Thought on 12/7/06: iTunes customer support via... telephone?!!

I constantly criticize Apple for their recent iTunes releases - they fail so much in the usability department and they simply fail too often to resemble anything other than software produced by Microsoft. Also in that category is their seeming-determination to keep you from telling them how to fix it next time. In order to provide feedback - that is, *after* you find the feedback form, which I think you must get through by some desideratic combination of the apple website and iTunes' help, which often doesn't respond - you have to create an account. After which, iTunes seems to "forget" that you were trying to leave feedback and take you back to the store or something. So you have to find the magic combination again. And - before today - you couldn't event *think* of simply calling up customer service to discuss your issues with iTunes. They don't provide you with a phone number.

That is why today is a special day. Through Slate.com, I provide you, verbatim, with their instructions for calling iTunes customer support. The only unfortunate part, still on a Microsoftian-"we shall rule the world" attitude, is that you must have an iPod and give it's serial number. Perhaps, as a favor to the general public, the owners of these lost iPods wouldn't mind if you borrowed their serial numbers (please note the possibility that Apple could say "hey, that iPod is reported as stolen." Then the police would come. Then they would search your house. Then they would hold you until you told them where you were keeping the iPod. Then you would die, old and brittle, in jail for borrowing a serial number).

And now:

"1.) Telephone the following number: 800-275-2273 (only available between 8am and 5pm CT). This is the Apple Care Service and Support Line.
2.) When you hear the recorded greeting, enter 70. The recording will very likely reject that entry at first. If so, try again.
3.) When you're prompted to say the product that you need tech support for, say "iTunes."
4.) When you're prompted to say what type of computer you're using, say "a Windows machine" or "Macintosh."
5.) When you're prompted to say whether you're calling on behalf of a school, answer "yes" or "no."
6.) This will get you a live person. Please note: You will need to state the serial number of your iPod before you can proceed."

And if you have time after talking with Apple, head on over to Slate.com and thank Timothy Noah for his removing of the sword from a very puckered stone.