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Who said it's "slow selling""? Compared to what? Windows Media Center? The iPod could be considered "slow selling" when it first came out. Just wait, be patient, no matter how many are selling now, it's going to pick up fast, hang on.

AppleTV can do more than photo's so why sell it as a photo station?
Also fat chance on Apple offering any of the iLife software suite to Windows, it's just NOT going to happen. I've seen AppleTV in action and don't see it as anything substandard about it. Future software updates will make it even better. This idea is crap.

Doesn't it already do this? Front Row does it. Apple TV doesn't???

The greatness of Apple products is that you can use them in many ways. The Mac can also run Windows and Linux. The iPod plays media, plus acts as calendar, address book, game player, and external hard drive. It's all due to great hardware plus great software. The AppleTV is "positioned" as a device to turn any HDTV into a giant wireless iPod for the living room. It's up to the customer to decide how to use that capability.

I recently bought the Airport Extreme Base Station (the new square one) because my Linksys wired router broke. Instead of making my existing Airport Express redundant, it is now acting as a wireless audio bridge to my living room stereo system in "WDS Remote" mode. The really cool thing is that the Ethernet port on the Airport Express can be used to bridge to other devices. I'll be trying it with my TiVo DVR soon.

yes, it already does this. All of this talk about sub standard definition video I think must be from people who don't own one.

Here's my experience with that:

• AppleTV tv shows that i have bought from the itunes store like Lost, etc look BETTER than most of my regular channels, but of course not quite as good as my high def channels, which I only get 7 so its not a big deal. They still look VERY good on my 57 inch rear projection high def tv.

• Movies that I own that I've been ripping with the free software handbrake and watching thru apple tv to me look just as good as the original dvd, the sound may not be as good but to my ears it sounds fine. I had a bunch of people over to watch Borat, about 20 people, and they all commented on the great sound and it was all thru apple tv.

• Works great for listening to music and viewing photos.

nuff Said....

Brown.Recluse

I rec'd mine as a B-Day present and the ability to present our large photo collection via our widescreen TV was the MAIN reason I wanted it. With 6,000+ photos, there is NO better way to share them with family/friends.

Since my wife manages our growing family photo collection on her computer, we keep it synced. For music, I stream from my laptop and all works wonderfully. Movies, well, since we are like most folks, we rent movies and I don't see this as being much of a reason to really buy it at the moment. However, we have bought a few children's TV shows and they play just fine.

Obviously, we are going to outstrip the current 40 GB hard drive and I have already looked at upgrade options (we bought it prior to the 160 GB version). Overall, the simplicity and ease of use in sharing our content previously trapped on our computers is unmatched in anything else I have seen.

Did Fortt miss the YouTube announcement? Once that happens (next week?), people will begin to see the AppleTV in a broader perspective.

Granted that until HD downloads arrive, one can keep calling it a substandard experience.

I disagree that the apple tv isn't selling.

But I do agree that it makes a fantastic photo slideshow viewer.

Apple TV is definitely slow-selling on the international scene - but that is because there is, as yet, no content in iTunes outside the US.

Reposition it in the discount, discontinued bin....
right next to the Cube.

The Apple Tv is like SEX! you have to keep the pistons moving to get to the big Organism (sic)!

Keep using your Apple Tv and before you know it, your entire Macs/Computers contents will be available to you. The Ooos! and Aaaaahs! you will get when that happens!?

When the Apple TV can run iTunes itself and doesn't rely on another Mac or PC to get its media, I'll get one. Right now, all my music, videos, and photos are stored on my PowerMac Dual G5. To view that media on my laptop, what has to be running? Right, my G5. Using all 120 watts of power. Can't let it go to sleep otherwise I can't get to the data on it.

Give the Apple TV the ability to run iTunes itself. With the price of home-based Network storage coming down, I'd like to store all my multimedia on these devices rather than my Macs. And if the Apple TV could point directly to these devices, I would be first in line to get one.

Any standard def channel looks poor compared to any HD channel. Put an HD movie on AppleTV and it will look fantastic on your HDTV. The source file dictates how it looks.

AppleTV is Apple's toe in the water to living room entertainment, and it's been a very good first step. No company has been able to merge computer technology with living room use as yet – so Apple couldn't follow what other companies did. In fact, Apple specifically did NOT want to do what other companies have done, because none of them have been successful.

Living room dynamics are very diverse, so Apple couldn't know what would resonate with consumers. Apple is using AppleTV to figure out exactly what consumers want, and then deliver it via software upgrades and new features like YouTube rather than forcing people to buy new hardware.

Very smart, really, because consumers now know that if you buy an AppleTV, you get free upgrades for new services.

Apple TV streams my ripped movie and TV show DVD's to my HD TV.

TV 'Rip it, Store it, Stream it to HDTV'.

We don't need no stinking pictures.

Fortt is a f*cktard. He came to the realization???? Like watching photo slideshows is some undiscovered feature of Applet TV? That's the reason I bought the thing in the first place. Just so happens I use it for watching movies that I rip with Handbrake more so than watching slideshows now.

For those of you who keep hating on Apple TV it's obvious that you do not own one. If you owned one you would do nothing but sing its praises. It's a fantastic device and it is the future of home entertainment. My only fear is that it's ahead of its time.

Apple should kill AppleTV and put it out of its misery now.

The best replacement for an AppleTV is a 10 foot DVI cable exending from your Mac to your HDTV. Makes for great photo viewing. Want sound, plug in another cable...

AppleTV in its present form is substandard compared to other Apple products! It is "Zune like" in its technological capability.

Admit it MDN. Apple laid a "zune" with this product. Sometimes even SJ screws up.

SOURCE = Steve Jobs

Apple TV is a HOBBY!

If you don't own one, how can you say it's useless? You're just speculating. Sure the AppleTV hardware can do more. That is what will happen over the next year as the software is updated. I use my AppleTV daily. I listen to podcasts and music, watch TV shows, and my ripped movies, and when the relatives are over use it to show pictures. It's great! All of this streamed from the main computer with the click of a a few buttons on a simple remote. If I want to watch HD or a serious movie with surround I go down to the basement home theater and fire it up. But for daily watching, or a non-action movie, the AppleTV is well worth the price.

> If you don't own one, how can you say it's useless?

So one must be an owner in order to comment? Doesn't make for a compelling defense.

I don't own one... as the Apple TV doesn't seem to be very useful. Well, the benefits don't quite command the price. If it were a DVR/Cable box, I'd rethink my position.

MPC Guy: You can comment, but your comments won't be compelling.

If the benefits don't quite command the $299 price of an AppleTV, does the $600 price of the Tivo DVR/Cable Box command?

Oh dear, M and PC Guy is back...

..just stick with Vista OK? You know it suits your lifestyle so much better.

schmluss: does the $600 price of the Tivo DVR/Cable Box command?

Do you own a TIVO that cost $600? Going by your logic of "must own to comment", you cannot comment if you don't own one. Fair is fair my friend.

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Macaday: ..just stick with Vista OK? You know it suits your lifestyle so much better.

Uhhh.... I think you have me confused with someone else. I don't own Vista. I run on a MBP 17" Core 2.

And what does the operating system of a computer have to do with one's lifestyle? I don't quite get your point.

AppleTV is a bomb in it's present form. There's a lot of talk about what it might do in the future but in it's present form it isn't very useful.

Mac mini. Full control.

Apple TV: putting the "idiot" back in "idiot box." C'mon, MDN. You were absolutely wrong about the iPod Hi-Fi. Now you're in denial about the Apple TV.

Apple makes great computers and software. But selling "home stereo reinvented" and the "future of television." hasn't worked out so well. Time to touch base with reality, MDN. Some products fail because they are lame ideas.

Again with the naysaying...seems the only people with negative things to say about Apple TV are people who don't own an Apple TV. I have yet to see ONE individual who owns an Apple TV that say it's useless.

@ Surrounded By Idiots:

I've yet to meet one person who owns an Apple TV or has even expressed interest in one.

There's a big difference between "useless" and "worthwhile." Some of us are able to live contented lives without devoting all our waking hours to conjuring up new ways to passively view an idiot box. Makes one wonder what the "idiots" surrounding you are perceiving that you seem to be missing.

Apple TV is a good product and when YouTube becomes available it will have a killer app. Games on it would be fun too. Apple will update the software so there will be changes.

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AppleTV is wonky in synching photos, and there is no way to do it on Windows that I'm aware of. So the author is right in suggesting that this rather simple trick be added to the bag - or at least fleshed out better (why it wasn't right out of the box baffles me).

But I have no doubt that it isn't selling that well, b/c a device with "TV" in it's name needs to be a better video device than AppleTV is. I can't play my existing DVD collection through it easily - or at all if I don't want to break the law and spend a shit load of time ripping. I can't buy iTS content from it - gotta use the stupid computer. And none of the already paid for (or free) content that I get on my TV already is easily accessed or stored on it either. I have to buy a few hundred dollars worth of extra stuff from EyeTV, hook that up to my COMPUTER, synch my COMPUTER with AppleTV once I've recorded my local sports team (or whatever) ON THE COMPUTER, etc ... it's a total waste of electricity, CPU cycles, and a time sink. In other words, it's a pain in the ass.

So here's my suggestion Mr CEO Steve Jobs - In addition to all the interesting-but-not-really-substantial things AppleTV already does, make it a DVR, give it the ability to easily store and retrieve stuff on networked storage, let me by stuff from iTunes FROM AppleTV, and for christsakes just put a simple DVD drive on the damn thing. That makes it perfection. You'll sell more than you can make. End of story.

I too was a skeptic on the Apple TV, I've had a mini plugged into my TV.

A friend of mine bought the 40gb version and it has been sitting in it's box because his TV did not have componant video. He brought it over last week and told me to go ahead and use it that he wouldn't be getting a new TV till winter.

I decided to set it up and see what it was all about. MY WHOLE FAMILY has gone nuts over the thing. They don't want to use the mini, it's KB or Mouse. They want content on the Apple TV and they want to easily navigate with the remote. The video looks great, it is hooked into the living room surround and beats the experience of my Airport Express which was previous to the TV plugged in.

Apple TV rocks and until you get one and USE it, you have no idea what you are talking about..

"...until you get one and USE it, you have no idea what you are talking about."

Less true words were never spoken.

Clue in, buckwheat. The sheer number of valid criticisms cannot be dismissed with your insipid, head-thoroughly-up-ass comment. Some of us ARE able to "know what we are talking about" without wasting money first. Only the lower-IQ'd among us require learning EVERYTHING from first-hand experience.

And that would be you, "Reality Check." Perhaps you should watch TV less.

@ informed

I think you are wrong. Apple is about the experience, not the specifications.

Based on the comments and reviews I've read, most of the positive comments come from people who have actually used it. Most of the negative comments come from so-called "informed and high-IQ experts" who read the specs and can set up a virtual simulation of the experience in their oversized brains.

You all are just a bunch of geeks who have nothing better to do than argue online about computers and who knows more about them. I came on here looking for some good feedback on the product before I buy and had to read through all of this crap! Get a life!

>>John: I came on here looking for some good feedback on the product before I buy and had to read through all of this crap! Get a life!

Time to step off the high-horse bud.

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>ken1w wrote: Most of the negative comments come from so-called "informed and high-IQ experts"...

That you feel inferior to someone else isn't that person's fault.

The defense of the Apple TV by many of you is: You can't comment about it if you don't own one.

Of course, that is completely ridiculous. And in true fashion, when that sort of weak defense is pointed out, someone resorts to name-calling or childish rants... like you just did.

The only programs that Apple will write for Winblows are programs that are traditionally free. For example, iTunes and Quicktime. This is why I think the next currently Mac-only program to go Winblows is Safari. It makes sense. Apple swooping to the rescue of all the Windoze losers tired of IE with their own browser that is essentially open source.