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Apple Enters Media Center Domain

Posted by Zonk on from the another-front-in-the-battle dept.

An anonymous reader writes "CNN has a story up describing Apple's new media center concept. The software takes on a classic Apple approach: simplicity. 'The program, called Front Row, lets you listen to music, watch videos, play DVDs and display photos from a distance with a few clicks of a lighter-sized, six-button remote control.'" More details available from ThinkSecret.

10 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Installing Frontrow on any system by Digital+Pizza · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a utility called "Frontrow Enabler" that will allow you to install FrontRow on any Mac, not just the iMac G5. The utility and instructions are here. You need Pacifist and the latest FrontRow Update from Apple.

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  2. Re:Or.... by Fahrvergnuugen · · Score: 5, Informative

    The news is in the second link... the article on thinksecrets.com

    Basically the news is that Apple will be letting users stream purchased content from .mac iDisk drives - including full length movies.

    I still can't decide if this is a good idea or not... this model has its advantages, but it most certainly has its disadvantages as well.

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  3. read the link! by Chowser · · Score: 5, Informative

    Read the link to the article at Thinksecret. It's more than about Frontrow. The short paragraph linking to the article doesn't really describe it well. Really quite interesting about storage on iDisk and such.

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    1. Re:read the link! by Golias · · Score: 4, Informative

      In other words, they linked to a story about Front Row to make it seem like news, then linked to a RUMOR about Apple's streaming video plans to make it seem like the media streaming is the news.

      Hence, "Apple Enters Media Center Doman" is a story about a product which has been out for months, with a link to wild speculation about What It All Means.

      Without the redundant link to a useless Front Row review to make the headline kinda-sorta factual, you would be left with the far-less interesting story, "Another Rumor Going Around About Mac Media Centers."

      Lame.

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    2. Re:read the link! by vought · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not gonna happen for most users, and that's the way Apple like it I'm sure - every time they replace their machine they need to buy all their music again. Hurray for DRM.

      Every time I think that the completely uninformed Apple-bashing posts have gone away, someone like this pops up like an annoying ad.

      Macs come with neat software that lets you hook old and new machines together via FireWire and migrate all your old stuff over with a couple of clicks.

      Macs have done this for a long time, actually. It's called FireWire disk mode. The migration software is pretty new - I think it was introduced quietly a couple of years ago - but Apple knows that most of their customers are upgrading from one Mac to another and designed this feature to make that task easier.

      What's more, every time you purchase music from iTunes, you get a reminder to Back Your Shit Up(TM). Unfortunately, Apple can't do this for you yet - people do still need to take the initiative and be responsible for preserving the stuff they paid money for.

  4. Trade Mark by Bloater · · Score: 3, Informative

    > The program, called Front Row, lets you listen to

    I think NTL might have something to say about this name in the UK. Their pseudo-VoD system over cable is called Front Row.

  5. Re:Or.... by Golias · · Score: 5, Informative

    The hype is in the second link... the rumor on thinksecrets.com

    Basically the speculation is that Apple might be letting users stream purchased content from .mac iDisk drives - including full length movies.

    Fixed. :)

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  6. Clarity by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 3, Informative

    Just to clarify this submission for people... it contains two, unrelated links. The first is a CNN article about FrontRow and is old news. The second is speculation on a rumor site about the new version of the mac mini and how Apple will tie in a new video service that is largely inferior to what they are offering now, via iTunes, and that will not work with the new iPods video capabilities. The whole thing sounds rather suspect to me.

  7. Re:Or.... by he-sk · · Score: 3, Informative

    Let's see, my iBook is my stereo (hooked to the receiver and i don't have a cd deck or anything else) and i don't own a tv.

    So front row is all i need for my living room media center thing. And a bigger screen. Those apple cinema screens look nice. :)

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  8. I'd buy it.. by tomcres · · Score: 3, Informative
    I don't care one lick about HD, but...

    If Apple put out a mini that came with Front Row and included the remote, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. It would replace my DVD player and I'd get an EyeTV and replace my TiVo as well. I was actually thinking of buying a mini for precisely this purpose, but I'm hesitant to do it without a decent remote control and portal (i.e., Front Row). The beauty of the mini is it's a sub-$600 computer with no frills and takes up next to no space. If they married it to Front Row, they'd easily steal the entry-level (which is, honestly, where average Joe Consumer is) from Windows Media Center, which last I checked, required a behemoth $1000+ PC and is not as simple as FrontRow.