Sony, Nintendo and others aren’t American firms so the law does not apply.

and Microsoft rarely adds “functionality” to its products, so they can skirt the new law.

all these updates are free on torrents so it’s really not a big issue once you know that.

I am just not buying it. For example Sony and MS will both be introducing huge upgrades to their respective gaming platforms (PS3 and Xbox360) in the coming months. These are not just cosmetic changes they are complete revamps of the entire systems (and this is not the first time they have done it either) yet neither will be charging for it. The two cited examples are Xbox Experience and Playstation Home.

I do realise it’s a case of cover your ass for Apple but if they really did have their hands tied by Sarbanes-Oxley (which I don’t believe to be the case) they could have done it at a nominal cost to the consumer. I think it’s a cynical attempt to justify milking unwary customers for cash.

My recommendation for everybody is to give Apple the finger and download the widely available restore.

Up until recently, Apple was under investigation by the SEC, and wanted to be as careful as possible with their accounting.

If this horrible little law did apply then can someone care to explain to me why Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft and many others been breaking the law by giving us all free firmware updates for our various devices. PSP, Wii, PS3, Xbox, Xbox360, etc etc.

I would hate to think I was complicit in breaking the law by accepting these updates without paying for them. Shudder the thought.

While I understand Apple’s decision to charge money for the new applications (especially because they might run afoul of the SOx Law) the new $20 “application pack” also includes a SYSTEM UPDATE in the form of the home page editing, web clips, and lyrics features. All of these are updates to the currently existing iPod Touch software and NOT new applications, which means that they ought to be free to all users of the iPod Touch.

Adding insult to injury these applications are all hidden in the 1.1.3 system update, a whopping 104.4mb file that all users must download if they want to fix bugs in the system. These applications can only be used when you pay Apple $20 to “unlock” them, but even if you decide not to buy them they stay on your iPod taking up precious space that could be used for songs, videos, or photos.

Apple is normally wonderful when it comes to providing system support and updates, but having them shaft early adopters and loyal fans like this is offensive and shows that Apple has absolutely no regard for the iPod Touch community.

You can leave Apple direct feedback here:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipodtouch.html

You can also sign this petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/freeappi/petition.html

As for the cost, I have no problem with it at all. The reason is, when the iPod Touch and iPhone came out, you could easily read the box and figure out which item was best suited for you. Getting upGRADES for free has never been a policy of ANY company that I know of. UpDATES on the other hand are a completely different situation. Be careful what you consider an upGRADE versus an upDATE. Buying Quicktime Pro 6.0 and then upGRADING it to 7.0, a completely different version is called upGRADING! This costs you money. Also if you buy a computer with standard edition software such as Microsoft Office and then you realize later you wanted the full Professional version, guess what? You’re gonna pay for it

Remember, upDATING is only adding new features to current software through a service pack like Quicktime Pro 7.0 to 7.04 and is FREE.
UpGRADING is changing the entire version of a software such as Quicktime Pro 6.0 to 7.0 and this is NEVER free…neither is getting additional apps!

As a user I am disappointed I had to pay $20 for the updates. I did it and I am fine with it, but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth. Of course I bought the Touch thinking it would be an ipod/pda (or whatever you want to call that line of functionality). So my expectations where wrong. I think sometimes in business like it or not you have to play to your customers expectations. I look to the iPhone refund as an example.

Anyway that being said I paid the $20 I am happy with the applications and I am ready for more 3rd party apps, but if Apple decides to give me $20 credit I will take it.

The difference is that the add event was an added feature in a pre-existing application. This is adding 5 completely new (to the iPod) applications.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes-Oxley_Act