From 2007 to 2009 Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) effectively created a firewall around its iPod by not allowing music from services that compete with iTunes to be played on its devices, a court heard this week.

Apple is caught in a class-action antitrust suit which alleges that Apple created a non-competitive environment for music players and downloading services. According to allegations by the defendants, it was at one time impossible to put music obtained through services that rival Apple’s iTunes as attempting to sync the non-iTunes obtained music would cause the iPod to crash during the syncing process. To restore the iPod post-crash, a factory reset would be required and when the iPod came back to life the user’s non-iTunes music would be gone.

“You guys decided to give them the worst possible experience and blow up” a user’s music library, attorney Patrick Coughlin is quoted by the The Wall Street Journal as saying.

Apple defended the practice as being a legitimate response to security concerns — particularly piracy. The proliferation of DVD rippers and other pirated content gave Apple grounds to vigilantly protect the integrity of the iTunes ecosystem, Apple’s security director Augustin Farrugia said in court.

The trial continues in court next week. The plaintiffs are seeking $350 million in damages.

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Believe it or not, until earlier this year Apple (NASDAQ: APPL)  still sold a version of the original iPod that it introduced in 2001. But in September with the launch of the iPhone 6, Apple quietly removed the device — the last one to use the legacy 30-pin connector —  from its online store without giving a reason. Now, Tim Cook has explained  why his company has decided to kill off the legacy device.

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJD Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that a new edition of the company’s classic iPod line was not in the works simply because it’s not economically feasible. Parts are no longer available so the device would have to be redesigned, and Apple doesn’t believe that the demand is there to justify it.

“We would have to make a whole new product,” Cook said at the conference. “The engineering work to do that would be massive. The number of people who wanted it is very small.”

While the classic iPod won’t see a seventh generation, the iPod itself isn’t entirely dead. The flash-based iPod shuffle, iPod nano and iPod touch are all still available.  Of course, if you really want a classic iPod there are plenty still available on eBay.

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But it is not just media, it is just the law of physics. Our web designer has two-year old $4200-paid MacBook Pro (1st Gen Intel) and the battery went “kapput”, as Germans would say. New battery exceeds $400 in Croatia, and for that price, he refuses to buy a new one. He also refuses to purchase a new unibody Mac, opting to build Intel Skulltrail platform instead, and turned that 8-core in Hackintosh faster than our original 45nm 8-Core 3GHz system with 16GB of veeeery expensive memory. For a fraction of Mac Pro’s retail price.

If you go to Apple Store, even biggest Apple zealot will take a look at non-removable battery feature and lower his/her shoulders. So, what do you do if people criticize your design decision, placed to force you to buy a new system after battery cycles out its natural life span (couple of thousand recharges, sometimes even as low as 500 recharges)?

Go and advertise that non-removable battery is green, that’s what you do. Apple’s marketing wizards decided to put a nice green spin on the feature, and claim that new Mac comes with five years of battery life is quite brave, given that Apple has no control over the quality of the battery. Even the best battery in the world will cycle out, and there is nothing Apple (or anybody else, unfortunately) can do.

Look at how green we are... anyone want to place a bet will the battery still work in 2013? Of course not, you're expected to replace your Mac next year...

Apple claims their proprietary electronics will keep the battery in check (let’s hope their marketing is right) and that the more people have non-removable batteries, less land will be filled with electronic waste. Thus, we can conclude that non-removable battery can actually save the world. And fill Apple’s coffers with those pesky charges that users have to pay the moment their device exits warranty period.

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