Danny Gorog30 May 2007, 11:28 PM
This morning at the D5 conference in California, Steve Jobs announced the first in a series of upgrades to Apple TV. Come mid-June, Apple TV users will be able to run a software update and get a new menu called 'YouTube'.
This morning at the D5 conference in California, Steve Jobs announced the first in a series of upgrades to Apple TV. Come mid-June, Apple TV users will be able to run a software update and get a new menu called 'YouTube '.
In one sense it's actually not surprising given Eric Schmidt's (Google's CEO) involvement on the Apple board. Clicking on the YouTube menu gives AppleTV users access to YouTube content, streamed directly off the Internet.
In another sense it's very surprising, since Apple TV seemed clearly designed to be a vehicle for playing back videos purchased on the iTunes Store, given its lack of support for popular video CODECs like DivX/Xvid.
After Steve's speech, Apple also issued a press release indicating that Apple TV would get a new BTO (build to order) option, offering a 160GB internal hard drive (instead of the standard 40GB).
As an Apple TV owner (more on that later) I'm not sure the 160GB is necessary given the ease at which content can be streamed directly from your iTunes library, though it does address a complaint from many reviewers.
This update should also quell some of the AppleTV naysayers into submission, and is a sign that Apple intends to open their borders to content that they feel suits the new TV medium.
In the Q&A style interview with Walt Mossberg, Steve Jobs hinted that eventually users would be able to purchase and stream other content, but at the moment Apple feels iTunes is still the best interface to manage media.
Apple also announced the immediate availability of iTunes Plus, its DRM free music offering. If you've already used iTunes to buy music, check out the new section as you may be able to 'upgrade' your old 128kbps AAC files to the new 256kbps DRM free version. The new tracks cost $2.19, up from $1.69, while album pricing remains the same.
As always, the seamless upgrade simply replaces your content and moves your old DRM'd files in to the trash (where they belonged all the time?)
Later today Steve Jobs is also going head-to-head with Bill Gates in a much anticipated bout on the D5 stage. Most analysts are expecting the pair to get down and dirty. I'm hoping to see Jobs take Gates down, with lots of talk about the failures of Vista, Zune, xBox 360 and Microsoft's lack of web cred. Bring it on!