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Apple Enters Media Center Domain
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.
This isn't precisely a secret, however, and hasn't been for the months since it was introduced. :)
http://www.apple.com/imac/frontrow.html
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
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.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
>One thing that bugs me is the fact that you're stuck with their display
I think the Mac Mini demonstrates a willingness to abandon single source on displays. Good thing too, IMHO
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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.
sig here
"Apple Releases Front Row Media Software" is a news story. (Or, at the very least, a slashvertizement worth reading.)
"Somebody From CNN Write About Apple's Front Row Media Software, Which Was Released About A Month Ago" is the sort of submission that MacSlash and other "what Steve Jobs had for breakfast today is thrilling news to us" sites would probably reject.
I'd rather read a badly-written review of Front Row by some random slashbot (or a link to some techie-site review, like Ars) than another "OMG! Apple Matters So Much That CNN Is Writing About Their Software" submission. Come on, editors. You can do better.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
> 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.
So apparently this is a dupe, but it's the first I've seen of it, so I found it interesting. I looked at the picture of the remote here and I think I like it. Just the other day I was looking at one of those remotes that come with digital cable boxes these days, and there were way too many buttons there. To make matters worse, almost every remote these days has just about as many buttons, but they are generally organized differently, making it harder to switch TV's. How often do people visiting a friend's house have to ask their friend to do something like change the volume, because the remote is overly complicated? I like the idea of a remote with just a couple of buttons.
I hope this isn't supposed to be the surprise announcement for the MacWorld Expo in January. A friend of mine said the leading rumor is that Steve Jobs will introduce the Intel-based laptops six months before they were supposed to come out. I'm delaying my Mac laptop purchase to see if that rumor is true.
"a few clicks of a lighter-sized, six-button remote control."
shouldn't it just have 1 button?
In other news, Apple is rumored to be working on an operating system that is based on BSD Unix and will have a user-friendly UI attached to it.
They are also thinking of getting into the music arena, possibly with portable MP3 players, but analysts say this is just crazy.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
For a media centre it does not seem to have very many features, even if it is meant to be simple.
Here is what I use on my MythTV box that are not available for this:
- Watching live TV
- Scheduling recording of live TV
- Web interface to access information
- Weather
- Games
- News feeds
- Advert detection
These are all things I use on a daily basis and I think that they should be included in any media centre, and Apple's offering barely meets any of those.
"Front Row doesn't display live TV" That is pretty limited functionality. So, why would you hook this up to your TV?
TVs already display live TV. The idea is that this can be a replacement for your DVD player and CD player. It lets you easily play music, movies, and TV shows and other video you buy online. I think they are hoping to basically do an end run around the cable and satellite companies. Instead of subscribing to cable, you just buy the shows you want rather than a subscription to a bunch of shows you don't want and a few you do. The main drawback is the cost per show (which seems high). The main advantage is it lets you have a permanent copy and see it whenever you want, instead of on a fixed schedule.
I RTFA... and I'm disappointed. If this is going to depend on programs being cached on iDisk, then why do I need a new Mac Mini at all? Lots of the speculation was that the new mini might get a tv tuner card and lots more storage, to give it DVR functionality etc. How is this different from a website that just streams you video? Media center... yeah right. I'll keep my TiVos.
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.
Six buttons is too many for an Apple object! I suggest just one button, and the remote can
have a motion detector in it; the user can hold the remote parallel to the appropriate
face of a cube, and click the button. Simplicity itself!
I found a far more more elegant solution. My "media" Mac is a G4 dual 867 MDD (wind tunnel) with 3 200gb drives and 2 more external 200gb firewire drives. It lives in the library (with my main work Mac: a Dual 1.8 G5. In the living room near the television, sharing space with the VCR, DVD, Laserdisc, and (since I am old old school) Betamax machines is a little silver box called an EyeHome
This magic thing is connected to a router (though it also works on a Airport Extreme or other wireless solution) and via Ethernet pumps avi mp4 and other formatted files to my television. It also handles digital optical sound and mp3s. My stereo system can rock to Weird Al or my collection of Dr Demento shows... Pictures can also be displayed and if you are all thumbs, Web surfing is available. It works with 10.3.9 and above (10.2.8 if you are creative) and oh yes, it works from a remote.
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
The employees create beowolf clusters with mac mini media centers. The Soviets do it too, but no one cares.
There is a *big* problem with having an Xbox for a media center... it's puny processor can't handle WMV-HD (or Divx-HD for that matter). yes it has component out and can output a 720p or 1080i stream but it chokes hard on a 700Mhz processor. That's the biggest reason I never considered it. Now the 360 on the other hand... (Also, I want a DVI out instead of just component)
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"And may your days be long upon the earth."
They are also thinking of getting into the music arena, possibly with portable MP3 players, but analysts say this is just crazy.
I hear that it will have lower capacity than its competitors, and lack wireless. As that's lame, no one will buy it.
If your comment title says 'Re: Foo', I'm not likely to read it.
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.
I think you've hit it on the head. Front Row is going to be a really big deal.
And a big reason I think this is because of Steve Jobs - let's recap what we know about him, aside from his famous temper:
- does NOT agree that television and computers will have 'convergence' in the way it is usually described; he thinks more of a co-habitation if you will, with the computer as the ultimate master to all other media slave devices
- HATES the entrenched media companies (Yes. See: Disney negotiations, major music label negotiations)
- wants control over the entire user experience
- is infamous for finding 'end-run' solutions as you put it to sticky delivery problems (or more recently, bailing/sabotaging if it doesn't work, see: ugly dysfunctional iTunes-capable Motorola phone)
And its been so obvious for old Apple watchers like myself, the pieces have been marshaling for a long time. Right back to the ratification of the QuickTime container for the MPEG-4 spec at NAB, moving through the entire evolution of iTunes and the iTMS. They've got the hardware that everyone thinks is cool; they've got the premiere online model for selling digital content (not even a web page! in their own 'browser', iTunes!); they've got an ancient, highly respected and super-capable media container format; they've got a Disney-level brand. Only thing I think they are missing right now are the video-capable Airport Express and some (admittedly tricky) content deals.
They could totally kick ass with this thing if they execute well, but its a very weird situation, since the main competition for Living Room Celestial Jukebox are game consoles from Microsoft and Sony. Those are game machines, and Front Row is not, but all these projects have the LRCJ as a major design goal.
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