

I held off and held off but finally installed the new version of iTunes (v7.7.1) - the invasiveness of this application (for those readers living in the southern US, I liken it to kudzu) is starting to make me think twice about another iPod…and I love my iPod...our family loves their iPods (we have four in a family of six), but I’m growing weary of iTunes.

It started a version or two ago, but reared its head this update. I run WinPatrol to alert me to any new services or auto-runs in Windows. It took me nearly 20 minutes (and a reboot) to rid myself of unwanted Apple stuff...here are the reasons I'm ignoring the next Apple iTunes update:

the iTunes and QuickTime installer is nearly 80mb - for something to sync my podcasts/music? Please. Why do I need to do a full re-install? Why exactly do I need QuickTime? Apple, here's a spot you should follow Microsoft – just send patches, not full re-installs. I'd be more accepting of updates. MobileMe - don’t use it, don’t want it, don’t have an iPhone so this is completely useless. I said no to the installation of this service. Trust me, I want all the uninterrupted startup power I can get so this got tossed out as quick as it took to alert me this was trying to be installed. Got the pleasure of having to remove this through Add/Remove programs which took over 5 minutes to completely un-install. __Bonjour __- this one is tricky. The service description reads: “Enables hardware devices and software services to automatically configure themselves on the network and advertise their presence, so that users can discover and use those services without any unnecessary manual setup or administration.” Thanks Apple for not letting it be obvious this is your service. I disabled the service AND had to uninstall from Add/Remove Programs….but now of course, I get a nag-screen when I start up iTunes….saying that it can't find Bonjour and that I need to re-install iTunes. (Trust me, I've been running iTunes just fine without Bonjour) Safari - this one really, REALLY set me off. Why? Because during the install I explicitly *UN*selected the box next to Safari. But there it is, happily sitting with an entry in Add/Remove programs and a desktop icon. Apple, Firefox remains my browser of choice even if you force your browser on me. Outlook Add-in – Wha??? Yes, there is an Outlook add-in for iTunes that installs by default and is activated by default (so that, I guess,

I can sync my contacts with the iPhone I don't have). The best part is that it prevents OUTLOOK.EXE from properly shutting down. Outlook works perfectly now that the add-in has been disabled.

Even with these 5 gripes, I'm still a fan if my iPod. Right now, however; I'm not willing to upgrade iTunes in the near future; the same goes for my wife's computer and my kids' computer. Apple, please change your iTunes update strategy.