jonpenn101 Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Hey everyone, Long time no message!!! I could do with a little advice. I am trying to find a way either with group policy or Some sort of registry hack to make sure if a user installs iTunes on thier laptop that the default place for the library is set somewhere other than My Music! We have tried to educate the users but it seems to go in one ear and out of the other. Also have noticed for those who i have manually changed the library destination that when they update iTunes it reverts to My Music???!??!!?!?!? Can anyone suggest anything because our file server is full of iTunes because we sync all of the My Documents folder for obvious reasons. HELP?
featured_spectre Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 remove itunes as it cannot be used commercially (which technically a school falls under).
jonpenn101 Posted February 7, 2011 Author Posted February 7, 2011 The laptops are used at home therefore they argue it's for personal use!
dwhyte85 Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 I thought iTunes made a big fuss about iTunes U or something, lectures, documents etc from iTunes for educational use? Effectively using iTunes as a delivery platform? Not sure whether it effects the installation being legal or not though
elsiegee40 Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 If the school is providing a PC for personal use, then HMRC may choose to argue that it's a taxable benefit. We cannot install MSE on laptops for home use as they belong to a 'commercial organisation'; the same rules apply.
localzuk Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 remove itunes as it cannot be used commercially (which technically a school falls under). Interesting, as iPhones need iTunes to do any transfer stuff, and they're sold to businesses. Apple even have a page discussing itunes use in business... (http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/integration/ see the bit at the bottom). However, in this situation it is a case of work computers being abused with personal stuff. I think this is more a case of staff training than something that can be fixed by GPO - I've not come across any way of forcing settings on software that is installed off network for example. If you could change it post install via GPO then you'd still end up with the music in My Music and the user would then not be able to access it in itunes at it wouldn't have copied it over to the new location...
jonpenn101 Posted February 7, 2011 Author Posted February 7, 2011 As i thought "localzuk" nice to have someone back up my thoughts will go back to the powers that be and advise again.
elsiegee40 Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Actually, I am less concerned by the installation of iTunes than by the possible copyright issues with the music which will presumably be replicated onto the school's server. I know of many schools using iPods, one local one in partnership with Apple. I have a bigger problem with the "it's for personal use, I can do what I want "attitude, because they can't (do what they want I mean)
featured_spectre Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Interesting, as iPhones need iTunes to do any transfer stuff, and they're sold to businesses. Apple even have a page discussing itunes use in business... (Apple - iPhone in Business - Integration see the bit at the bottom). A school is not a business, however I agree about the GPO policy. We got a reprimand in our place because iTunes was not for use commercially (FAST came in not long ago, and that was the only thing they pulled up on)
dwhyte85 Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 @nephilim, what would you call an academy based on the setup they have
localzuk Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 (edited) A school is not a business, however I agree about the GPO policy. We got a reprimand in our place because iTunes was not for use commercially (FAST came in not long ago, and that was the only thing they pulled up on) FAST are known to get things wrong. Apple specifically market their products to education - ipods, ipads, iphones all require iTunes. I received a marketting email from them not too long ago advertising iPads for education! http://www.apple.com/education/ipodtouch-iphone/ - They also mention iTunes on there, for example... Edited February 7, 2011 by localzuk
Arthur Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 What sort of things do they use iTunes for? Would Foobar2000 with the iPod Manager plugin suffice?
localzuk Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 What sort of things do they use iTunes for? Would Foobar2000 with the iPod Manager plugin suffice? Downloading Apps, if not using 3g or wireless for example. Backing up things on your phone. Its not just about music any more. Not to mention, for iPod Manager to work with an iPhone, the phone still has to be set up with itunes as per iPod Manager's release notes. And the fact that it needs access to one of the dll files installed by iTunes (iphonecalc.dll), etc...
alexsanger Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Surely they're contravening the terms of use by installing unauthorised software? If you didn't install it you can't support it - thats the view I take. Doesn't solve your immediate problem though... You could just exclude the My Music folder from synchronisation (if thats how its getting onto your server, or redirect My Documents and configure synchronisation seperately if not done already). Or make it read-only to all but Domain Admins - perhaps a bit draconian, but if they want a computer to manage their idevices, let them buy one. The school provides laptops so they can perform essential tasks for the school, surely? Not so they can have their latest downloads ready to listen to in the gym!
DAZZD88 Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 You could always configure them a local logon, which then means their crud isn't sync'd onto the server.
stevehp Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 The way I got around this was to use a script that changes the location of My Music from within the users home folder to a location inside their local profile. That way music, videos, apps, etc.. get stored on the hard drive of the machine they happen to be using and not our server hard drives. It ties them down to one machine for iTunes usage, but it stops home folders from balloning in size. The steps I take are: 1. Create a profile that has a My Music folder within another folder called Local Data 2. Add the registry modification script to either the Startup folder in the Start Menu or in registry 3. If need be another script can be added that will create a shortcut to this local My Music folder to say the home folder or the desktop, etc. 3. Copy profile to default user 4. Either rinse rather and repeat or create an image with the changes. 5. Verifiy with a domain user that iTunes is looking in the correct folder for it's media files. Click on Edit then Preferences and switch over to the advanced tab and look inside the text box to verify it's pointing in the right direction.
Guest Guest Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Surerly iTunes stores the location in the registry, or in a file? If this is the case open up processmonitor and watch where it writes it. Then create a simple script that runs at user logon both locally and on the network.
stevehp Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Yep it does store that location, but in an encoded format inside an XML file. I tried it that way, but I ultimately could not and gave up. It was much easier to fool Windows than to fool iTunes.
chazzy2501 Posted February 8, 2011 Posted February 8, 2011 It's possible to redirect "My Music" in the GPO by default it follows the ReDirected "MyDouments" but it doesn't have to. I'd set it to "C:\Itunesmusic"
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