Well, that certainly didn't take long.

This weekend we discovered that Apple had killed Linux compatibility in its newest iPods. The song database on the new iPod Classic, Touch, and Nano includes a new security measure that prevents users from synchronizing their portable media players with anything other than Apple's iTunes software.
Today, it looks like some enterprising Linux developers have figured out how to circumvent those security measures. The website with information on how to perform the new hack is down after receiving a ton of traffic frm Digg, Engadget, and other sites. So we can't give you too many details right now, but given the way these things work, expect the solution to be rather complicated today. We're pretty confident someone will develop a more user-friendly version within a matter of days, or weeks at the most.

Part of what makes the iPod so popular is the way it seamless integrates with iTunes. You can rip your CD collection or download movies and music onto your PC and quickly synchronize them with your iPod for when you're on the go. But while the iPod is certainly the most popular portable media player on the market, not everyone is a huge fan of iTunes. And some folks, like say, Linux users, couldn't use the software if they wanted to.

In the past, those clever Linux developers figured out a way around this and managed to get open source software like Amarok and gtkpod to synchronize with iPods.

But it turns out that Apple has locked down the song database file on its latest generation of iPods including the iPod Nano, Classic, and touch. The change means that there's no way to transfer music between a new iPod and a Linux PC.

Given enough time, we suspect Linux developers will find a way around this limitation. But what made Apple lock down the new devices in the first place? Conspiracy theorists (who may very well be right) will surely suggest that Apple wants to lock people into using just their hardware and software. But seriously, what Linux user is going to switch to OS X or Windows just to use an iPod? Essentially Apple is just convincing open source advocates to stop buying iPods. We're betting Steve Jobs isn't that dumb, so we wonder if there might be some other advantage to adding security measures to the song database.

[via Slashdot]