J David Macor

So yesterday, Apple announced several new products. The first, and most impressive, is the iPhone. The thing just looks sick and it is packed full of some great features. From the touchscreen interface to the computing capabilities, it is just an all around amazing device. Granted, I am a little disappointed that there is no real iPod with a screen as big or as touchy (get it…) as the iPhone, but I am sure that such a product is just around the corner. Give it a month or two at most, and you will start seeing current iPod prices being slashed, signaling the imminent approach of a new model. All that is fine and dandy, but what about this Apple TV?

This is the part of the story where I get pissed off. So, Apple makes this device that can stream your music and movies from your computer to your TV over your wired/wireless network. “Fantastic,” I thought to myself. “Sure, they are a little late in the media center game, but now is as good a time as any.” Well, I found out it has a hard drive, which I expected, with 40 gigs of storage. That is cool. I wonder how the interface is, so I head over to their website and look and I must say, it is pretty. I move on to actual screenshots of the device, and it looks great and all, but where, I thought to myself, is the port for your cable box or satellite dish? Wait…. I don’t see one. It says nothing about TV… Are you serious?….

All of this ruckus, and the damn thing can’t record TV? So it is basically like having a mac mini, except a little cheaper and without any of the other functions? I mean, haven’t people been doing this streaming thing already? Are there not third party devices or products within Apple’s own line that already do this sort of thing?! So it has a hard drive… big whoop! So does an iPod, and a bigger one at that. And guess what? If you buy and overpriced dock at $40 dollars, you can basically do the same thing, just without the HD…I am not impressed at all. In fact, I am just angry. I was looking for a sexy Apple way to channel surf and record HDTV and watch it anywhere from my computer to my TV. What did I get? A screen-less iPod with a stingy hard drive and a built in dock…

And now I found out that others are just as disappointed as I am.