Hi all.
I'll give you some background... my main desktop PC is a Mac Mini. It is currently connected to my HDTV, which means I can use it as my main HTPC, even though I seldom need to. I do have an iPod and use iTunes for almost all my media stuff. I've got an extensive collection of DVDs and CDs. Very little of my collection is purchased music.
I look at the AppleTV, and it does look like a neat little gadget... but I can't really get a bead on how useful it is. Either I'm missing something big, or I'm just not the target audience for this device. Maybe you folks can tell me which it is.
I really don't need such a device in the main theater room, since like I said, that's where my Mini is hooked up, and the Mini can do everything the AppleTV could. I've given some thought to putting an AppleTV in the bedroom, so I could stream some programming in from the living room. I just can't see this as being worthwhile, though, because if I wanted to watch a DVD, I could just keep a $50 DVD player in the bedroom. If I wanted to listen to music, I could burn a crapload of mp3s onto a disc. If I wanted to watch my Tivo, I could drop the show onto a DVD-R. I really do think (for my personal purposes) it's a lot easier to burn stuff to a disc and take it a few rooms down the hall than it would be to rip everything to a hard drive. My equipment does it all automatically for me, so it's no extra effort on my part. And $299.99 buys a lot of blank CDs and DVDs.
I mean, the streaming video option seems nice, but for someone like me, it just seems to make sense to use the DVD I already have. I don't really get the urge to watch YouTube in bed, so that's out. I guess the only reason I'm really looking at AppleTV is that I generally really like Apple products, so I'm trying to keep an open mind.
So please, what neat features do you use your AppleTVs for? Is there something cool I'm missing? Or, like I said, am I just not the right type of customer for this product? (that's okay!)
I'll give you some background... my main desktop PC is a Mac Mini. It is currently connected to my HDTV, which means I can use it as my main HTPC, even though I seldom need to. I do have an iPod and use iTunes for almost all my media stuff. I've got an extensive collection of DVDs and CDs. Very little of my collection is purchased music.
I look at the AppleTV, and it does look like a neat little gadget... but I can't really get a bead on how useful it is. Either I'm missing something big, or I'm just not the target audience for this device. Maybe you folks can tell me which it is.
I really don't need such a device in the main theater room, since like I said, that's where my Mini is hooked up, and the Mini can do everything the AppleTV could. I've given some thought to putting an AppleTV in the bedroom, so I could stream some programming in from the living room. I just can't see this as being worthwhile, though, because if I wanted to watch a DVD, I could just keep a $50 DVD player in the bedroom. If I wanted to listen to music, I could burn a crapload of mp3s onto a disc. If I wanted to watch my Tivo, I could drop the show onto a DVD-R. I really do think (for my personal purposes) it's a lot easier to burn stuff to a disc and take it a few rooms down the hall than it would be to rip everything to a hard drive. My equipment does it all automatically for me, so it's no extra effort on my part. And $299.99 buys a lot of blank CDs and DVDs.
I mean, the streaming video option seems nice, but for someone like me, it just seems to make sense to use the DVD I already have. I don't really get the urge to watch YouTube in bed, so that's out. I guess the only reason I'm really looking at AppleTV is that I generally really like Apple products, so I'm trying to keep an open mind.
So please, what neat features do you use your AppleTVs for? Is there something cool I'm missing? Or, like I said, am I just not the right type of customer for this product? (that's okay!)
