You see, I downloaded a 2.2GB GPS app, NDrive USA (ndriveweb.com), and while this app is horrific at memory management it’s a good little GPS program that gets the job done at a cost of only $2.99. So what’s the big deal? Well, I downloaded it from my iPhone (I do all my app management on my phone) and iTunes just refuses to accept it. I’ve “Transfer Purchases” 4 times and while each time it puts the app in the “Mobile Applications” folder, iTunes still refuses to load it, saying it’s “not a valid application”. This means if I sync my phone iTunes will rip that app off of it like a day old band-aid on a hairy leg.

Typically this would not be that bad (the app thing not the band-aid thing, that would suck) since iTunes let you re-download purchased apps for free, unlike purchased music. So I’d just download it again and off I would go. Well, here’s the twist. That app has been pulled from the store so I can’t download it again. This means if I lose it from my phone for some reason it’s gone. NDrive says they don’t know why the app was pulled and their working with Apple to get it back on the store. Good luck with that.

So let’s recap:

• I bought a huge (2.2GB) GPS app that has super crappy memory management but does what $50 GPS apps do for $2.99
• I purchased it from my phone and downloaded it via wifi so it only exists on my phone
• “Transfer Purchases” moves over the app file, but iTunes refuses to load it as an “app”
• The app is no longer on the app store so I can’t re-download it meaning if I lose it from my phone it’s gone forever
• A sync would erase it (as it’s not in iTunes) and a sync is required to upgrade to iOS4

Oh yeah, that last one…there’s the rub. If I want to upgrade to iOS and get all the awesome features that should have been on the iPhone months ago I’ll lose my app. So, what do I do? I haven’t talked to Apple yet but I plan to. I doubt they will even care about my problems, I mean, they’re not Google. So I’ll keep plugging away trying to find a solution myself. If you have any bright ideas please leave me a comment.  If I figure this out I’ll update the post.

However, this really isn’t about Apple and iPhone, this is about the DMCA in general.  This stance, if it is approved by the courts, set a precedent. That precedent is that you can’t use stuff you buy the way you want. So most people will just say “so what.”  With iPhone I kind of agree.  Apple gives a majority of the people what they need and a slightly majority what they want via iTunes.  Still, what about other things you buy.

Think about a few items in your house right now and imagine if all of a sudden the makes tell you how to use it.  Your coffee maker will only take coffee from certain makers.  Your toaster will only toast certain brands of bread.  Your car will only allow you to put in “super” grade gas.  It may seem ridiculous but I bet 50 years ago people would look at things today and find a few of our everyday experiences ridiculous.

Link: Apple Says iPhone Jailbreaking is Illegal | Electronic Frontier Foundation

I guess, (I wasn’t the one who saw it) my iPod floated by the glass window of the front loader almost in slow motion.  Like that scene in Stuart Little when Gena Davis finds Stuart swimming in the washer.  It was promptly pulled out, but the damage was done.  The rubber cover had all four edges ripped from the banging, some of the silver finish had even worn off of the unit itself, and water got inside, evident from the bubble behind the glass front.

The battery was already dead so I didn’t have to worry about trying to turn it on.  (Apparently this was actually a good thing that I’ll explain later.)  I figured the thing was fried so I just let it sit on the counter to dry out.  During this time I researched online knowing I wasn’t the first to soak my pod.

I discovered a few important things.  First, there is a water damage indicator at the bottom of the headphone jack.  It turns red when exposed to water and Apple will check this first to simply deny any warranty work.  Secondly, if the battery is dead there is little chance of electrical damage.  Third, don’t try to charge, use, plug in, turn on, or do anything for at least a week and a half.  Finally, expect to do a firmware restore.

Well, I’m sure you would all like to hear the day by day (which I still remember in detail) but I’ll summarize for you.  My water indicator was red while it should be white.  I let it sit for 12 days without trying to do anything.  I put it in the charger and it turned on and started charging, but the battery meter never moved and as soon as I tried to do anything it locked up.  Not to mention there was about 1/2 of the screen that looked funny as if there was water behind the LCD.  The iTunes restore didn’t work, maybe because it was jailbroken, but when I manually entered recovery mode I was able to restore it.  When all was said and done, about 2 weeks after the bath, everything was working except the WiFi.  I got a grey WiFi button under settings that say “No WiFi”, which appears to mean there was a hardware failure.

So I wrote off my iPod since without WiFi it was kind of useless.  I continued to use it once in a while to listen to music and stuff but I wasn’t carrying it around with me.  Then the other day, it was an iPod miracle! I turned it on to update some music the old fashon way (via iTunes) and a box asked me to join the wireless network.

So it took three weeks but my iPod is back to new.  Everything is working and I loaded the new 2.0 firmware on it.  The app store is great and with wireless working I’m sure I’ll be carrying it around again.  Also, amazingly, I don’t think I am going to jailbreak it again.  I don’t see the need since all the apps I used (so far) are on the app store.

Kudos to apple for making a good product and some nice software! A drastic difference from what I was saying about apple a week or so ago.