How do I get usable content on my Apple TV other than YouTube?

I just took a look at Adult Contemporary radio stations in iTunes and quickly found 2 Christmas music stations. Also, you can find one through some other internet source copy the URL and paste it into an already existing iTunes radio station (do it through Get Info: Summary) and add the station to the playlist.

rci2950 said:

Hello everyone

Newbie from Halifax, Nova Scotia

I have a couple questions before I terf my apple TV and get a Boxee box

There use to be a load of free podcasts, they seem to have disappeared. For example christmas music. What happened to classic christmas music. Why is there only modern things listed like rap, techno and other horse/cow excrement when I search for christmas music? I have had an apple TV for the last 3 years (Big old silver one) Am i getting squeezed to buy a new one?

I am actually starting to lean toward Boxee because of the free content it has.

Why is apple lagging behind in this?

A person shouldn't have to hack their system software to be able to get content on it and on the same note if i wanted to listen to christmas music during the holidays I also shouldn't have to pay $2 per song for old songs from the 50s and 60s when all i want is an add supported radio stream...

severely disappointed.

I have been an apple fan for a long time currently own a mac mini, ipod classic, ipod touch, ipod shuffle and an apple TV. I even have a vintage rainbow apple sticker on the back window of my VW.

Click to expand...

jailbreak it....

rci2950 said:

I only bought my apple TV because of the name.

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Maybe that's the source of the problem. You bought something because of name and not features you feel are critical to your experience. For me, it provides exactly what I need. Good luck with your BB.

mic j said:

Maybe that's the source of the problem.

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Yep.

Its because you are holding it wrong!

Its also a 3 year old product and you still dont seem to know how to use it.

sell it!! ATV1 are going for between 150 and 200 dollars

Seems like every time someone is critical of an Apple product the forumites come on and say "Well that's not how you're supposed to do it! Duh!"

But to be fair, sometimes they are right.

Apple TV has a few key strengths. I can only speak for the Canadian market though:

1. It is a great little Netflix player.

2. It is very handy to be able to start playing something on my iPhone and beam it to the TV via AirPlay. (YouTube videos, music, photos etc.)

3. If you purchase TV shows, movies, music from iTunes, the Apple TV is a great way to watch that content. Either stream it from your Mac or the cloud. Rentals too.

Beyond that, it doesn't do a whole lot else well. Yes, it can do YouTube, but that interface is tedious. Yes, it can do internet radio, but it's kind of clunky. And so on.

I tried a Boxee Box, by the way, and returned it. It was a great concept but the fact that it was essentially just a big web browser on my TV (the videos didn't even go full-screen unitl I "moused" over and clicked a Full Screen button!) made it really not user friendly enough for my needs.

As for internet radio, since I do listen to that often, I have a Sonos box hidden away in my kitchen, it is wonderful for this purpose.

It doesn't just play content that you purchased from iTunes. It plays anything in your iTunes library--at least the current one does--including DVD & Blu Ray rips, which is what my library is full of.

Netflix, Hulu+, Youtube, subscription services for NHL, NBA and MLB, photo gallery and a handful of other video services that I don't use...all in addition to the iTunes content, which is the main attraction.

Some of these other products and jailbreaks offer gimmicky things like the ability to play Angry Birds, see the weather or browse the web. They don't however play all of your iTunes content from your Mac or PC seamlessly and they certainly don't play purchases stored in iCloud. They also don't offer AirPlay integration with iOS and Macs.

Depending on what's important to you, other products may have something more to offer, but I don't see it. Maybe I'm missing something, but my Apple TV's are by far my most used Apple products.

I had the "where the heck is the Christmas music?!" problem today, too, and found four stations in Radio (NOT Podcasts), under the Adult Contemporary category (didn't bother to check any others): try

Advent Christmas Classics
Happy Christmas Radio
Mostwonderfultimeoftheyear.com
Seasons & Celebrations

That's only one small problem solved, but maybe it will help you make peace with your Apple TV!

I love my Apple TV, I really do but only because of AirPlay.
For me the best home entertainment device is the sony google tv box or Logitech revue (google tv).
Pandora,Netflix,twitter, web browser,picture in picture so you can browse the web and still watch TV. It has way more features.
It's a dual core device so it handles multitasking very well. It also connects to your set top box and you can type on the keyboard what you want to watch and it finds it for you.