Apple released an 7.1 update to iTunes this morning, and being the latest-software-updates freak I am, I downloaded and installed it immediately. New features include a full-screen coverflow, better Windows Vista support, and a big surprise in the iTunes Store.
I don’t use the iTunes Store very frequently, only to sample music once in a while, so I don’t know how long this has been up for. Apparently, us Australians like our fair share of Silverchair, Justin Timberlake and Erotic Short Stories by Tinca Turle, unabridged I might add.
The audiobook description goes into much more detail. Emphasis on the “detail”.
This disturbs me in many ways. Besides knowing what Australians like to listen to on their iPods, but also the lack of control and filtering by Apple. Mind you, this is a default installation of iTunes. Anyone (minors included) could access this whether if they just installed iTunes or been using iTunes for a while. Even restricting explicit content under parental controls fail to remove the specific audiobook from the listing.
Shouldn’t Apple be responsible for what content they display on the front-page?
Comments for "iTunes: Would you like some erotic audiobooks?"
Carl
They would need a credit card to downlaod it. So NO Apple arent letting small children listen to porn.
Justin
@Carl: That’s true, but any iTunes user can read descriptions on anything in the iTunes store. And if you read the description above….
Justin
Also, they may have fixed some problems with iTunes in Windows Vista, but I can tell you they still has many left to fix (ie: it still thinks that when you close iTunes that it has in fact ‘crashed’)
Chris Boulton
You don’t need a credit card - you can use iTunes gift cards.
Gift cards (at least here in Australia) can be purchased at a lot of stores by anyone and act as credits in the store.
al
…so I take it you are also upset that kids can borrow Mario Puzzo’s godfather book from their local library, not to mention any other dirty stories they can find. Then we should remove all the naughty words from the dictionary, then censor the internet, then itunes, then the library, then history, then thoughts…
..anyway, thats my 2 minutes of hate.
BenN
I’m trying to work out what words you’ve censored cause there’s at least one instance of the f-word (no point writing out something that’s going to be censored anyway) in the audiobook description image…
peacho
Wow. That’s just pretty sick. Wow.
Arron
“…so I take it you are also upset that kids can borrow Mario Puzzo’s godfather book from their local library, not to mention any other dirty stories they can find. Then we should remove all the naughty words from the dictionary, then censor the internet, then itunes, then the library, then history, then thoughts…”
Push vs Pull,
RSS vs Websites.
The audiobook is visible because is being pushed to you — you’ll see it without explicitly requesting it.
In contrast, locating random porn on the internet is usually a pull action — you can’t “accidently” find it, you have to explicitly seek it out, or be in a situation where porn occupies / overlaps the same sphere of interest in what you are currently searching for.
Push mechanisms should normally have some kind of filter (parental control in the case of iTunes).
Of course, this /is/ Apple…
Arron
Whoops, I got the push/pull terminology backwards.
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iTunes: Would you like some erotic audiobooks? — Books Discussion and Rating
[...] Turle, unabridged I might add. The audiobook description goes into much more detail source: iTunes: Would you like some erotic audiobooks?, [...]