Why do I need this Itunes BS to get my iphone working ?

[mycomputersucks]

First off let me start buy saying I absolutely HATE ITunes, I download entire discography's in FLAC at a time via bit torrent. I do not like paying anything for a crappy MP3, and dont know why the F*UCK I have to install this POS software on my computer just to activate my phone. So here we go

I cannot install any version newer than Itunes 7, yeah its old, but my computer is from 2003 and does not like new things. I tried everything possible to get the newer itunes software to work, tried for 3 hours, nothing. So Finially get into Itunes , and ofcourse my Iphone 3gs will not synch up, wont even recognize.

In "My Computer" windows took the liberty of installing my iphone as an "imaging device" and not a USB device as it should. So uninstall everything, try again nothing..Basically I am at the point where I need to install my iphone manually using the driver file that is in commonfiles/apple/apple mobile device/drivers . automatic plug and play install is already shut off. But everytime I try add new hardware it wants to do it as a digital camera....CAN ANYONE HELP ?? I have already cursed apple for the last 15 years and figured I might give them a try once again and am now in the same spot I was 14 years ago nearly wanting to smash the apple products in our high school.

[ctakim]

Well, this won't help your current situation, but iOS 5 will likely do away with this requirement. I'm all Mac based so I can't help you with specifics. Good luck though. It sounds quite frustrating.

[S2_Mac]

Depending on the version of iOS currently installed on the 3GS, activation will require an iTunes version from 9.2 up to 10.1. For instance, if this is a new purchase from ATT, you'll need iTunes 10.1. If your computer can't handle an update to XP SP3 -- just guessin' at what your OS is -- then you're SOL on your machine. OTOH, you could activate it on a friend's (newer) computer: authorize that computer with your iTunes Store account info, activate, then deauthorize that computer. I don't deal with ATT, but I would imagine they've got a computer in-house that could activate it for you....

(The downside to this is that if you ever need to Restore the phone you'll once again need to use someone else's computer. Since you can't use iTunes on your machine you won't have backups, so if the phone gets hosed so is your data....)

In "My Computer" windows took the liberty of installing my iphone as an "imaging device" and not a USB device as it should. So uninstall everything, try again nothing..Basically I am at the point where I need to install my iphone manually using the driver file that is in commonfiles/apple/apple mobile device/drivers .

That driver enables iTunes to recognize the phone -- it's not a driver for Windows to recognize the phone as a USB device. Yes, there are ways to use the iPhone as a sneaker-net storage device, but they don't involve that driver. (For instance, DiskAid. Viewing those stored files on the 3GS itself will require an app to be installed on the phone, such as FileApp.)

[mycomputersucks]

Ok it turns out I was able to go to the AT&T store and get it activated. As for geting Itunes BS to work on my computer I need to format anything I want to keep, wipe every disk clean and put down a new copy of Windows. Had this computer since 2004, running on the original copy of XP it came with , have had multiple viri which has messed it up royally. I have no sound now ! and when clicking device manager it will not open, when I manually open device manager from the run command It comes up, but with NOTHING listed...this current OS is miles away from saving ! thanks for the help tho guys and gals !

[decafjava]

Dude you're ####ed at itunes cause you have an ancient and virus-ridden computer? You're lucky the others were so patient.

Oh and don't rip off musicians please.