Comments on: Is Optus making iTunes Music Store usage unmetered?

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:22:10 +0000

With the way the traffic appears to be partially metered, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was an Optus half-assed attempt to unmeter the ABC, iTunes, or both by using a whitelist of Akamai IP addresses as Simon describes. That’s what it feels like.

By: Alastair

Alastair — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:42:01 +0000

This excellent post by Simon Hackett explains the situation regarding unmetering the ABC iView content, which also uses Akamai. It is very interesting and not unrelated to the subject at hand.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:47:46 +0000

Since getting a US iTMS account during my trip last year I’ve been very tempted to get an Apple TV.

However, dinosaurs that we are, we only have a CRT that’s certainly not widescreen and therefore off the edge of the Apple TV supported configuration map. Australian iTMS TV content still sucks the big one too, so when we run out of US credit card we may be stranded with the rest of our fellow information super backwater inhabitants.

Note that Digital River is an Akamai-like content distribution network. That doesn’t rule out your thesis, but it’s a potential counterpoint. Optus putting a random Akamai server in the free download zone does sound a little random :)

I think the best explanation is that it’s an anomaly or accounting error. Optus granting Apple’s content a free ride is a much juicier rumour, though.

By: Alastair

Alastair — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:31:31 +0000

Very odd.

I can think of an explanation, although I’m not sure if I believe it myself.

I was under the impression that the iTS uses Akamai for ‘content distribution’. As I understand it, this means that a given download can happen from any one of Akamai’s servers. Which one you get depends on many factors such as network topology, server load, the movement of sunspots, etc.

Given this, it’s possible that you downloaded some of your content from an Akamai server that just happened to be in the Optus free quota zone. Whether by misconfiguration or by happy accident, your iTunes client just happened to hit the right servers to minimise the impact on your quota. And for other downloads you happened to hit other servers where the traffic does count against your quota.

Like I said, it’s *an* explanation.

By the way, seconded on the excellence of The Wire. The first season got me through recovery after my appendectomy last year. Now commencing on season 2 (in between Dr Who episodes, which has replaced Angel as the default mindless viewing choice…)

And lastly I highly recommend the experience of purchasing and renting content from the Apple TV. The HD is not quite broadcast quality (let alone disc quality) but is still perfectly watchable, and better than DVD at any rate. Apparently (ie CONFIRMED) movies are coming to the Australian iTunes store soon. Give it a try, I know we definitely preferred the experience of downloading particularly when compared with the dodgy local video store.