iTunes MiniStore Now Asks First

Yesterday I wrote about the uproar over a new feature on the iTunes Music Player called the MiniStore, which sends personal information back to the Music Store in order to make recommendations for music. I dubbed the problem the Paradox of Recommendations, in light of the fact that in order to get better recommendations, you have to give up some level of privacy.

Today Apple has addressed the problem, presumably because I wrote about it. Just kidding, of course, many folks wrote about it, expressing their concern about the feature that was turned on by default. Most (probably not all) of those people will be happy to know that Apple now presents the following screen asking for approval before turning on the MiniStore.

At first glance, this seems a rather trivial occurrence. But it’s actually a big deal. Apple, a notoriously insular company, has changed their software as the direct result of public feedback. The users have won a battle here; their voices were heard.

Kudos to the iTunes developers at Apple for making the change.