Apple TV gets an update

Apple TV has been given a much-needed software update.

The elves in Cupertino have been especially busy over recent weeks with Apple launching updated Apple TV software.

It features a redesigned main menu that should, in theory, make navigating content a little more pain free than the current Apple TV interface.

While Apple seems perfectly content to sting iPod Touch owners for every minor software fix pack they bring to market, the new Apple TV software is free for existing Apple TV owners.

Righty, obligatory Apple iPod Touch grizzle out of the way, lets look at what's hot and what's not.

Hot

The good news is that the redesigned Apple TV menu is actually pretty nice on the eye candy front. Whilst the old interface wasn't exactly fugly, its successor uses a PS3-like navigation system that's far more easy to get around using the hideously clunky and overly-petite Apple TV remote.

Equally important (and nice) are the new bits and bobs added in the 3.0 update.

Apple TV users get access to the iTunes LP feature, which according to Apple delivers "a rich, immersive experience for select albums on the iTunes Store by combining beautiful design with expanded visual features like live performance videos, lyrics, artwork, liner notes, interviews, photos, album credits and more". Nice to have, but a killer feature? The jury is still out on that one.

Of more use to Apple TV owners is the Genius Mix feature which means Apple TV owners finally get to listen to 12 different song mixes from their iTunes library that are semi-intelligently compiled using the Genius algorithm.

Internet radio has also been added, and if like me you're on an uncapped broadband plan, you can now access thousands of internet radio stations, vastly expanding your musical repertoire without incurring the wrath of the copyright police.

Using an HD-capable telly to view digital photos is a great way to relive special memories (and bore the crap out of friends and family), and the good news here is that the 3.0 update adds iPhoto Events, which Apple reckon simplifies finding favourite photos.

iPhoto Faces also allows you to quickly photos organised by people as identified by iPhoto. These photo features might sound like small beer, but if like me you have a massive digital photo collection, it can make a massive difference to finding that particular photo as anxious (bored) friends and family twiddle their thumbs waiting.

Not-so-hot

Unfortunately the bad news is that you still have to have a PC or Mac running to really get the most out of your Apple TV. This strikes me as a step backwards, given the fact that an Apple TV has enough processing power to easily act as its own iTunes server and running another PC or Mac is not only noisy, it's a needless waste of electricity. Surely the next update could transform the Apple TV into a self-contained iTunes server?

Annoyingly, the Apple TV still has no support for industry standard video formats such as Xvid, DivX or AVI, forcing Apple TV owners into the tedious process of manually converting video content before it's playable on the device.

Staying with the video side of things, While Apple TV users can download rental or purchased HD movies, the selection continues to lag way behind other countries (especially the US).

Last but by no means least, the update will also more than likely break the XBMC/Boxee hack that many Apple TV owners currently use to get around many of its current limitations. It is an annoyance, but is likely to be a short term issue as XBMC and Boxee developers are likely to get a fix for this out sooner rather than later.

Verdict

Apple's move to refresh what is essentially the poor cousin to the rest of their product line-up is a welcome one.

The 3.0 Apple TV update not only improves usability, but also brings some much needed features to the fore. This said, competition in the digital media box space looks set to intensify. Windows 7 Media Centre is looking like an increasingly compelling option and games consoles are also becoming increasingly media savvy.

Will Apple continue to lobotomise the Apple TV by forcing it to be tethered to a PC or Mac running iTunes? Here's hoping competition will force them to up their game.