Apple TV

We have an Apple TV (link) at home which, despite its name, isn't a TV (it doesn't have any sort of display, not even the rather uninformative panels normally found on consumer electronics) and contains no vitamin C. It is not clear exactly how successful this product has been, but if the reactions of everyone I have spoken to are anything to go by then they probably have not sold very well because nobody seems to know what it is, what it does or why it exists; not good if you hope to pay your mortgage by shifting them.

In fact, the only people who seem to understand this product, and to have some idea of just how good it is, are the people who already own one. It isn't perfect, of course, and some people are not convinced of its brilliance even after spending a few hours playing with it, but we love it and we use it all the time.

“But what”, I hear you say, “is it for? Why bother with it if it isn’t actually a TV? What, when you get right down to it, does it do that you can’t do cheaper and better elsewhere?” Good question (or questions) and, after a long-term test (about six months), here are the three most common uses to which we put our Apple TV:

1. Watching movies - iTunes has a huge selection of movies to rent or buy and downloading them is really simple (although it can take a while, particularly for HD movies) and the films look great on an HD TV,
2. Listening to music - our entire music collection is synced to the Apple TV from our desktop; the CD player isn't even plugged-in anymore,
3. Looking at photos - the default screensaver when listening to music is a rolling display of randomly chosen photos from our collection - a great source of conversation when we have people over.

It has some other features, like a YouTube search tool, a TV show downloader, access to Flickr and other online services, but we use these only occasionally compared to the big three. More useful is the Remote application for iPhone and iPod Touch, allowing very slick remote access which is particularly useful when selecting music from a long list.

Could it be improved? Of course - more storage, more energy efficient operation, more sophisticated remote control, better integration into home audio systems, addition of a web browser etc. - but every product in existence could do something better and there is no point waiting for the Next Big Thing just because the you think you might want to froth milk while watching Saw IV.

Here's my advice - if you have digital music or photos, or if you like to watch movies or TV shows, and if you already have a decent TV and home theatre system, get an Apple TV (the 160Gb version), dump your CD player and jump-in - the apple tastes great.