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The baby NEEDS an AppleTV.

M

mediaboy

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 9, 2006
87
0
We are having a kid soon and I just realized that my kid NEEDS an Apple TV.

It just makes fiscal sense.

The way I look at it, if I can borrow/NetFlix all the Baby programming I need,(Baby Einstein, and whatever else they make nowadays) then I dont have to buy a single DVD. I love buying DVD's but I know that once the kids out grow them, they are heading for the trash. I also don't like to place any DVD's unnecessarily in danger's way and don't have to worry about the DVD case that is sure to make its way into the dogs mouth.

Since the Baby Einsteins are $20 a piece an NetFlix has 15 for rent, I almost break even just with that first "import".

I think as a responsible parent, an Apple TV is the only way to go. Maybe its just my uncontrollable need to own anything Jobs puts out, or it actually makes sense.

What do you think?
 
LOL, maybe a little of both.

But then again, when you figure the cost of a kid ingesting the remote.

Hmmmmm, need to work the numbers on that one.

:)
 
Baby Einstein DVDs are awesome for kids. My two-year-old loves them and I find myself watching them with him, too. I think they have some sort of imbedded hypnotic aspect about them.

I have bought used ones from eBay. You could also take your videocamera and tape a toy...just add classical music and you're all set!
 
mintlivedotcom said:
Baby Einstein DVDs are awesome for kids. My two-year-old loves them and I find myself watching them with him, too. I think they have some sort of imbedded hypnotic aspect about them.

I have bought used ones from eBay. You could also take your videocamera and tape a toy...just add classical music and you're all set!
Click to expand...

A friend of mine said the same thing. He calls it Baby Crack. I just refuse to buy anything with middle aged men dancing around. There is just something wrong with that.

It will be fun! I need to make them a techno geek like me!
 
mediaboy said:
Since the Baby Einsteins are $20 a piece an NetFlix has 15 for rent, I almost break even just with that first "import".
Click to expand...
Incriminating statement... This is stealing... It is OK if you transfer your own DVDs to your AppleTV to protect them from scratches, but at least have the decency to purchase them. You certainly sound like you can afford them if you have the budget for an AppleTV.
 
theBB said:
Incriminating statement... This is stealing... It is OK if you transfer your own DVDs to your AppleTV to protect them from scratches, but at least have the decency to purchase them. You certainly sound like you can afford them if you have the budget for an AppleTV.
Click to expand...

Yup, everyone that owns an Apple TV rips their own DVDs. Right.

Sorry to burst your bubble.
 
While you're on the shopping list for the new baby, don't forget an eight-core Mac Pro 3.0, 16GB ram, 3TB hard drive, and anything else that may add to the cost...:rolleyes:
 
Eh...congrats on the kid, but I side with the anti-piracy guys. As a "responsible parent," I don't think you should be teaching a form of stealing from day one.
 
Congrats on the kid too.

Rug rats are expensive, have you thought about just not having a TV full stop?

I also looked into getting an apple TV for my baby, but in the end, after discussions with my partner, we decided to just put our tv in storage in the attic. Reasons being:

- Various health bodies recommend little or no tv before age 2.

- our sprog quickly figured out how to turn the TV on, and was alway turning it on behind our backs

- she would stand with her face pressed up to the TV glass - eek!

- we do watch baby einstein etc every now and then, on our laptops, with our kid next to us.

- on laptops, it is easier to point to the screen and ask various questions / make comments about whats happening - it becomes more of a shared activity.

- we (parents) spent too much time wigging out in front of the tv in the evening, when just having a nap or a bath or reading something would actually be more restful.
 
RedTomato said:
we decided to just put our tv in storage in the attic.
Click to expand...

We got rid of our TV too. Who wants to sit in front of the boob tube when you could be playing and having fun with your kid?

Now that she's almost three, she does have some dvd's on the computer... but they don't get watched very often.
 
Here's an idea that doesn't dance around the whole illegal copying issue... If you have netflix and there are 15 baby einsteins on there, why not just rent them and return them, the normal way? One a month, for fifteen months, plus you can rent another movie each month for yourself. That's $4.99 times 15 months, which is a total of $75 for over a year's worth of Baby Einstein and a little something for yourself. And it doesn't involve any piracy.

I don't intend to preach about piracy, but I am not going to go on a public forum and advocate it - especially when it involves spending $300 on another piece of hardware to facilitate it.
 
RedTomato said:
Congrats on the kid too.

Rug rats are expensive, have you thought about just not having a TV full stop?

I also looked into getting an apple TV for my baby, but in the end, after discussions with my partner, we decided to just put our tv in storage in the attic. Reasons being:

- Various health bodies recommend little or no tv before age 2.

- our sprog quickly figured out how to turn the TV on, and was alway turning it on behind our backs

- she would stand with her face pressed up to the TV glass - eek!

- we do watch baby einstein etc every now and then, on our laptops, with our kid next to us.

- on laptops, it is easier to point to the screen and ask various questions / make comments about whats happening - it becomes more of a shared activity.

- we (parents) spent too much time wigging out in front of the tv in the evening, when just having a nap or a bath or reading something would actually be more restful.
Click to expand...

I'm with you RedTomato, I think too many people use the TV as a way to pacify their kids instead of taking a more pro-active approach.

We allow our almost 4 year old daughter to watch (commerical free) tv for 40 minutes a day, and our 2 1/2 son watchs a 20 minute (commerical free) show about every other day.

Not so much our son, but our daughter would watch TV all day long if you let her, just a total zombie state. While we didn't go as extreme as you did and pack up the TV, we are very restrictive in it's use, and we adults in the house watch no TV unless the kids are sleeping.


Oh, and no - you really shouldn't be ripping NetFlix movies no matter how you justify it.

Randy
 
Your kid is going to find one movie that becomes his/her favorite, then watch nothing but that DVD for 12 months straight. You'll be hearing lines from it in your sleep. All the other DVDs -- rented, purchased, or stolen -- will lie useless on your shelf or hard drive. Then, all at once, the kid will never watch any of those movies ever again. The trick is, of course, that you don't know ahead of time which movie your kid will pick. Something to consider.

I've had friends who tried to keep their kids TV-free. They gave up when they realized that their kids couldn't carry on a conversation in the kindergarten playground. This is hard to believe, but I had a friend whose kid was 6 years old before he could tell the difference between a Red Ninja Storm Power Ranger and a Red Ninja Storm Beetle Ranger Power Ranger. In all seriousness, you can give your kids wooden blocks designed by German scientists with PhDs in neurophysics and behaviorial development, but it's not going to help. As long as they don't overdo it, TV is kid culture.
 
The baby doesn't NEED an Apple TV, the baby NEEDS your love and attention. Too often, parents use Baby Einstein to distract and hypnotize their young kids when they feel like their kids are "too much" work. An occasional movie or TV show is fine, but you had better be there to explain what is going on.

Face it, kids are a lot of work. If you're not ready to devote your time to taking care of them--and I mean really taking care of them--don't have kids.
 
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