You Tube Requires Itunes Account??

Joel C. wrote:
Could you possibly link to a YouTube video that's encoded in H264 from their site? I've never seen one.

The videos shown on the YouTube site ate NOT in H264 they are in Flash.
But when you load a movie to YouTube now it is also converted and stored in H264 format as well so that it can be viewed on the Apple TV and iPhone / iPod touch. It is not stored by Apple it is stored by YouTube.

Read this for more info :-

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/05/30appletv.html

Specifically this bit :-

"Thousands of the most current and popular YouTube videos will be available on Apple TV at launch in mid-June, with YouTube adding thousands more each week until the full YouTube catalog is available this fall."

YouTube also have this to say about the H.264 format of videos :-

http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=72442&query=h.264&top ic=&type=

Is that enough evidence?

Ian

Let me outine Steve's thinking on doing this:

YouTube - possibly the best and most popular application of the iPod Touch yet.
*Wifi iTunes Music Store* - makes lots and lots more cash for Apple. The temptation will kill you to use it, even just once.

I know ... To activate Youtube will require a iTunes account.

To answer your question: No, there is no way around this. You will have to create an account to use YouTube, the wifi music store and possibly the Safari browser (unsure).

Hope this helps.

Well, that 5ucks.
They've probably built it that way so youl'll have to create account, and if you already have one, and see something that you like on the iTunes Store, it will be easier for you to purchase it because you already own an account.
Isn't there any way to... well... bypass this "activation" thing?? I really want to use YouTube and I thought I would be able to just 'til now.
(Note: I live in a country in which the iTunes Store isn't supported)

If the iTunes music store is not available in your country, then possibly YouTube won't be either. It does say in the manual that youTube is not available in some countries. Also you will not be able to use the wifi music store.

Hope this helps.

Yes, when you get a iPod Touch for the first time, you need to sync it to 'unlock' to from the start screen. Aswell as syncing, the iPod Touch finds the connection to Wifi (if any) for the Wifi store, and Safari, and 'activates' the YouTube.app through iTunes. - During this process, iTunes sniffs out whether you already have an iTunes account, and if not, prompts you to create one for this very reason.

Since there is no way to 'unlock' the Touch when you first get it, without syncing, we'll never know if the YouTube app works before syncing. 🙂

I know you have to sync it to iTunes first, but if you have no iTunes store account set up are you saying that YouTube does not work?

You do not need to set up an iTunes account to use / unlock the iPod touch, you only need the account to buy music from the iTunes Store / WiFi Store. You can skip the account set up stage and the iPod still operates.

I never said YouTube wouldn't work without syncing or setting up an iTunes account...

I said:

*'Since there is no way to 'unlock' the Touch when you first get it, without syncing, we'll never know if the YouTube app works before syncing'*

Try this:

1. Set up a 60day trial .mac account ( any name will do...but keep a record in case you forget)

2. Use those as login details for your iTunes account, and it should just work. You should then be able to activate You Tube.

😉

Try this:

1. Set up a 60day trial .mac account (any name will do...but keep a record in case you forget)

2. Use those as login details for your iTunes account, and it should just work. You should then be able to activate You Tube.

😉

Is there such a thing as an iTunes account? I just use my Apple ID, which can be absolutely anything.

I use the same ID to purchase iTunes songs as I do to purchase QT Pro and my iPod touch. Can you not simply set up an Apple ID? Instead of setting it up in iTunes, simply go to your local Apple site, and create an Apple ID.

During an iTunes account setup you require to input some type of 'payment' method. creating an Apple ID will allow you to access the iTunes music store, but you wouldn't be able to 'buy anything'. Which renders the whole point rather pointless.

...but the OP doesn't want to purchase anything, s/he just wants to find a way around being required to have an iTMS account so that s/he can use the full functionality of the iPod. I don't know, but I just thought maybe an Apple ID would accomplish that.

Here's what this means. If your AppleID is required to use the YouTube application, Apple can track, with perfection, which videos you watch, how much you watch, and how often.

Does anyone else feel like this is a violation of privacy?

That may very well be the case (tracking users).

But anyway as you all know the Touch doesn't support Flash. If you've visited YouTube you know all the videos are in Flash on the site. The ones that are available on the Touch/iPhone are encoded in H264. My guess is the iTunes Music Store is the back-end of the YouTube videos that are available. Everything that's on there has to be re-encoded to be viewable and the fact that they're "YouTube video" is only in the broadest sense. What you're really seeing is videos through the iTMS that happened to originate on YouTube.

Now the fact that if you live outside the realm of the iTMS is something that needs to be addressed. It certainly seems "crippled" if that's the case. Hopefully (and I wouldn't hold my breath) Flash support will come and this point will be moot.

Well it must be a country issue, because i'm from Mexico, i do not have an itunes account (in Mexico there isn't an itunes store either) and i can use youtube perfectly.

At first i thought i wasn't going to be able to use this function but i was plaesantly surprised when i tried and i was able to use it. Hope this helps you good luck.