January 15, 2008
MW08: Apple TV joins the iTunes Store bandwagon
Posted Jan. 15, ’08, 2:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya
Category | Apple TV
This was one of those rare keynotes where Apple didn’t surprise us with something completely unexpected but, it would seem, made a to-do list of all the rumors floating around and checked them off one by one. Which is just swell because quite a few of those entries related to Apple TV and short of introducing a completely new Apple TV, they have taken care of all those rumors.
Apple announced at the Macworld Expo today that they’re bringing the iTunes Store, complete with its newly acquired movie rental capabilities, to the Apple TV. Through a free software update due about a fortnight from today, Apple will completely overhaul the interface of the Apple TV to simplify the browsing experience and add some major new features to the device.
Not only will it allow the user to rent movies from the iTunes Store, it will provide full access to it, which will bring a wealth of media such as music, movies and podcasts at the user’s fingertips, sitting on a couch several feet away from the TV. YouTube will be available like it has been for quite some time now and you will now also be able to watch videos and photos from .Mac albums and even Flickr accounts.
If that wasn’t enough, Apple has also announced an immediate price cut of the device itself and will now gladly sell the 40GB model to you for $229, which saves you $70 for buying some content off the iTunes Store (but you might just as well pocket them and pride yourself on self restraint). The 160GB model is available for $329.
Steve Jobs acknowledged that their first attempt with the Apple TV has been a failure and they’ve learned from their mistakes. He expressed confidence that this software update, coupled with the new features of the iTunes Store, would do wonders for the little device. What say you, dear readers? It still does not have support for all those DivX files finagled from the BitTorrent network that everyone seems to love. Is Jobs’ hobby going to get mass market acceptance without being able to play files from the largest and cheapest, albeit dishonest and illegal, source of media on the Internet? Sound off in the comments.
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The only reason I haven't already ordered one is because I can't connect it to my TV (and I'm not quite ready to drop a grand on a new TV).
Well I guess it's not just his hobby anymore ;)
Will the AppleTV do well? I'm not sure. Considering that you can get yourself a High definition player for somewhere around the same price, and order your movies from Netflix, I don't see why people will jump to this one. But on the other hand, It's the ease of use, the slick interface and integration that people might just flock to this.