As reported by Jeremy Horwitz over at iLounge, Apple may have to do some more damage control. First they have pissed off early iPhone buyers by lowering the price $200 in less then two months on sale and are now planning on giving $100 store credit. Now it is reported that Apple has made an unannounced change to the new iPod line that literally “locks out” playing video on TVs without buying an Apple optional Component or Composite video cables that costs $49.

This is not a nice way to treat your customers Mr. Jobs. Seems that there may be an Apple authentication chip built-in to these new cables and you can throw away the older AV cable that Apple sold you (they may only work with the addition of an Apple Dock). According to iLounge these authentication chips are only available in Apple products, and in a handful of products made by Apple-licensed third-party developers. The chips are not available to unlicensed developers, and add additional costs to the prices of iPod accessories. Hence, your new iPod may not play video out of many of your accessories. What happened to the “Made for iPod” logo on this stuff?

Image from iLounge

On the new iPods, going to the Videos -> Settings menu brings up a TV Out option that is NOW unresponsive when clicked, showing only the word “off.” When locked, video content will display on the iPod’s screen, but not on your TV or portable display accessory. Except if you buy a new cable from Apple at $49. I have no idea if this is to curtail copying, but I doubt it as you can get video out with the purchased cables.

I ordered an iPod classic, but have not yet received it. So I have not tested this myself. After reading the post over at iLounge I went over to the Apple website and looked around for clarification or at least a warning from Apple about this. The only thing I could find was this (see below) from the PDF manual for the iPod classic.

I also would like to point out that all those games you bought for the 5th generation iPod will also NOT work on the new iPods. I found this in the iTunes Store Games section.

According to the way I read this games need to be updated for use on the new iPods. No word if Apple will upgrade these for free, or you would have to buy these over again. I personally own about 5 games I purchased through the iTunes Store. What do I do with them now? I was planning of giving my old black 5th generation 60GB iPod to my nephew when my new iPod classic arrived. Since I can not transfer the games to him, I may either have to keep the old iPod to play them or eat them! This basically sucks.

I always thought it was a mistake that when playing games you could not view them on a TV, getting the use of the larger screen. The new iPods apparently did not add this feature, even with the New Apple TV cables.

From the Apple Support Forum:
Re: Ipod classic TV out problem
Posted: Sep 7, 2007 11:37 AM

I had the same problem with the TV Out setting. After spending an hour with apple support, reolading software and restoring the ipod, I was told that it appeared to be a problem with the physical device. I returned to the store and exchanged for a new unit. We tried to change the TV Out settings and enountered the same problem on-site. One of the store associates believed that with the ipod Classic digital video output, the new av cable with the dock must be in place before the TV Out setting can be changed from ‘off’ to ‘on’ or ‘ask’. I wanted to try that while in the store however, those cables are not available yet (in the store – online indicates 2 – 3 weeks for shipment) . I returned the unit. It seems that something should have been published to inform buyers of this new ‘feature’. With the prior gen video ipod no cable needed to be connected to change the TV Out setting, If anyone has any more information re: this please share.

As soon as I receive my new iPod, I will be asking Apple for a clarification. I may just return it and keep my old iPod a few more years. The unit is called the iPod classic, seems it really is not a classic at all.

This means that most of the portable displays that people have purchased are completely worthless, and the only way you’re going to get your video out of the new iPods and onto a television is if you buy an Apple built dock and cables. Give us a break.

Hey Apple, you can only spit on your customers so many times before they tell you to go screw. After enraging almost every iPhone early adopter, now we find out this bad news. What the hell happened to compatibility and fairness. How about telling your customers before we buy? Looks like September 5th may go down in history as the day Apple decided to “forget the customer.” I smell another class-action lawsuit, this time I think you lose!

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