Just finished installing an tv into my revitalized home entertainment system (which includes a new LCD). The one hickup? The AppleTV requires a live connection to a running copy of iTunes, much in the way that an iPod requires a real version of iTunes. Now I knew this ahead of time - I had even described the AppleTV as a iPod for you TV, but I was surprised just how inconvenient this would turn out. I’ve got my iTunes library on an external hard drive networked via the Airport Extreme and in order for the AppleTV to work, I have to have a computer running on the network that points to the external drive and the iTunes library therein.
Fine. I can live with that. But until I get a larger hard drive, not every is downloaded to the AppleTV. It seems to me that since Apple owns all the pieces here, why can’t the AppleTV grab the iTunes library directly? Is it DRM restrictions? I can do this with any computer on the network, but not the AppleTV. What gives?
I love the AppleTV and the whole interface - I mean I spent over an hour trolling youTube and podcasts looking at new content, but it seems to me, this inability to grab a library without a running copy of iTunes, might be a hinderance to living room dominance.
Now, having said that, don’t even get me started about my stupid receiver…