Stan's List

Apple announces that over 5 billion songs have been downloaded. The milestone seemingly has no where to go but up, especially with the largest music catalog now with over 8 million songs, 2 million more than just a few months ago. More than 50,000 movies are rented or purchased everyday.

The iPhone is predicted to steal market share from the iPod. I have a 3rd and 4th generation iPod, and each are used often. The iPhone will not replace these iPods. With an iPhone, I do not want a video iPod. This will only continue with an increased capacity iPhone. What becomes a possibility is an Apple TV.

A MacInTouch reader has some interesting ways to bring more connection reliability to his MacBook G4 and MacBook Pro b/g airport card and an Apple TV. The reader was “having major connection problems. Read the steps the reader took. More …

The Mac web has been abuzz over what Apple must have in mind for the PPC CPU company. ZDNet suggests that, in response to the military’s request for a non-Intel laptop, the PA Semi’s dual-core, 64-bit, low-power PWRficient processor will be seen in future. This is a design based on IBM’s Power 3 CPU’s, cousins to the G5 processors.

Forbes’ initial report, for example claimed the P.A. Semi deal “could spell a new future for Apple’s flagship iPhone.” Ars Technica concluded that Apple’s move “disses Intel’s Atom”-a reference to the new low-power processor line from Apple’s chipmaker of choice.

Is it just to obtain patent rights, and the engineers who created those patent rights, as some have suggested? Apples secrecy is not strange to us. It will be a wait and see.

Apple silently slipped in the second update to Apple TV 2.0. No word on what the update includes. As last time, access the update with Apple TV

Apple has released Apple TV 2.0.1, a dot release that fixes or improves a few features, nothing really new. Gleaned from the around the internet, here are the changes:

• Implementation of Genres in the My Movies list
• There is an option to remove podcasts from your favorites that aren’t available
• Fixed an HD podcast freeze issue
• Plus, minus buttons on remote now give progress bar
• Added trashcan icon to podcast delete function
• Apple TV now respects the Skip When Shuffling option

Apple does not have anything about the update, not surprising with such a minor update.

Apple TV 2.0.1 Update can be obtained by using Apple TV’s Settings>General>Update Software command. Users will then see a “Software updating” message and after a few minutes, depending on Apple TV’s connection, the user will be presented the choice “Update now” or “Update later.”

Choosing “Update now” leads to a restart, then approximately four Apple logo flashes, an Apple logo with a progress bar, then about 5 more logo flashes and finally the short Apple TV intro movie.

Never wanting to revel too much, iTunes 7.6.1 includes several bug fixes and improves compatibility with Apple TV software version 2.0.

Apple has also started offering a movie for the weekend, at a $0.99. The first movie is The Hours.

Getting your media into Apple TV

Is the Apple TV, take two, sufficient to move the market? Certainly, its ability to log on to the Apple Movie Store has to be attractive. Order and receive movies from your favorite movie chair. While the resolution may not be the highest its not bad. There is one feature of the Apple TV that should be taken advantage of. All media you can load into iTunes can be displayed through Apple TV. Read the rest of this entry »

If you buy any 20th Century Fox DVD labeled ‘iTunes Digital Copy’ you’ll will have a digital copy along with the physical DVD. You can view the movie on your Mac, iPod, or iPhone as many times as you like (since you own the movie) but the digital copy can only be imported into one iTunes library.

This AppleCare article explains just how to transfer that digital copy into iTunes, and once done, into video iPod, Apple TV or iPhone.

Apple TV is viewed by Steve Jobs as the fourth leg of Apple’s marketing plan. There are some who think it as a way to go before it reaches that level. TechNY.com describes how easy it is to get media to display. Including two tools that can convert any media into media compatible with iTunes. More …

A Seeking Alpha analyst’s report states that Apple TV is in fact not dead or dying, but has a bright future for Apple. A number of pundits, including one posted to this blog, had predicted the Apple TV would soon to be discontinued. It is argued Apple will earn more than $1.8 billion in 2009 driven by more features, including film rentals, high-definition content and encrypted peer-to-peer internet distribution of content. More …