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Price drop on 160GB AppleTV... 40GB model discontinued

I wonder how much it would cost to make it flash based? I store music and photos, everything else streams. For me, I just need enough memory for that. I have a 16G ipod touch and have 4G free. Maybe a 32G flash version?!?

I just don't want an upgrade that forced more air cooling (fans). I like how quiet it is. Maybe a lower power sleep mode. OK, better graphics too. :)
 
That is a very substantial price drop. I paid $330 when I bought mine 3/2008. I sold it at what I'd consider a loss in May 2009 for $250 shipped. I think now I made a great move. I moved to the Mac Mini and have not regretted it since.
 
Evangelion said:
While streaming might be OK in some cases, sometimes it's not. Take my situation for example:

There are two iTunes-libraries in the household: me and my wifes. How do we play both of those in AppleTV? Streaming would be ideal, since the size of our libraries is bigger than 160GB. But that has the problem that we need to have iTunes up & running on our laptop all the time. We could try to build an iTunes-server that streams the library, but adding content to the server is a pain (Home Sharing ALMOST fixes that problem, but it only works with purchased content, so it wouldn't work).
Click to expand...

Personally for me, adding the content just got a whole lot easier with home sharing. I can see and move everything, purchased, home movies or my ripped cd collection. My issue is the 'automatic' syncing works only with purchased. That part sucks. As a side note, I've been using supersync for a while now and it has worked well for me. I would recommend it if you want the nuts and bolts info on everything that is being synced.
 
arn said:
it's essentially an iPod that connects to your TV. As long as it plays back iTunes content, I don't think it "needs" much in the way of hardware upgrades.

Obviously, it would be nice, but I don't think it follows the same rules as most consumer electronic devices.

arn
Click to expand...

HA! My panasonic came with a dock that connects to the TV as plays everything straight off my iPod and I didn't have to pay extra. :D
 
Same here...

LouisBlack said:
I'm in the same boat. I've had my eye on the AppleTV for a year or so but it's just far too expensive for what it is.
Click to expand...

Same here. Here in The Netherlands we don't have the ability to download movies or TV shows from the iTunes store and there hasn't been any news on this subject for waaay too long. On top of this, the ATV is so encredibly overpriced that it's just not funny anymore. Sure, I'll pay the usual Apple Added Tax, but come on... €399 ($580) for the 160Gb ATV while it's US price was $329 (€226)!

Is this Apple's way of trying to make up for loss in revenue, since they don't generate any from Movie/TV show downloads over here?

Looking forward to see how the lowered ATV prices will be reflected in the EU stores.
 
Very cool. I have been looking at these for a while now, but wondering what Apple is going to do with them. Here's hoping for an update so I can pull the trigger on a new unit! And maybe with some higher quality content, or cheaper movies!

Gotta convince the wife you see...:D
 
OllyW said:
Carry on dreaming.

That's a SATA drive, the AppleTV uses PATA drives.
Click to expand...

So it's not directly swappable but with the physical size, it's still feasible that Apple could use these in a future Apple TV... which I think is what the OP meant.
 
I enjoy reading all the posts that say that this "device isn't worth buying." Classic. I find that I'd get little value out of a gaming console, since I don't play games. However, I'd be an idiot to run around saying that a PS 3 isn't "worth buying."

I have an Apple TV and did plenty of research on it before buying. It satisfies these major goals:

1) Delivers my entire iTunes library into my living room. Long ago I ripped my CD and DVD collection and put the physical media in storage, so having access to my iTunes lib is a must-have.

2) Integrates well with my other hardware/software. I run all Macs at home, and have an iPhone and iPods. Sure, I could go with a set top box from another vendor, but why?

3) Experience is totally painless. Syncs occur automatically and without any effort on my part.

Honestly, after having the ATV for a few months, it makes the act of swapping physical DVDs seem like my memories of my dad futzing around with 8-tracks in the car when I was a kid. Having quick access to your entire video library is great when you have kids.

Of course the device does a lot more and I intend to try renting a flick when we finally have time to watch one. But you might pay a couple hundred bucks for a cheap BluRay player or good DVD player... and they do pretty much one thing.

If the ATV would take a cable card and had a DVR and Blu Ray player, it would be a killer. However, it is still a very useful device without those things.
 
Dadadada said:
The Apple TV is getting interesting. Now imagine that Apple does the following :

- replace the hard disk with a 1 or 2 TB
- add the backup functionality of Time Capsule
- increase the price, but in a reasonable way

In other words, merge the Apple TV, Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme into one single product (iServer ?). They would sell it by zillions, and it would not be anymore just a "hobby" for Apple.
Click to expand...

That is EXACTLY what I am waiting for...and if the :apple:TV part of its brain could simply use the backed up media from the TC part of its brain...:D
 
Hobby.

They should merge AppleTV with Mac mini and give it Blu Ray and a 3.5" hard disk.

MacTV
 
bergmef said:
Personally for me, adding the content just got a whole lot easier with home sharing. I can see and move everything, purchased, home movies or my ripped cd collection. My issue is the 'automatic' syncing works only with purchased. That part sucks. As a side note, I've been using supersync for a while now and it has worked well for me. I would recommend it if you want the nuts and bolts info on everything that is being synced.
Click to expand...

Home Sharing ALMOST fixed my problems. While it's a big step forward, it doesn't quite fix my problem. What I would like to have is a iTunes-server that contains all contents of my and my wifes libraries. The key would be that when either of us adds content to our library, it would also be added to the server. Home Sharing would fix that if it worked with all content. But it doesn't, it only works with purchased content.

iTunes 9 took me closer to the solution, but it's not quite the solution I'm looking for.
 
irun5k said:
Honestly, after having the ATV for a few months, it makes the act of swapping physical DVDs seem like my memories of my dad futzing around with 8-tracks in the car when I was a kid. Having quick access to your entire video library is great when you have kids.
Click to expand...

Yes!! Handbraking our DVD collection and keeping the discs popcorn-finger free is wonderful!!

Also took the time to digitize all our old VHS tapes and iDVD collection of family home movies to mp4, which I have painstakingly tagged and categorized as a "TV Show". It's actually the most popular thing the kids love to watch now, 15 "Seasons" of watching themselves grow up. There's no other way that these types of videos would ever have done anything but collect dust otherwise. I continue to be surprised with each new version of iTunes (including 9) that "Home Movies" is left out as a media category.

Every person who has ever seen the :apple:TV in action at my house is astonished by it, and surprised that such a cool thing exists. Not really sure why Apple hasn't hyped it a little more.
 
blybug said:
Also took the time to digitize all our old VHS tapes and iDVD collection of family home movies to mp4, which I have painstakingly tagged and categorized as a "TV Show".
Click to expand...

Ah, yes, I forgot that part. We're not big on camcorders and so forth, but every several months I usually make a new HD iMovie of still frames, music, and short videos captured from our digital camera. I used to burn these to DVD (using iDVD of course) just to get them on our living room TV. What a pain!

Well, forget that! These movies have never looked better than when viewed though the Apple TV. This is the only way I know of to get better than DVD resolution from something you create in iMovie, since Macs don't yet come with Blu Ray burners.

I actually created a Genre called "Home Movie" and that has worked out well for us.
 
ss957916 said:
This feels to me like they're dropping ATV altogether.

Surely if there were some revisions, they'd have announced them last week? I can't believe a new ATV would just appear in the store without announcement.
Click to expand...

I agree. The combination of the two events strikes me as "clear stock" not "get ready for an update". If it weren't ready to announce, then why the price drop? Usually apple just leaves the price where it is and then releases the new one at the same or similar price point.
 
Dadadada said:
The Apple TV is getting interesting. Now imagine that Apple does the following :

- replace the hard disk with a 1 or 2 TB
- add the backup functionality of Time Capsule
- increase the price, but in a reasonable way

In other words, merge the Apple TV, Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme into one single product (iServer ?). They would sell it by zillions, and it would not be anymore just a "hobby" for Apple.
Click to expand...

Your backup device needs to be separate from the iserver.... because otherwise if the HD fails your screwed
 
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