No need to be condescending and feel sorry for me - I'll repeat what said, in case you missed it the first time: I am, overall, quite happy with it. The 40GB was much cheaper than the 160 GB when I got mine, and it serves my needs. For instance, I store about 15 GB of content (music and photos, mostly), and leave the extra for two to three movies to reside (incl. the possibility of one or two 720p HD).
I did not expect much more than iTunes and Youtube content. So, for example, I view the internet radio available now as a nice bonus actually. It would be great if there were more, but I did not expect it. You are confusing your price/value ratio of a product (relative to your expectations) to be the same for everyone else. That is never the case.
Incidentally, on the topic of 'iTunes TV', it is interesting that the email with the warning re. 3.0 came from the domain name "itunes.com."
I pretty much did the same thing. Bought the 40, sync only movies to it. Music comes out of the iMac. Cable bill is down to minimum. Haven't set foot in a video store in years (not since Blockbuster offered to take me to collections for a $10 late fee). Don't miss it that much. Since I'm fairly active with work and play, I don't have much time to geek around with kluged together setups. Apple TV serves our needs and we're happy with it.
As for the latest "crisis", I noticed my content was gone, got the e-mail an hour later. Applied the update and resynced my movies. Back up and running, and all in all it cost me what? Two hours or so?
Some posters/haters/trolls here lament the fact that this was a monumental failure of epic proportions and that surely it portends the end of Apple as we know it . . . dogs and cats sleeping together . . . Please. Show me one product of such complexity that didn't have at least one update or glitch.
You are overlooking a similar bug that existed in the v2.X Apple TV software for several months earlier this year. Probably a different cause but a similar effect (all purchased content deleted from the Apple TV). Here is a link to an article on MacWorld/MacCentral that documented this earlier problem.
Interent TVs are selling like mad, You get a choice of Amazon, Netflix, and Blockbuster rentals- directly- wirelessly. Not just Samsung rentals or Sony rentals but real rentals from all of the big 3.
Not just itunes. AppleTv is done. Please pull the fork out- NOW.
There is plenty of choice for streaming content over IP in the US, but outside it's a different story. In the UK for example the choice for streaming on an HDTV is iTunes (reasonable sized library of content) and the Xbox 360's Zune Video Marketplace (a tiny, microscopic amount of content).
So here in the UK, with such a small amount of choice, optical discs are still the king by a vast margin.
It's still not going to result in data loss though, because all the content in that case would be bought from the Apple store and could be re-downloaded without a problem. The very few users in that situation might not know that though.
Data was irretrievably lost from the Apple TV as an unintended result of the software update, that's why it's called data loss. The unconfirmed possibility of Apple maybe letting you re-download all your content that you have purchased doesn't change that fact, because, as per their usual TOS policy, they never let people download their content more than once.
For the people whom this data loss applies to, Apple should grant them redownloads, no questions asked. Contrary to what you may believe, this can't just be swept under the rug because "Oh, it's a .0 release, that's to be expected." It was a huge cock-up solely on Apple's part, that they need to make up for for those affected.
Data was irretrievably lost from the Apple TV as an unintended result of the software update, that's why it's called data loss. The unconfirmed possibility of Apple maybe letting you re-download all your content that you have purchased doesn't change that fact, because, as per their usual TOS policy, they never let people download their content more than once.
For the people whom this data loss applies to, Apple should grant them redownloads, no questions asked. Contrary to what you may believe, this can't just be swept under the rug because "Oh, it's a .0 release, that's to be expected." It was a huge cock-up solely on Apple's part, that they need to make up for for those affected.
WAit- if you bought the itunes movie or song on the ATV why is it not backed up in your computers iTunes files automatically ?
See- it really does pay to have CD and DVDs. They are your backup.
I have 2 Apple TV's, one got hit, one didn't. All content is now on the 2nd day of re-syncing to a 320GB drive (99% full), expect it will complete by tomorrow.
Fortunately it didn't corrupt my 640GB unit.
Quite often with the new software, I'm pressing buttons and not getting immediate responses, then missing the selected option. It is noticeably slow, wonder if anything other than a hardware upgrade will ever improve this?
Also noticed that when sync'ing, the GUI now effectively stops completely, didn't think it used to be that bad (you could at least navigate menu's).
Guess it matches expectations for a hobby product.
To the person above who suggested that we are not using the AppleTV properly if we are not syncing content back to the computer - YTF would I want to do that?
I bought the AppleTV nearly two years ago so I could watch iTunes HD and YouTube video content in my main home theater without futzing around with my other computers. The Apple TV was marketed as just such a device.
In regards to quality HD content, the Apple TV has pretty much been a failure. I do enjoy watching YouTube much more in the living room than at my desktop or on a MacBook, so it is useful in that regard.
I personally have found the killer app for the Apple TV has been as a music server. Full bitrate wav or Apple lossless streamed wirelessly from my main iTunes library with album artwork and much better sound quality than I expected. I use it mostly for that.
But it never occurred to me that I needed to sync purchased HD video content back to my main computer. I would never watch this content anywhere other than in my home theater on a large screen TV with full surround sound, which is why I purchased the Apple TV to begin with.
So other than for backup purposes, no good reason to do it - so enough with the snotty attitude.
I did lose a half dozen or so HD TV episodes I purchased due to the buggy 3.0 software. I will be contacting Apple to demand a refund for this content, or the ability to download it again.
I also have found the new interface to be painfully slow and clumsy since the 3.0 upgrade. Always overshooting the mark or not responding quick enough to be useful. My preferred use of the ATV as a music server is not nearly as enjoyable as before.
So even with the content deletion bug fixed, the 3.0 release has been a disaster. Easily the biggest disappointment since I started using Apple products 4-5 years ago, and a royal PITA over the last week.
Since 3.0, I've already factory restored back to 2.0 once. After this latest update, will probably end up doing it again.
It is clear that Steve Jobs has not been paying attention to this overheated brick, as the buggy software with the ugly interface is so unlike what I'm used to from this company. Heads should roll over this crappy software.
In the meanwhile, is there an easy way to stream my existing iTunes library to a PS3 with artwork intact? I have one that is primarily being used as a Blu-Ray, might be a good opportunity to see what else it can do.
Comments
No need to be condescending and feel sorry for me - I'll repeat what said, in case you missed it the first time: I am, overall, quite happy with it.
I did not expect much more than iTunes and Youtube content. So, for example, I view the internet radio available now as a nice bonus actually. It would be great if there were more, but I did not expect it. You are confusing your price/value ratio of a product (relative to your expectations) to be the same for everyone else. That is never the case.
Incidentally, on the topic of 'iTunes TV', it is interesting that the email with the warning re. 3.0 came from the domain name "itunes.com."
I pretty much did the same thing. Bought the 40, sync only movies to it. Music comes out of the iMac. Cable bill is down to minimum. Haven't set foot in a video store in years (not since Blockbuster offered to take me to collections for a $10 late fee). Don't miss it that much. Since I'm fairly active with work and play, I don't have much time to geek around with kluged together setups. Apple TV serves our needs and we're happy with it.
As for the latest "crisis", I noticed my content was gone, got the e-mail an hour later. Applied the update and resynced my movies. Back up and running, and all in all it cost me what? Two hours or so?
Some posters/haters/trolls here lament the fact that this was a monumental failure of epic proportions and that surely it portends the end of Apple as we know it . . . dogs and cats sleeping together . . . Please. Show me one product of such complexity that didn't have at least one update or glitch.
You are overlooking a similar bug that existed in the v2.X Apple TV software for several months earlier this year. Probably a different cause but a similar effect (all purchased content deleted from the Apple TV). Here is a link to an article on MacWorld/MacCentral that documented this earlier problem.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1412...etv_files.html
I continue to like my Apple TV, but these types of serious synching and data loss bugs are getting a little hard to take.
Huh. I didn't have this happen to mine. This latest one was the first for me.
More lipstick on the pig.
Interent TVs are selling like mad, You get a choice of Amazon, Netflix, and Blockbuster rentals- directly- wirelessly. Not just Samsung rentals or Sony rentals but real rentals from all of the big 3.
Not just itunes. AppleTv is done. Please pull the fork out- NOW.
There is plenty of choice for streaming content over IP in the US, but outside it's a different story. In the UK for example the choice for streaming on an HDTV is iTunes (reasonable sized library of content) and the Xbox 360's Zune Video Marketplace (a tiny, microscopic amount of content).
So here in the UK, with such a small amount of choice, optical discs are still the king by a vast margin.
It's still not going to result in data loss though, because all the content in that case would be bought from the Apple store and could be re-downloaded without a problem. The very few users in that situation might not know that though.
Data was irretrievably lost from the Apple TV as an unintended result of the software update, that's why it's called data loss. The unconfirmed possibility of Apple maybe letting you re-download all your content that you have purchased doesn't change that fact, because, as per their usual TOS policy, they never let people download their content more than once.
For the people whom this data loss applies to, Apple should grant them redownloads, no questions asked. Contrary to what you may believe, this can't just be swept under the rug because "Oh, it's a .0 release, that's to be expected." It was a huge cock-up solely on Apple's part, that they need to make up for for those affected.
Data was irretrievably lost from the Apple TV as an unintended result of the software update, that's why it's called data loss. The unconfirmed possibility of Apple maybe letting you re-download all your content that you have purchased doesn't change that fact, because, as per their usual TOS policy, they never let people download their content more than once.
For the people whom this data loss applies to, Apple should grant them redownloads, no questions asked. Contrary to what you may believe, this can't just be swept under the rug because "Oh, it's a .0 release, that's to be expected." It was a huge cock-up solely on Apple's part, that they need to make up for for those affected.
WAit- if you bought the itunes movie or song on the ATV why is it not backed up in your computers iTunes files automatically ?
See- it really does pay to have CD and DVDs. They are your backup.
I have 2 Apple TV's, one got hit, one didn't. All content is now on the 2nd day of re-syncing to a 320GB drive (99% full), expect it will complete by tomorrow.
Fortunately it didn't corrupt my 640GB unit.
Quite often with the new software, I'm pressing buttons and not getting immediate responses, then missing the selected option. It is noticeably slow, wonder if anything other than a hardware upgrade will ever improve this?
Also noticed that when sync'ing, the GUI now effectively stops completely, didn't think it used to be that bad (you could at least navigate menu's).
Guess it matches expectations for a hobby product.
I bought the AppleTV nearly two years ago so I could watch iTunes HD and YouTube video content in my main home theater without futzing around with my other computers. The Apple TV was marketed as just such a device.
In regards to quality HD content, the Apple TV has pretty much been a failure. I do enjoy watching YouTube much more in the living room than at my desktop or on a MacBook, so it is useful in that regard.
I personally have found the killer app for the Apple TV has been as a music server. Full bitrate wav or Apple lossless streamed wirelessly from my main iTunes library with album artwork and much better sound quality than I expected. I use it mostly for that.
But it never occurred to me that I needed to sync purchased HD video content back to my main computer. I would never watch this content anywhere other than in my home theater on a large screen TV with full surround sound, which is why I purchased the Apple TV to begin with.
So other than for backup purposes, no good reason to do it - so enough with the snotty attitude.
I did lose a half dozen or so HD TV episodes I purchased due to the buggy 3.0 software. I will be contacting Apple to demand a refund for this content, or the ability to download it again.
So even with the content deletion bug fixed, the 3.0 release has been a disaster. Easily the biggest disappointment since I started using Apple products 4-5 years ago, and a royal PITA over the last week.
Since 3.0, I've already factory restored back to 2.0 once. After this latest update, will probably end up doing it again.
It is clear that Steve Jobs has not been paying attention to this overheated brick, as the buggy software with the ugly interface is so unlike what I'm used to from this company. Heads should roll over this crappy software.
In the meanwhile, is there an easy way to stream my existing iTunes library to a PS3 with artwork intact? I have one that is primarily being used as a Blu-Ray, might be a good opportunity to see what else it can do.