iTunes: Would you like some erotic audiobooks?

iTunes store audiobooksApple 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”.

Audiobook description

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?

11 insightful thoughts

  1. They would need a credit card to downlaod it. So NO Apple arent letting small children listen to porn.

  2. @Carl: That’s true, but any iTunes user can read descriptions on anything in the iTunes store. And if you read the description above….

  3. 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’)

  4. They would need a credit card to downlaod it. So NO Apple arent letting small children listen to porn.

    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.

  5. …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. 🙂

  6. 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…

  7. “…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…

  8. Being the mother of 8 in total, most adopted, I feel it is the parents’ sole responsibility to keep track of their children. Parents should instill the proper choice making skills into their children; and if parents fear the internet, then I think they should monitor what the child uses it for.

    Any child can walk past the nudie mags in the minute mart, any child can go to the beach and see girls in G-strings acting inappropriately. We as people cannot (and should not – in its entirety) be able to control what others do, say or think in front of us. It is a “free world”. But what you can do is be a “good parent” and kept track of your own progeny. Children arn’t bad, parents are failing – period. Too many parents use the computer as some for of babysitter, and THAT is what is wrong. Don’t want to keep your nose so far up your child’s bum to keep them on the correct path, then don’t have kids!!

    I believe in freedom, to choose what I see, listen to, say, think — and I believe my children are my sole responsibility NOT Apple’s.

    Now go look on the internet by googling the word “sex” and see what our children can be exposed to. I mean come on, get real! Go to any better book store, and better yet go to the library, and see the plethora of writings your children can easily peruse, without a credit card….

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