Is iTunes up to it?
If the target audience is people who download video from iTMS exclusively, I can understand the use of iTunes but I can't help but feel they will need some of the early adopters with this one who have ripped their DVD collection to avi / mp4 etc.
Thing is, it seems that iTunes manages the streaming process but there is a big difference between storing 40Gb of music collection and movies which are generally at least 700Mb each (or larger if you are ripping your own).
From my own experience, I have found iTunes finds it hard enough to cope with a library on an external drive but I can't see it coping with Movies on an external device and music elsewhere, especially if iTunes is set to manage your collection.
With more and more media stored on external drives, either cabled or networked, I would like to hear from Apple (or posters..) about iTunes ability to smoothly manage a diverse number of media sources.
If I am going to buy something like this (and at that price), I want to know that it will work with the system I have now, and not require me to shuffle hundred of gigabytes of data into some specific flexibility. Last thing I want is hassle.
If the target audience is people who download video from iTMS exclusively, I can understand the use of iTunes but I can't help but feel they will need some of the early adopters with this one who have ripped their DVD collection to avi / mp4 etc.
Thing is, it seems that iTunes manages the streaming process but there is a big difference between storing 40Gb of music collection and movies which are generally at least 700Mb each (or larger if you are ripping your own).
From my own experience, I have found iTunes finds it hard enough to cope with a library on an external drive but I can't see it coping with Movies on an external device and music elsewhere, especially if iTunes is set to manage your collection.
With more and more media stored on external drives, either cabled or networked, I would like to hear from Apple (or posters..) about iTunes ability to smoothly manage a diverse number of media sources.
If I am going to buy something like this (and at that price), I want to know that it will work with the system I have now, and not require me to shuffle hundred of gigabytes of data into some specific flexibility. Last thing I want is hassle.
Thumbs down for me. I would have had 3 of these if it could do what Slingbox can do. But no way in hell am I going to be micro-transactioned to death on iTunes and pay for every single TV episode or movie I want to watch.
