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May 14, 2007

rivals

Despite Connect360 update, Xbox 360 is still no Apple TV

Posted May. 14, ’07, 4:42 PM PT by Aaron Freedman
Category | Apple » Rivals

Appletv 470 Lately, there’s been a lot of buzz in the blogosphere and Mac world that the new Connect360 3.0 update has made the Xbox 360 a true competitor to the Apple TV, and even better than it. First off, the Connect360 update adds the ability to stream MPEG4 and H.264 video from a Mac to the Xbox 360, along with audio and video podcast support. But, despite what many people are saying, this still does not make the Xbox 360 better than the Apple TV.

Now, I know that I’ve praised the Xbox 360’s media hub capabilities in the past, but now I firmly believe that it is still inferior to the Apple TV. Sure, the 360 has the ability to rent movies and buy TV shows in SD and HD directly from the console, but it still lacks some vital features of the Apple TV. For one, there is no easy way to sync content onto an Xbox 360, as every software program I’ve seen that uses media with it is for streaming only. Plus, unless you cough up the extra $180 for the 120 GB hard drive or get the $480 Xbox 360 Elite, you won’t even have as much space as a 30 GB iPod, especially considering other downloaded content, like game demos. The 360’s media viewing interface isn’t nearly as sleek as the Apple TV’s, and it also lacks some hardware features, including HDMI (unless you get the Elite) and built-in WiFi. But the 360s most glaring feature loss is that it’s not part of the iPod + iTunes “lock-in,” as some may call it. Sure, even if you don’t like DRM, iTunes handles it better than anyone else. The fact that all of your music, movies, and TV shows from the iTunes Store won’t play on the Xbox 360 (well, at least without tampering with them) is a huge deal. The Apple TV is the only media streamer that fully supports iTunes Store content, giving it a huge advantage over its competitors for pretty much anyone who makes iTunes purchases.

So, no matter how cool the Xbox 360 is, it’s still no replacement for the Apple TV. And hey, Apple never stops innovating, so a simple firmware update could bring an Apple TV-accessible iTunes store, 1080p, and more. All you have to do is wait and Apple will deliver.


8 Comments

Maarut Chandegra said:

Isn't the Xbox 360 a games console? The media hub capabilities that it has are secondary to the gaming whereas the AppleTV is a primarily a media hub. I would expect it to be much better media hub than the Xbox.

In fact, they target 2 different markets and are not really comparable on the level that this post implies. The way I read it, it's like trying to compare a calculator (AppleTV) with a computer (XBox). Sure the computer can act as a calculator, but that's not its primary purpose.

May 14, 2007 5:42 PM
george said:

I have to say the major argument is pretty weak: it doesn't play iTunes purchased content. Why would you be purchasing content from the iTunes with the Xbox 360 in the first place? I'd assume you'd be purchasing the HD content already available from the Xbox Live Marketplace, not purchasing "near-DVD" quality iTunes video.

I could see it being an issue if you already have a large library of iTunes Fairplay DRM content, but if you do you probably weren't considering using the 360 as a media hub in the first place.

As for the hard drive complaint, as the article stated, most programs for linking a Mac to a 360 involves streaming which would make the hard drive size fairly irrelevant. It does create a problem for purchasing video content.

And the iTunes-iPod-AppleTV "lock-in" is a huge problem to me. Purchasing from the 360 would just switch it to 360 lock-in, but it would be acceptable for renting HD movies (considering renting and HD are both still foreign concepts to iTunes). You seem somehow shocked that Apple's AppleTV is the only media streaming device that "fully supports" Apple's iTunes purchased content. Maybe if Apple licensed Fairplay Microsoft might be willing to build it into the 360 (highly doubtful), but it's not like MS or any other company has the option to be compatible with iTunes purchases (without illegally cracking the DRM).

I realize it's a Microsoft product and inherently "evil," but could you try to show a little less bias?

May 14, 2007 6:11 PM
Oh Great BallistiK One said:

Number one reason I'm ashamed to be Mac user. (The Mac Elitist Ego)

May 14, 2007 8:37 PM
Kim said:

Awesome product! I would love to buy one of these and show off to my friends.

May 14, 2007 10:58 PM
Steven said:

I must say this post is pretty weak by your usual standards. To say its ok that the Apple TV doesnt do some of the things the Xbox does is ok just because Apple MIGHT deliver a firmware upgrade is lame. The one thing that has stopped me from buying an Apple TV (apart from owning a 360) is that I believe you can't play music and watch photos at the same time? What is that all about? No, I dont want to create an album in iphoto first.

May 15, 2007 2:06 AM
Alastair said:

I agree with the first two comments.

The reason Connect360 has created such a "lot of buzz in the blogosphere and Mac world" is purely due to the fact that people who have bought a 360 as a gaming device (imagine that!) can now feasibly use it as a media hub.

I, personally, don't buy digital music or movies. I like my purchases to be substantial, to have a case, to sit proudly on my shelf. I guess I'm old fashioned that way. As a result my music and movies aren't tied up with DRM and george has already posted that the size of the hard drive is irrelevant when streaming (AppleTV's conservative 40GB would be filled in no time with my ever increasing library anyway).

The article declares that I should spend £199 because, "No matter how cool the Xbox 360 is, it’s still no replacement for the Apple TV" when I could spend just over £10 to perform the same task with something I will purchase anyway. So that leaves us with what the article is all but stating: buy an AppleTV just because it's an Apple.

I'm as much of an Apple fan as the next guy but I am not, and pray, will never be that flippant with money.

May 15, 2007 5:59 AM
Paul said:

AppleTV, awful picture quality with itunes movies. Not being able to interact with itunes is a good thing.

May 15, 2007 7:08 AM
Goose said:

I agree that this argument is weak.

I purchased an XBOX 360 to play games on. The fact that Connect360 allows me to stream my video podcasts to my TV is a welcomed BONUS!

This video podcast streaming ability was the primary reason I was interested in an Apple TV. Now that I can have the same ability for $20.00, how could anyone expect me to buy an Apple TV?

I don't buy movies from iTUNES and never will. I might consider a rental model with Apple if they offer it, but not with the current picture quality they have available.

May 22, 2007 8:45 AM

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