Run a Software Update today and you will find iTunes 7.7.1 available to download.

As you can see, it states fixes that improve stability and performance (Apple's usual 'helpful' description). Someone has already commented that this new version fixes some bugs relating to the app updates I have previously mentioned here. So has it? When I updated, the first thing I checked was to see what the filenames were of some of my apps. Unfortunately they are still using the files with the excess numbers in the filenames, and of course the duplicates are still present in the User/Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications folder. Perhaps now is the time for me to re-name the updates to the proper title and get rid of the older versions in the folder, and see what happens. But until an update comes out for one of my apps, I don't know for certain if anything has indeed been fixed yet. I will, of course, post the moment I find out.

UPDATE: It does now seem like the app update problem MAY be fixed. When I was checking the Mobile Applications folder, I noticed iTunes telling me there was 1 update available at the bottom of it's window. So, on clicking it, it then listed a dozen or so of my apps that required updates. 'Here we go again' I thought, noticing that most of these apps haven't actually had any updates available. But I downloaded all of them as perhaps this was its way of fixing the filenames. Now, for the majority of the apps it listed, this is in fact the case. Those apps now use their proper filename. However, there were four of the apps that were still using duplicate filenames. All four apps had 3 files in the folder. For example, for the Stanza app, I have 'Stanza.ipa', 'Stanza 1.ipa', and 'Stanza 2.ipa', with the latter as the filename of the version in my iTunes library. I have now deleted the older duplicates of these and re-named the files accordingly as before. No updates are showing now in iTunes. So, are the app updates fixed now? Your guess is as good as mine.

Now I have my TV, I am in the process of converting all my dvd's using a free app called Handbrake. But what about all those TV show dvd's? Basically, when you add your episodes to the iTunes library they are automatically put into the Movies section instead of TV Shows. So, we normally have to change the episodes to be of 'TV Show' kind by bringing up the info of each one individually in order for this option window to appear-

We can then change the Video Kind to 'TV Show' instead of 'Movie'.  The problem is, this can be a very laborious task, especially when some US TV shows can have 20+ episodes per season!  So, how can we make the job easier and quicker?  Here's how-

This is an Applescript called 'Set Video Kind', freely available to download from 'Doug's Applescripts for iTunes' webpage. There are many more available, but for our task, this particular script is the one we want to look at.

When you download the disk image, you are given a couple of files to put into your User/Library/iTunes/Scripts folder (if the 'Scripts' folder isn't there, just create it yourself first). Then, when you run iTunes, you will see a little Applescripts icon in the menubar, and clicking on it will bring up the Applescripts you have put into the Scripts folder like this-

As you can see, I have also downloaded a couple more useful ones from the same website. So, now we have our Applescript ready to go, we need to select and change the tagging of our episodes.

How do we select all the episodes easily? Well there are a number of ways. The first way is to hold 'CMD' down at the same time as left clicking the episodes, then you are adding to the selection instead of selecting one at a time. But if your episodes are all listed one after the other, then an easy way would be to left-click the first one, then hold down 'SHIFT' while selecting the last one, and all the episodes in between will be selected as well (both ways also apply to selecting files in a Finder window too).

Once you have your episodes selected, choose the 'Set Video Kind of Selected' Applescript from the menu and its window will appear. From here you can click on 'Video Kind' to change the type to 'TV Show', and there's 'Show Name' and 'Season Number' to add those tags to all selected files too. The last option is a great little feature. 'Episode Number Start' basically allows you to tell the script which episode number to assign to the first file, then it will automatically increase that number by one for each following file. Just make sure your episodes are listed in order if you use this option. Make what ever changes you wish to make, then click 'Done', and that's all there is to it.

As I said, the scripts are free, but donations can be made on the website.

Tags: iTunes TV show tagging

Look in the films section of iTunes today and you may notice a new offer regarding film rentals- 99p Film Of The Week.

This week that film happens to be Ronin.

Whilst the films appearing in this weekly offer will no doubt be older titles, it is certainly a welcome addition as far as I am concerned, and a step in the right direction.

Tags: 99p Film Of The Week iTunes offer

There is talk on the net that firmware 2.1 for the iPhone is imminent (it has already been sent out to developers), and reportedly fixes a few bugs as well as add direction and speed detection to it's GPS system. While the GPS enhancement may prove useful for users wanting a TomTom navigation type app, it's the bug fixes that concerns me more. Since the 2.0 upgrade, my iPod Touch has been re-vitalised. I now have around 30 apps bought from the iTunes App Store on my device, which range from quite useful utilities to fun gaming. However, there are a number of problems that keep re-appearing. There have been numerous times I have selected an app only for the screen to go black and the  logo to appear as the device re-boots. Try the app again afterwards and it runs fine. Then there's the problem I, and it seems like a few others have, when apps bought on the device don't sync back to iTunes when connected. I posted an earlier article here on this, and how to reset the warnings on your device so that it asks you again if you want to transfer purchases. However, I have found this to only be a temporary solution, as it soon forgets again. I have just got into the habit now of right-clicking the device and manually selecting 'Transfer purchases', which defeats the object of automatic syncing. Then there's the app update bug I luckily found a work-around for (and posted it to several other sites as well as our own to spread the word). But again, we shouldn't have to 'work-around' anything. Updating apps should be a smooth operation done for us. And indeed it can be for the first time you update an app. But once the app brings a second update out, that's when the touble begins. Once more, not only have I had to re-name an app in order to get it's update, when iTunes tells me the update is available for the one app, going onto the update page then displays several more of my apps that don't actually have updates! The only way to get rid of them in the listing is to download them (even though it is the same version number), which will then create duplicates in your apps folder again, just like it does with the app that actually does have the update, there-by creating the same problem next time they have an update themselves! Phew!

So, for all the great things 2.0 has given me personally, it has also given me (and many more out there) a serious headache. Which leads me to version 2.1. Firstly I am hoping that it isn't just an iPhone release, and if it is for the Touch as well, then I hope us Touch owners don't have to wait any longer for it. I am also hoping, of course, that this new firmware release will fix the problems mentioned. There is another thing that concerns me- as an iPod Touch owner, I had to pay for the 2.0 firmware. As 2.1 is, as far as I can see, a bug-fix release (the GPS enhancement won't apply to Touch owners of course), will us Touch owners have to pay for it? Let's hope not.

Tags: Firmware 2.1

Well for those that follow this blog, and read yesterdays entry, then you may have been wondering why I visited the Apple store yesterday. Well today I can reveal I did not have to return a faulty device, but instead treated myself to another Apple gadget, the Apple TV. This was a present for a milestone birthday, and whilst I had wanted to upgrade my MacBook to a MacBook Pro, my wife just could not afford it I would have helped part fund the purchase, but all my spare cash is currently tied up in a new project (which will be revealed here soon), so I decided to look at the Apple TV. It was during my investigation in to the Apple TV that I became acquainted with Barry Ward, who has subsequently become a major contributer to this blog. Barry was a great help with answering questions about the Apple TV, and wrote a great review here, and it was with his help and advise that I opted for the 160GB version. Setup was a breeze and and am now playing with the Apple TV and it features, and will post my views (but not a review) in the next week, but on first impression I am very happy with my purchase

Tags: Apple TV

I paid a visit to my local (well local'ish, I had to drive 50 miles) Apple store today, but was it to return a faulty MacBook? faulty iPod? faulty iPhone? or did I part with some hard earned cash?

Stay tuned, and all will be revealed!!

Before I begin, I would like to say I have already submitted a bug report to Apple (I used 'Provide Feedback' in the iTunes menu). Tonight I have found a very silly and important bug with regards to updating your apps in iTunes.

It all began when I found out there was a new update submitted to iTunes today for the rather excellent 'Cro-Mag Rally' game. So, I proceeded to my Applications menu in iTunes and expected to find a message at the bottom of the window telling me of the update (as there was with the first update of this particular game a week or so ago), but it just said 'Check for updates'. I did so, and I was told there wasn't any available. I thought this strange and checked for the game in the iTunes store. Sure enough, in the description there was mention of the update. I emailed the developer to ask for assistance, and before his reply swiftly dropped in my inbox I had found the problem. The problem is with how iTunes installs app updates.

Like I said, I had already updated Cro-Mag Rally once before. What I didn't realise at the time was iTunes didn't actually overwrite the original file- it creates a duplicate! Yes, you read correctly. iTunes created another file in the Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications folder called 'Cro-Mag 1.ipa' to sit along side the original 'Cro-Mag.ipa file.

I checked the info of the app currently in my iTunes library at that time, and sure enough, it's file name was 'Cro-Mag 1.ipa'.  Now we're getting to the problem.  You see, when iTunes is checking for app updates, it must be going by file name rather than app name.  So, in this case, iTunes has been checking for updates for 'Cro-Mag 1' instead of 'Cro-Mag', and of course it won't find any. To prove this, I removed Cro-Mag Rally from the iTunes Library, but kept the file.  Then I deleted the original file ('Cro-Mag.ipa'), and re-named the other, removing the '1' from it's name.  Then I added it back to iTunes with it's new name of 'Cro-Mag.ipa' by dragging it to the iTunes window.  Immediately, I had the message at the bottom of the window telling me of an update available!!!

I find it hard that this has been over-looked by the iTunes developers.  Perhaps if we all submit a bug report to Apple regarding this issue, they may release a fix.

If you have iLife '08, run your Software Update today and you will find four updates available:

According to the 'details', these include compatibility and stability improvements, as well as minor issue fixes. As for compatibility, the iLife apps now support MobileMe, so that's good news for those who use it.

As for issues, I (and many others on the Apple forums, I might add) had one with iMovie, where sharing any videos to YouTube over 5 minutes (more or less) resulted in a server error message-

yet 5-10 minutes later my video would show up on YouTube! After this update, I tried uploading one of my videos to YouTube again, and can report that unfortunately the bug is still there. What makes this worse is when a video is shared to YouTube successfully (anything a few minutes long works fine) then iMovie gives you the option to email friends, and this email is already written out for you with a link to the video. Of course when the error occurs, iMovie assumes the video hasn't reached YouTube, and therefore doesn't give the email option, so you have to do it yourself. This is a real shame, as this is one of two bugs that are really 'bugging' me at the moment (the other is the Mail app not hiding at login, as described in my earlier post). I (and I am assuming many more who have posted on the Apple forums) have sent feedback to Apple regarding this issue, as I also did regarding the Mail app bug, and it is getting rather frustrating when the feedback seems to be falling on deaf ears.

Tags: iLife

The UK's iTunes FREE single of the week is Intelligentactile 101 from Jesca Hoop, and can be downloaded from here.

Tags: UK iTunes FREE Single of the Week

For those of you who enjoy reality TV programs, there is a new series on iTunes called Totally Calum Best: The Best Is Yet to Come. If you are interested this is all about Calum Best (the late George Best's son) giving up sex for 50 days!! Personally I think this is absolute crap, and would not waste my time or money, but if this floats your boat, then you can get the FREE intro video here.

Tags: Totally Calum Best: The Best Is Yet to Come.

Last Friday I had a slight problem with my home Macbook- I switched it on only to find this icon staring back at me...

... and that was it. It wouldn't load the operating system- it was just stuck with this unknown icon. Luckily I had my new Macbook Pro where, after doing some research on the net, I found the icon meant the operating system could not be found. I decided to call the number of my Apple store where I purchased the Macbook, and spoke to someone in technical support, who suggested I run the Leopard setup disk and run Disk Utility to repair it. After finding out my hard drive could not even be listed in the Disk Utillity app, I was then told I needed to take my Macbook to the store for repair, as it is definitely a hardware fault. An appointment has to be made for this, but conveniently, the man who was assisting me on the phone helped arrange one for the next day.

So, there I was, on Saturday, thinking I would have to leave my baby with them for a week or so while they figure the problem out. I went in and waited for my name to be called. I told the 'genius' at the genius bar the problem and, within minutes, the guy took apart the underside of the Macbook, took out the old hard drive, and replaced it for a new one. He asked if I had the Leopard disk with me, to which I said no. He said he could put Tiger on, or leave it as it is for me to put Leopard on myself, and I chose the latter. And that was that- I left with an operational Macbook within 20 minutes (I didn't have to pay anything either as I was still 8 days within my warranty period!). So, all it took was for me to put the Leopard disk in, install Leopard, and put my iTunes and iPhoto libraries back on (I could have used Time Machine to restore, but as I have changed the use of this Macbook for the sole purpose of syncing with my AppleTV, I thought it wise to start again from scratch with a new username- changing the home folder name to a new one is a pain in the rear otherwise).

The moral of the story is thus- if you have a problem like I had, don't be afraid to call on the experts. You may just get a nice surprise.

Sorry this entry is late, but the UK's iTunes FREE single of the week is His Nibs from Neil Cowley Trio, and can be downloaded from here.

Tags: UK iTunes FREE Single of the Week

Stocks of the iPhone 3G are now beginning to trickle in to the O2 UK stores, and on O2's website they are indicating that significant stocks will be available from the 25th July, and that they hope to re-open their online ordering and upgrade site soon after this date. If you can't or don't want to wait until then, then O2 have produced a list of stores (see here) that have available stocks at the start of each business day.

Tags: iPhone 3G Stock

Well unfortunately, I would say the answer is yes. When I bought my first Macbook I was told in order to remove an app, all you need to do is move it to the Trash and delete. Sure, you can do that. But, what about the other files and folders the app may have put elsewhere on your hard drive? In most cases, an app may store files and folders in your Library/Preferences folder, or your Library/Applications Support folder etc. So, what can we do to save having to search for these extra files to remove them manually? We can install something like AppCleaner (which is freeware).

This is one of a handful of apps that not only remove the app you want to delete, but also search for the extra bits and bobs it would have otherwise left behind. With this particular app, there are three ways to accomplish the task. Firstly, you can just load the app and click on the Applications icon at the top of it's window. It will then switch (by the use of a neat cube rotation animation) to a list of the apps in your Applications folder.

Each one has a tick box next to it. Tick the box of the app you want to remove and click the Search button, and let AppCleaner work it's magic. It will, within seconds, list the app location and other related files locations too.

Again we have tick boxes next to each and, by default, they are all automatically ticked at this point.  If you want to remove everything, just click the Delete button, and it will all be moved to Trash.  The second way is to load the AppCleaner, and drag the app you wish to remove to the AppCleaners window.  It will then start it's search as before.  The third way is even easier.  Just drag the app you want to remove to the AppCleaner's icon.  The AppCleaner will then load and automatically search for all the files and folders and go straight to the list of things to delete.  If you are someone who likes to try a lot of new apps out, perhaps you might like to have the AppCleaner icon on your dock, so it is easy to drag apps to (so long as you are careful what you drag to it of course). This isn't all the AppCleaner does.  It can also remove downloaded widgets you have installed...

... and it can even remove plugins-

Let's go back to the tick boxes next to those extra files and folders it finds for your selected app.  This is a great little feature, as there might be times you actually want to keep the app, but want to revert back to it's default settings.  All you need to do then is un-tick the apps tick box, but leave the rest of the files ticked.  It will then send everything to the trash except your app, so when you load the app next time, it's as though you are loading it for the first time. Of course all this comes with a warning: be VERY careful what you are selecting to remove.  Basic rule, if you don't know what an app, or plugin does, leave it alone- it might be important to the smooth operation of your computer.

There are other app uninstaller's (I use AppZapper, which is not FREE, but I have used this for years - Ed) out there, but this one has never removed anything it shouldn't have, and has served me very well since I moved to Mac.

Tags: AppCleaner, AppZapper, Mac uninstallers

Sometime ago whilst communicating with Barry Ward (prior to him joining the team) regarding the Apple TV, Barry emailed me his custom Handbrake settings, which allows you to rip your DVD's for playback on the Apple TV and the iPhone/iPod Touch, with out having to have 2 ripped versions of the DVD. With all the iPhone events over the past week, I forgot to post the settings, so here they are for all you Apple TV users out there.

This is the main page. Pay attention to the bitrate and encoder. Notice the output isn't much different from the source. Deinterlace is off as it isn't needed in this case (indeed it is only needed for most tv show dvd's) -

Here are the audio settings -

And here are the advanced options. These must be followed exactly. I borrowed the Advanced Option String from the iPhone settings (Apple TV has a different string). I also copied the rest of the values in this tab from the iPhone settings. I think it is due to these settings being different with the 2 built in presets that videos using the Apple TV setting don't work on the iPhone/Touch.

Here are the picture settings for this particular dvd-

Films with a 2.35:1 ratio tend to have a resolution of (usually over 700)x304. But I like to trim the ends off so it will fill the screen a little more, so I like to end up with a resolution of 688x304 (cropping by about 10-12 each side). This is just personal preference of course.

To get these settings I selected the Apple TV preset, and adjusted all the values to the above, and saved it as a new preset, making it the default one too.

Tags: Handbreak, Apple TV

There is a new app available in the iTunes App Store, called Stanza. This is a completely free app, which allows you to browse it's online database of public domain books, download, and read them, all in one app. The books themselves are free too, so you have hundreds of titles to read through one application, all without paying a penny. The description of the app also mentions the use of a desktop app (which is in Beta at the moment). However, it is not needed if you just want to read your books on your iPhone/Touch. I have tried the desktop app (available to download here), and it is quite good. There is an option to export files to the iPhone/Touch, but it basically converts it for you to read the story via Safari on your device, rather than the Stanza app. Still, you could always have a copy on your computer and a copy downloaded directly onto your iPhone/Touch using the Stanza app. Personally I'm quite happy having a sole copy on my iPod Touch.

With regards to the previously mentioned apps by AppEngines, I would still recommend these to people who want their books individually listed on their device home page.
Note: For anyone interested in reading free public domain books on their computer (of course you could always make a donation), the best resource I have found is Project Gutenberg.

Tags: AppEngines, eBooks, Stanza

If you are a Mac Café regular (and there are a few of you), then you will have noticed some excellent post by Barry Ward, who has now joined The Mac Café team. Barry have provided us with the following profile, and if like Barry and the rest of the team you are an Apple fanatic in the UK and would like to join the team and write some posts, then drop us an email.

Hi, I'm Barry Ward, and I am an Apple fan. Sounds like I'm at an AA meeting doesn't it? "Welcome to Apple's Anonymous!"

The one thing that started it all, was finding out the iPods now have gapless playback with music. Even to this day, it can be hard finding such a feature in an mp3 player, when they should all do it as standard. It's no good listening to Pink Floyd when you constantly hear 2 second pauses between the tracks of an album! So I bought an iPod Nano (2nd Gen), and quickly fell in love with it and iTunes. It then got me thinking- if iTunes and iPods are this good, what are Apple's computers like?

I looked at the Apple Macs when Vista came out ('nuff said). The time then came for my wife to buy a new laptop, so I asked her if she wanted to pop into the local Apple store. We did, and she bought a MacBook there and then. Of course, I couldn't let her have one without me, so I bought one soon after. And that was it then- I was hooked!

Spring forward to today. I still own my first MacBook, but it stays at home, holding my home iTunes library (on an external drive) ready to sync/stream to my 160GB AppleTV. I now have a MacBook Pro as my personal laptop, and have replaced my Nano with a 16GB iPod Touch. Of course my wife still owns her MacBook. She is very happy with it and it suits her needs perfectly.

I have a daughter (5 years old at the time of writing), and even she likes playing with the new game app's on my Touch, and also likes being creative with Garageband. I love Garageband myself, and am on my way to completing a second album of my own instrumental compositions. I am very proud of them, as I don't consider myself a musician and had no prior experience of writing music. I also like photography (as you can tell from my picture), and own a digital SLR camera as well as a compact.

As for personal tastes, I like most types of films but mostly enjoy comedies, action, and sci-fi. I like any music except jazz, classical, and rap (if you can call it music!). I don't drink or smoke. I like to go out, but mostly on days out with the family or to restaurants. To be honest though, I get a little twitchy if I am away from my Mac for too long. Technology, and specifically anything Apple, is my main hobby. My MacBook Pro is my main source of information and communication, and if I lost it, it would be like losing the use of a limb. This is especially the case now I don't use Microsoft Windows and it's complicated UI.

I love showing off my Apple devices, and people are always wowed by them. I'm just glad I'm on the right team.

Do you use Apple's own Mail app for checking your emails? Pretty good isn't it? But do you load the app automatically at login by adding it to your login items? More to the question, have you ever tried hiding it at login by ticking the 'Hide' box next to it's name? Successful? I thought not. This is a well known bug that has survived from Tiger. No matter what you try, it simply will not hide. It has been reported to Apple long ago, and so far they just seem to be ignoring the problem. Do any Apple staff use Mail? Surely it's not too much to ask for the app to load up automatically and check mail while being hidden, is it?

Of course, the one thing we can all do as Mail users is provide feedback to Apple regarding this. Perhaps the more we complain, the more likely they are to do something about it. Until then, there are a number of free apps we can use to help get around the problem (note: not all apps listed will run on Tiger, but all run on Leopard) -

1) Launch And Hide Mail. Once downloaded, you can put this app anywhere you like (I would still put it in the Applications folder myself). Then you go into your login items (under Accounts in Preferences) and add this app them. It doesn't need to be hidden, and you don't need to add the Mail app itself to your login items, as this app will launch it and hide it for you. When you login next time (assuming you have already ran the app once to confirm with Leopard that it's ok to run), you may see the Mail app window for a split second or two, then disappear. This app is very good for the job, but it's a shame the Mail app window is on screen as long as it is (a few split seconds is still too long in my book).

2) Google Notifier. Obviously, this is one just for users of Googlemail (or Gmail as it's known outside the UK). It's a pretty good app which runs on the menu bar, and checks for new mail in your Google inbox. It does NOT check the inbox of the Mail app itself, so with this app running at login, you don't actually need to have the Mail app in your login items at all to check for new emails. There may be other services (Yahoo!, AOL, etc) that might provide a similar desktop app for their dedicated emails, and they will do exactly the same as this one- checking the inbox at the server rather than your Mail app. There are two disadvantages to this approach. Firstly, if it tells you there is new mail, you will then have to load the Mail app and wait a few seconds while it checks your inbox and downloads the email itself. Secondly, if you move or delete the email, the Google notifier will still display the same number of unread emails until it is time for it to check the inbox at the server again. There are other menu based email checkers that will display the number of unread emails from the Mail app itself (available here). However, the ones I have found actually need to have the Mail app up and running, so to be honest I fail to see the use of them.

3) Dashboard Kickstart and MailWidget. This way has a very nice advantage. Downloading and adding Dashboard Kickstart to your login items will start your Dashboard up next time you login, and hide it again straight away. Now normally the first time you access Dashboard, there is a delay as it loads up all your various widgets. With this app automatically loading it up in the background, when you do access Dashboard for the first time now, the widgets should be already running. The second part to this would be to download the MailWidget and install it on your Dashboard. Selecting your email account in the widget will allow it to check your mail without needing the Mail app to be running. So instead of trying to hide Mail, we are essentially running and hiding the Dashboard at login instead, with it's own mail checker doing the job. Disadvantages are a delay again in the number of unread emails updating once you have actually read them in Mail, and the fact that some users just don't want Dashboard running at login, as it will use up some RAM.

4) MailFX. This is my personal favourite, and I use it on my own Macbook Pro. It comes as an installer (the app is certified by Softpedia for no spyware, adware, or viruses) as it needs to imbed a menu of it's own in the Mail app itself. Basically, it creates effects for when you have new mail. I have mine set to a semi-transparrent icon appearing at the top right of my screen with a nice lady informing me. You can pick from different icons, positions on screen, and voices/sounds. It's very good. However, it also (kind of) fixes the problem of Mail not hiding at login. Once MailFX is installed (keep the install app as you can use the same one to uninstall if you don't like it), just add the Mail app to your login items and tick its hide box. Reboot, and you will (unfortunately) still see, for a split millisecond, the Mail app window before it vanishes. However, it is gone so fast you will barely notice. The advantage is it is your Mail app itself that is now listed in the login items, and the hide box does now (sort of) work. Plus you have the bonus of a nice notifier when you get your new mail. The only disadvantage I can see is if you are bothered about that split millisecond of seeing the Mail window (which I personally can live with).

So, there you have it. Of course none of these are ideal solutions. The ideal solution would be for Apple to fix the Mail app themselves, but we seem to be waiting an awfully long time for this to happen. Until then, these will have to do.

Tags: Mac OSX Mail

For those interested Jerad Hill (iJerad) has launched his own video podcast on iTunes, so if you like his iPhoneAppPodcast website, then you'll love this new iTunes offering. The podcasts are free, and you can subscribe here.

I have owned a Macbook for a year now, and used a mini DVI to VGA lead to connect it to my 42" plasma tv. I would bring up Front Row, the included media app, to browse my library of music, movies, photo's, and podcasts.

When the AppleTV first came out, it could do just the same as my Macbook, but why should I bother buying one if I can already do everything it does? Then the AppleTV had a major software update, which included a new menu system and the ability to rent films. Only renting films wasn't yet an option here in the UK, so again I held off from buying. However, we now have films available in the UK, to buy and to rent. So now there are some clear disadvantages of using Front Row. You can't buy anything from within it for starters. Plus, Apple have made a (deliberate?) omission in it's software- rented films do NOT show up on Front Row. This means, if you are using your computer to watch your films, you MUST use iTunes to play your rented films. Not only that, Apple made a clever move by only allowing us to rent HD versions via the Apple TV and not our computers. Some people have complained about these points, but if you want my honest opinion, I think I would do the same. Let's face it, Apple are trying to give us good reason to buy an AppleTV. If they offered everything it does on our computers, then I think I would have personally held off buying one still. Their tactics certainly worked in my case. I wanted to watch rented films without using iTunes. I wanted the option to rent HD films. And I wanted to be able to access all my media with one aplication. Indeed, the thing I like most about the AppleTV, now that I own one, is it's sheer convenience of having everything all together in one place, with a UI that is simple enough for even my 5 year old daughter to use. It allows you to buy, rent, and watch movies, buy and watch TV shows, buy and listen to music tracks/albums, buy and watch music videos, browse and watch podcasts, browse .mac and Flickr photo's as well as view your own albums/events, and finally browse and view YouTube videos. Phew!!

My YouTube video guides (parts 1, 2 and 3) go more into detail as to all it's various options for each of these. Needless to say I love the device, and here's why-

1) Easy to set up. Switch the Apple TV on for the first time, and it will ask you some simple questions, one of which is if you want it to sync with a computer. If you don't, you can still access online content. If you do, it will give you a five digit number. Once it does this, it sends a signal out to any computers on your network, and iTunes will then display the AppleTV as a device. Click on it and enter the code, and that's basically it. It will immediately start syncing with iTunes. Of course there are various sync options. Just like an iPod, the AppleTV has various tabs for music, movies etc. You can decide which media you want to sync (copy over) to the AppleTV. Any media you don't sync can be streamed to the device from your computer so long as it is on and you have iTunes running. This means you can have a vast library of videos (I use an external drive for mine) in iTunes and all will be available to watch on your tv with a few clicks of the remote.

2) Easy to share. I am using a Macbook for our home library of films/photo's etc. I have my own Macbook Pro (as of last weekend), and my wife owns her own Macbook. But how can we access our own libraries on the AppleTV? Simple. Select to share a library in the Computer menu of the AppleTV, and again you are given a 5 digit code. The AppleTV will then appear in iTunes on the computer you want to connect. Like before, clicking this will allow you to enter the code, and that's it- done. Now, each of the types of media on the AppleTV will show an extra option- 'Shared Video', 'Shared Music' etc etc. If you have more than one other shared library, it will ask you which one's library you want to access. Then you can browse the shared library almost exactly like you can with your synced one (more about this later), except it will stream everything instead of syncing selected items.

3) Easy to use. It's so easy my 5 year old daughter can quickly and easily select her favourite cartoon episode in seconds. The initial menu is laid out using a two panel display, where we have our initial options on the left panel like Music, Movies, Photo's. When you move up and down this list, the list of options in the second panel to the right changes to suit. So if you move onto Movies, the second menu changes to 'Top Movies', 'HD Only' etc. So for my daughter to select an episode of her favourite show, she would select 'TV Shows', 'My TV Shows', 'Spongebob Squarepants', (select an episode), done. It's also easy to rent or buy media from the iTunes store. With films, for example, you can browse the new titles, search by genre, search alphabetically etc. When you select a film, you have buttons to view the trailer, rent it (£2.49 for older titles, £3.49 for recent titles), rent it in HD (for a £1 more than the titles standard rental price), buy it (£6.99 for older titles, £10.99 for recent ones). There is a newly added button to add to this list, which will mentioned later.

4) Easy to customize. There are quite a lot of sync options in iTunes for the device. For myself, I have opted to sync over all of my music and music videos, all of my iPhoto events (rather than albums), and selected tv shows. This means that I won't need my computer turned on in order to watch/listen to any of these as they are stored on the devices own hard drive. For the rest of my tv shows and movies, I can still watch them on my AppleTV, but I will need my iTunes up and running on my Macbook in order for the device to stream them from it wirelessly. There are also various options with how the device works, like parental controls, screen saver, close captioning (movies will have the 'cc' logo if they have this available), and sharing multiple iTunes libraries (it will only sync with one, but will stream from more).

5) Version 2.1 software. The new software adds quite a bit more than the stated ability to be able to use an iPhone/iPod Touch as a remote. It also adds a new button to movie rentals called 'Add to Wish List'. When you add your first title, a new 'Wish List' option appears on the Movies menu. Clicking it obviously shows all the movies you have selected. This makes it a lot easier to browse the movie library and make a list of what you might want to watch at a later date. It's a small thing, but a welcome one, but we can now see a small thumbnail picture of the art of each music album in a list (where-as before, we would only see the album art of the highlighted album on the left). We also have a button to browse 'MobileMe' instead of '.Mac' in the Photo's menu. Regarding photo's, we have a welcome change for browsing your synced library too. With the previous software, you would select an album/event to view, and it would immediately play a slideshow. Now, when you select a album/event, you will be shown all the photo's from it in thumbnail form. You can select to view one of them full screen, or you still have the option to view them as a slideshow with a button at the top. Great.

Now for the negative points-

1) Music videos, like Front Row on a Mac, are only able to be played one at a time, with the user having to select each one. It would be nice to be able to play all videos from an artist, or a video playlist for example. But you can't.

2) It's hard to tell between films available to rent or buy. The only way of finding out is by clicking on a film to see it's details. I would like to perhaps see small icons above each title, so you can see at a glance your options available for each film.

3) Shared photo's. While the option 'My Photo's' gives you nice little thumbnails of your albums or events (how ever you decide to sync them with iPhoto) and gives you the option of a slideshow, going into a shared library (a secondary iTunes library from another computer) only allows you to view album slideshows. You don't have the option to view them as events, and you don't get to pick from thumbnail images.

4) The 'Remote' app for the iPhone and iPod Touch works in conjunction with the new AppleTV 2.1 software, and it is very good. You can select from the music, movies, etc. However, it won't let you select photo's or YouTube videos. Not only that, but it also won't browse shared libraries.

So, while there are a few negative points, I still thoroughly recommend the AppleTV. There are two sizes available- 40gb and 160gb. I'd recommend the 40gb if you know you will be streaming most of your library, as it is of course cheaper. However, one good thing about the AppleTV is it's ability to be able to play it's synced media where ever you plug it in. So, you could take it to a relatives house while you are staying for the week, and still have access to all your favourite media. With this in mind, the 160gb has a clear advantage with all that extra space. For myself, I opted for the 160gb version, simply so my daughter can watch all her favourite cartoons stored on the device without me having to turn my computer on (like I ever have it turned off!!). So bare these points in mind if you are thinking of purchasing one. But when you do, it will literally change the way you watch television.

Tags: Apple TV Review