Apple Announces iTunes Movies and the iTV
Yesterday Apple announced a new product called iTV in concert with their new movie download service. The iTV is an appliance for your living room that will allow you to connect iTunes content (ie downloaded music and more importantly video) to your television. In other words, it is going to bridge the gap between the computer and your television. And it is wireless.
Here is a picture of the connections on the new device, which will apparently cost $300.
I have to say that overall, I am underwhelmed by the prospects of this new device. I think it is a necessary component in the technological convergence of your computer and living room, but overall, this particular device bugs me.
Technologically, it is a superior device. It has HDTV capabilities. It is rumored that it isn’t out today because it will run on the new, but yet to be standardized, 802.11.N protocol which should make streaming video in the home easier than the lesser 802.11 standards.
In my mind problems still remain. I assume that this device will only work with iTunes. I can probably make the leap from there and say that it will work with iTunes content, but what about other content? If I download a movie trailer from another site, will I be able to play it through to my television? I guess I would assume yes, but then what is the hook for Apple? And why should I pay $300 to do it?
Have they not seen this device?
On a low level, this device will stream everything you want to your TV today. It may not have HD hookups and all the snazzy stuff that Apple announced yesterday for their iTV, but it is about 1/3 the price and they still have time to build a new device before Apple’s hits the streets.
Have they seen this device?
Sure it is made by the “evil empire,” Microsoft, but I have one and it is a well-designed device. It has unbelievable gaming capabilities, all the HD hookups you could ever want, and it works pretty well with Windows XP Media Center Edition. The cost / benefit of an Xbox 360 for it’s price of $300 - 500 depending on how many peripherals you get, vs. this media extender from Apple for $300 seems to be pretty easily in favor of the Xbox.
And I am not a hater of Apple. I really love my two iPods. I am considering a MacBookPro for my next PC so that I can have access to all the great iLife programs as well as the Windows stuff on my desktop PC. But I must be missing something.
What is the hook that makes iTV work?
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5 Responses to “Apple Announces iTunes Movies and the iTV”
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You can play any mp3 file through iTunes, not just those that you d-load from their site. I’d imagine that you’ll be able to rip dvd’s and put them into your iTunes library much like you can with CD’s. I’ve not looked at it yet, but I’m going to assume that it’ll run any divex file. I think the hook is the wireless integration angle.
I’m a major Mac-head, and I think it’s pretty cool, but I’m one of the seemingly few people who actually use their computers for… computing. iTunes already takes up a ton of HD space (I have a 250 gig HD on my iMac, so space really isn’t an issue), but I can’t imagine why I would want to load High Def movies onto my HD, when I can just load a DVD into a DVD player and watch them on the tele.
I think it would be easier to have a way to wirelessly trasmit my iTunes music library to a stereo system, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to make the jump to see the need for portability in my movie collection.
I do have airport express cards in both my iMac and my iBook, but I’ve not installed a wireless network at home. I use the wireless card when I’m on campus, but we have a small house and I can’t see dropping that much money on a wireless network that will only need to cover about 1200 square feet.
iPod video (such as iTunes puts out) come in mp4 format, and most stuff you rip from the internet isn’t in mp4 format… and unlike a *.wma file iTunes will not convert the pre-existing video (*.wmv, etc…) into mp4 format. I only know this ’cause I tried to rip Pirates! onto my iPod and it wouldn’t let me. There is software out there that converts, but its not cheap and the quality of the video goes to shit.
From what I can tell, this iTV isn’t going to be all that great, and it sure as hell won’t be on my TV.
that’s supposed to be *.m4p - sorry.
Check out open source software. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that’ll rip from a DVD and compress the file to fit on an iPod.
http://www.opensourcewindows.org/
The iTunes movies setup seems like a lousy value to me. I currently get full-resolution HD-quality movies and old TV shows either through Netflix for a buck or two a month (dividing the number of movies I go through into the subscription fee), or I buy a used copy on Amazon or somewhere for $5 or less. These cheap, high-quality DVDs play on all my TVs, all my computers, and the little portable car DVD thing. Apple wants to charge $10 for a DRM-crippled, VGA resolution, lower-quality sound version with the huge benefit of playing on my 2-inch iPod screen. Who is the target market for this service? The incredibly impatient and hearing/vision-impaired? People with an iPod and no DVD player? I know it’s probably crazy to think I understand any consumer tech market better than Steve Jobs does, but I don’t get it. Why would I buy into that setup and why would I pay even more to stream these lousy files to my HDTV and surround sound system? This thing solves a problem I don’t have.