consumers. Would you be happier if they hadn't put these 5 apps on the ipod touch? You should be happy they even offer the upgrade. You knew what you were getting when you bought the ipod touch. Same with the iPhone; people paid for the iPhone willingly for that price. There is no reason to be upset when somebody else gets a better offer when you willingly took a different offer. There is a Bible story in which two men get paid the amount for a full days work. One worked the whole day, and the other worked less than a full day. The one who worked longer was upset, but Jesus corrected him.

I don't look at this any differently than buying new applications for my Mac, and I made my trip to the iTunes store immediately to get them. Calling it an upgrade was probably a mistake on Apple's part, and I can understand why some people might take issue since the iPhone product line got the applications without additional cost. The main thing is that these applications are not bug fixes. You don't actually need them for the touch to work properly. These are new applications that you can choose to purchase.

I believe that the $20 may have more to do with compliance for the method of accounting that Apple uses for the Ipod touch. I think that is something that you may want to verify before you circle the wagons in protest.

Apple should sell applications. The complaint is they are making me pay for the handful applications that are already available for what is (effectively) the *same* device with the exception of phone technology.

I will gladly pay for new applications, extra applications, *my* applications. I do not think it's reasonable to pay for applications that were so widely expected to come standard on the iPod Touch. But maybe that's how Apple is chosing to do business. I'll survive either way. Jailbreaking is an alternative, at least.

what I understood from what I was told at the Apple store yesterday, the reason they charged for the upgrade to the touch was due to an FCC regulation regarding upgrades to communication devices, which the touch would certainly classify as with Safari and now pop3/IMAP mail capabilities.

could they have charged $2 for it? absolutely. but the bottom line is they had to charge something for it. and while it is nice when anything is ugpgraded for free, companies are by no means obligated to do so.

5 new app's that were never part of what you spent your money on in the first place. You ungrateful slobs! $20 for 5 NEW app's is damn nice of Apple which may I remind you they didn't have to offer it in the first place.

I have a 5g Video iPod and it doesn't have the search feature which was introduced in the 6th generation of iPod's. Yea I was ticked but I didn't stomp my feet, cry foul and sign a petition. Technology changes, features are added and prices are dropped so we all need to deal with it. It's like buying a new car and the next model year the car company now makes something standard or adds something that wasn't on the previous year car.

We should be happy that Apple is thinking of the previous owners and is offering this 20 dollar deal.

The mistake isn't charging $20 for the applications. It's calling it an update, rather than an application bundle. If they called it an application bundle, much fewer people would be complaining about it.

It is grammar, not grammer. Irony.

Whiner. If Apple started giving these apps away on the new iPod Touch for the same price as yours was, I might be able to see your point. But it appears they are not. You bought it knowing what it had, and as far as I know, it still does all that it did when you bought it. This type of whining reminds me of all the temper tantrums that were prevalent on this and Macworld's sites when an update that was foretold (by Apple no less) to brick iPhones, well... actually bricked them.

In the words of The Bangles, "Get over it.'

Bait on hook. How many will actually attempt to correct me over the song? ;-)

Yeah, I wish they would've offered the new Touch apps for free, but they're not charging anything for vastly improving my Apple TV so I'm willing to forgive and forget. And I really like the new Mail and Maps.

This is a ridiculous argument. The iPod Touch is basically a small computer that plays media. Last time I checked, when I buy a computer it comes with certain pieces of software. If newer pieces of software become available, I must BUY them to load onto my computer. I don't complain and whine because I chose to purchase a cheaper computer with less software than a more luxurious model (read: the iPhone). I merely decide whether the upgrade in software is worth the purchase price.

The other thing that strikes me as ridiculous is this notion that early adopters should somehow get some sort of special treatment for having been an early adopter. Your special treatment was getting to enjoy your toy for the past whatever number of months. Technology has worked this way for centuries. No one forced you to purchase this iPod, you decided the day you purchased it that it was worth exactly what you paid for it with the exact features and software it had at the time. Some of us who aren't early adopters say, "Hey, it's not a good value for me yet. I'll wait for the early guys to get in and then once the sales pace slows, the price will come down and maybe some features will be added, and then it will be a good value to me."

Quit whining that a corporation wants to make money for a quality device.

People just don't learn. You gotta pay to be an early adopter.

This is a silly and uninformed post. Apple is required to charge for this update by the accounting rules under which it books its iPod revenue. iPhone (AppleTV, too) is booked using different rules, which allows Apple to deliver updates for free -- if it chooses, which it has now, twice. Labeling them greedy is an uneducated whine: they are charging where they have to and not charging where they could, but don't have to.

I stand corrected... just finished watching all of the iPod part of the expo (skipped it last time), and apparently it is coming out on all new iPods? I retract my previous statement... My apologies.

Before you get too heated up, bop on over to the Macalope's blog at Cnet for a little inside baseball; there are actual reasons for Apple to do this.

Cheap Cheap Cheap Cheap...just cough up the dough.

I agree with the first comment. That is the worst petition to sign for this anyway. Jobs will laugh in your faces with that second grade grammar and writing.

Lamest post ever...get a life cough up the dough.

Why should I expect apple to give me functionality for free? When Apple gives their laptops a speed-bump should I expect them to send me more ram for mine so that I can have the same amount that comes standard on the new ones? I bought an iPod touch knowing that it did not have all of the apps that the iphone did so I see no reason that apple shouldn't charge for the extra apps.

Jobs set a dangerous precedent when he offered the iPhone whiners a credit when the price dropped. Now this just fuels the self-righteous everybody owes me crowd. Look up the definition of early adopter, that's right, you pay more to be the first to own something. Would you be so upset if you bought the touch today when everything was included? Apple has got to raise their prices, too many overstretched budgets trying to keep up with the Jonese are buying products they can't afford. Those of us who rightfully can afford and chose to buy the iPod touch the way it was are not happy, BUT willing to accept the $20 without whining.

I'm getting fed up of the views of a minority of Apple product purchasers that they're entitled to something for nothing. I don't expect to upgrade to Leopard for free, I don't expect my car satnav to be updated with new maps each year for free etc. You bought the ipod with those features and it's rather pathetic to whinge that new owners get something that you don't. It's progress. Deal with it.

Take a look around you. All other companies are giving free software updates and such. It's not like the Mail and GMap application was written after the Touch was shipped.

Sure you knew what you were buying, but doesn't it hurt a little bit when suddenly Apple 'releases' five apps for the Touch, which could have very well been implemented from the start. You aren't paying for innovation here. These are just copy pasted from the iPhone's software and that's what makes it sucky.

For the amount of affection we have for this company, trying to juice out small time cash just doesn't feel right.

It's not fair to charge a price for something that you can walk into a store and get for free. It has nothing to do with the falling price of technology. Delivering this software to the end user costs Apple nothing. Apple is making money hand over fist, do they really need to resort to price gouging?

PS I'm number 8576

Is it me, or hsve the prices in general gone up, for everything....???
Looks like the Steve Jobs 'Reality Distortion Field' is now back up to full power! Next thing you know, we'll be back in those great old heydays where all Apple products cost 3 times as much as anything else.....

This is absurd to think they should give it for free. No one has given good reasoning.

This is the same thing Apple has been doing for years with iLife. They release a new version of iLife, and new Macs come with it for free, yet people with older ones have to pay to upgrade to the newer version with more features. They don't have to upgrade, yet they can if they want. They do this with same exact make/model of macs too, not just when a new line comes out.

I strikes me as incredible that anyone would waste their time complaining about a $20 software upgrade, much less sign a petition. If it is because iPhone owners got it for free, then one must remember that iPhone users pay monthly in kickback fees to Apple via AT&T to receive free updates. Apple gave you a phoneless iPhone cheaper than the real thing and yet you still whine! You guys suck!

To all those who think complaining about this upgrade is unreasonable, please check out this companion article I authored. I've tried to counter some of the points mentioned here and would love to receive some constructive feedback. Thank you! :)