Not using Apple? iTunes reminds it won't support you

In an article published on its support site this week, Apple has highlighted to consumers that it doesn't provide iTunes support for third party media players.

Titled iTunes: About unsupported third-party digital media players, the article addresses the claims of "some third parties" that their digital media players are able to sync with iTunes. By "some third parties" they could well mean "Palm", which has manipulated the new Pre smartphone to sync with Apple's music software. Palm execs showed off the iTunes sync feature at last month's D: All Things Digital conference.

The article reads: "Apple is aware that some third parties claim that their digital media players are able to sync with Apple software. However, Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players and, because software changes over time, newer versions of Apple's iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players."

Apparently Palm's chief investor Roger McNamee didn't see this coming. When he and Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein introduced the feature, he acknowledged that Apple could take legal or technical steps to block the feature, but said: "I find it hard to believe they are going to get bent out of shape."

Original article: Apple warns about unsupported players' iTunes integration from CNET News.com