“I’m surprised that there was less outrage over Apple’s Front Row software, which is a complete Media Center rip-off (albeit one that offers only a subset of Media Center features). Joe Belfiore, the general manager of Microsoft’s eHome division, is in New York this week for Digital Life for the soft-launch of XP MCE 2005 UR2, and he’s surprised about a completely different issue. ‘I was surprised that it took them as long as this to do a feature like Media Center,’ he said. Indeed. But this lengthy gestation–Media Center has been out for over three years now–suggests that Apple isn’t all-powerful. Furthermore, Apple is only now dealing with issues Microsoft first solved four years ago–IR interfaces, for starters–and has yet to figure out all the issues involved with TV tuner cards, TV recording, and so forth. In short, they have a long way to go before they can ever catch up with Media Center. Most tellingly, perhaps: Why is Apple’s interface so text-based? It looks sad next to Microsoft’s highly-visual approach. Which, frankly, is what you want with digital media content. Just a thought,” Paul Thurrott writes for WinInfo.
Full article here.
Advertisements:
The New iPod with Video. The ultimate music + video experience on the go. Buy it now at the Apple Store. From $299. Free shipping.
The New iMac G5 – Built-in iSight camera and remote control with Front Row media experience. From $1299. Free shipping.
Long before Microsoft began pushing Media Center computers, before most Wintel PCs even had sound cards, Apple made a Mac with a built-in TV tuner. Macintosh TV, introduced by Apple in 1993. More info here.
Like the GUI, the mouse, FireWire, Wi-Fi, ad infinitum: Apple leads. Microsoft tries to follow. As usual.
So, Apple was not “slow” with the new Front Row, more like “waiting for the right time.” The Front Row interface is instantly familiar to iPod users for a reason. Obviously, Apple has a way to go, but if you think Steve Jobs doesn’t have a grand master plan, you’re wrong. We’ve only seen pieces so far. By the way, if you want TV tuners and recording and so forth for your Mac, take a look at Elgato’s offerings here.
Related articles:
Podfather: iPod porn is going to be huge – October 14, 2005
Cringely on Apple video experiment, future 802.11n Apple Video Express, Sony TVs in Apple stores – October 14, 2005
Using QuickTime Pro to create videos for playback in new Apple iPods – October 13, 2005
Apple’s new iMac G5, iTunes 6, iPod video designed to bait Hollywood – October 13, 2005
Apple video iPod+iTunes could create mass audience for video on the go, despite studios’ misgivings – October 13, 2005
Watching episode of ABC’s ‘Lost’ on 2.5-inch iPod screen surprisingly compelling – October 13, 2005
Analyst: Apple has just produced ‘the tipping point’ for entertainment content – October 13, 2005
Fortune: With video iPod, iTunes 6, iMac G5 and Front Row, Apple ready for ‘a good holiday season’ – October 13, 2005
Analyst: Unlike Microsoft, Apple has the advantage by not licensing their technology – October 13, 2005
BusinessWeek: Microsoft fumbles while Apple turns the needlessly complex into the beautifully simple – October 13, 2005
Video report: Apple CEO Steve Jobs discusses new iPod, iMac and earnings report – October 13, 2005
NBC TV shows up next for Apple’s iTunes? – October 13, 2005
Analyst: Real and Microsoft deal ‘doesn’t change the dynamics for Apple in any way, shape or form’ – October 12, 2005
Apple’s video play likely to unsettle movie, TV, advertising and retail markets for years to come – October 12, 2005
Analyst: ‘media companies will call Apple to strike deals, Front Row is Media Center done right’ – October 12, 2005
Analyst: Apple rewriting media distribution rules, more people will consider switching to Mac now – October 12, 2005
Apple and Disney usher in new media era – October 12, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime of ‘One More Thing’ special media event – October 12, 2005
Apple’s Front Row with Apple Remote and iMac G5: media center done right – October 12, 2005
Apple introduces new thinner iMac G5 with built-in iSight video camera, ‘Front Row’ media experience – October 12, 2005
Apple releases iTunes 6 with 2,000 music videos, Pixar short films & hit TV shows for $1.99 – October 12, 2005
Apple unveils new 5th generation iPod, now plays music, photos, and video – October 12, 2005
“XP MCE 2005 UR2”
Umm… could there be more acronyms associated with this title please?
It’s not the quantity of features, it’s the quality of them.
Apple couldn’t “figure out” IR remotes and TV tuners?
Have some integrity man. They didn’t SELL a TV tuner, but that doesn’t mean they’ve been trying for years and unable to “figure it out.”
Don’t give the guy hits.
First off, that’s Elgato, MDN, not Elgatp…
I agree with Steve that the slide they showed comparing the Apple remote with that of M$ MC controls demonstrated the simplicity behind Apple’s approach to the Media Center.
Wouldn’t including a TV tuner allow people to capture their favorite shows for free? Where is the value in a one time sale of hardware when you can get recurring sales of downloads?!?!
I would like to see the remote get upgraded next year to Bluetooth, so you don’t have to maintain a visual line with the device you’re controlling. this would allow you to store a mini out of sight or change the song from another room. I’d like to see what functionallity Apple could develop by using a scrool wheel and screen on the remote, mimicing the mini more than the shuffle.
http://plextor.com/english/products/TV402UMac.htm This uses the same software as the EyeTVs from Elgato. But there is no remote control to beable to not use a mouse to change channels and choose content.
Why copy a dud like Media Center? There’s a reason it has gone nowhere in 3 years.
Apple will do it different and it will work. It won’t just be Media Center without the viruses and spyware.
Childish. More iFud.
ANYONE can rush a crappy product to market. It takes time to get it right.
Just ask buymusic.com
The market hasn’t been ready for media PCs, as sales have shown. To Microsoft’s credit, they were ahead of the game, but as usual, their “can do everything” approach only brings complexity to a system that should be fun and exciting. Apple’s approach is baby-steps. The market doesn’t understand full convergence, but that day is coming.
I’d honestly rather stick to VHS than suffer through using MS’s Media Center. Sure, Apple’s offering might be a little light in the feature department, but for one, it’s early, and two, it actually works. You can bet your bottom dollar that in the months to come, Apple will have complete solution for the living room that is far more enjoyable to use than anything by MS. In fact, just using these Apple products is often more entertaining than the content they deliver. Using MS products make it so by the time your content is queued, you’d rather just go to bed.
copy? what didn’t they think about the same copy operation system from Apple? you know Windows is F***ing copy from mac os x. now, they talk about media app like fron row is copy? why interface is so texted? they don’t really understand the link between ipod and itunes, other apps in ilife in terms of interaction pack. the text you talk about is ipod interface inspiration, you idiot!
Apple used to ship TV tuner cards in its Macintosh computers almost ten years ago. The reason there isn’t a TV tuner inside the iMac is because of lack of worldwide standards. Today people get their TV from a number of sources including, traditional TV, cable TV, Satellite TV, digital airborne TV, etc. The technical problem to solve here is how to address all these sources and connect easily to all of them. The business problem is how to do it without upsetting the content providers. Apple is trying to create a viable economic model for digital media whereas Microsoft tried to focus only on the technical aspects. Microsoft so far has failed because it has not analized the business impact and because their technical solution is complex for the normal user. This does not mean that Apple will succeed because consumers will have to demonstrate that a market exists for digital video content but it is a better approach.
“Furthermore, Apple is only now dealing with issues Microsoft first solved four years ago–IR interfaces, for starters–and has yet to figure out all the issues involved with TV tuner cards, TV recording, and so forth.”
October 1993: Apple Computer announces Macintosh TV, which combines an Apple Macintosh, television, and CD-ROM.
I was associated with an internet radio provider who got themselves listed in the Windows Media Center directory when it first came out. My recollection is that there didn’t seem to be any significant upswing in listeners reorted from broadcasters arising out of that particular association. Hopes were high initially but frankly, nothing notable seemed to ever happen.
Interestingly, some of those same internet radio broadcasters also had the good fortune to become listed in the iTunes Radio directory. For those lucky few it was like going to broadcaster heaven. They consistantly reported a phenomenal deluge listenership from their iTunes Radio directory listing.
I think part of the reason we’re not seeing TV tuners is because Apple is gearing toward delivering more “on demand” content. Sometime in the next 5 or so years, “cable TV” will all be internet based anyway. The step from analog cable to digital cable has revolutionized the way that cable companies can deliver content, and just like the telephone companies, cable will slip into the internet, instead of running side by side down the same wire.
Why would Apple want to give people another reason to watch broadcast TV when they are setting themselves up to be the next big source of video content?
“My DVR can record a couple of weeks worth of my favourite programs”
“What if you want to watch a show from last month or last season?”
“Ummmm”…
With the iTMS, you will be able to watch all the same shows, plus back catalog of TV classics, when you want, commercial free and only pay for what you use instead of paying $40-80 per month for hundreds of ad-filled channels you don’t watch, that have hardly anything worth watching on? For that money, I could purchase 20-40 episodes of the programs I want to watch and watch them when and as often as I want to watch them, commercial free, and I own it.
Apple is choosing to not include DVR capabilities in FrontRow for the same reason they choose to not put an FM tuner in the iPod. Broadcast’s days are numbered. The cableco’s got greedy.
How far has Media Center gone in these past 3 years? Nowhere. As in Not Anywhere. It’s back there with the Tablet PC, MSN TV, and the rest of eHome. Front Row not only looks nice, but it is simple, and its also part of Apples best selling all-in-one desktop Mac- so who wouldn’t want it? I think it will be a very good competitor
The question of how to address the different TV technologies is a simple one addressed by different hardware for different technologies.
I wouldn’t compare FrontRunner and Media Center, though. Media Center’s primary benefit is the TV interface. Which is not great, in my opinion.
My thoughts exactly: If Microsuck’s Media Center is so great, why hasn’t it taken off yet?
I think we certainly don’t know all the pieces yet of Apple’s plan. It could be a good one.. it could be the wrong one.. But they’re starting it in motion, and that’s good.
Microsuck has tried and failed thus far…
Screw the cable, satellite companies and tuner cards. That’s so old school. It’s a matter of time before Wi-Max will allow Apple to send video on demand and you won’t need them. They’ll broadcast from their Apple Stores and you’ll be able to subscribe to the TV channels you want rather than buy a fixed package with idiotic tiers. Next year should be a good one for Apple & Intel.
That being said. I think there is a huge market for Front Row even without PVR functionality. Browsing my photo and iTunes collection on my TV screen would make me happy. The interface is simple (ala iPod) and that is why it works.
A friend bought and set up a MS media center for a party. By the time the party began, he had figured out how to select songs, but such things are shuffle and EQ took 20 min to find. Maybe this was due to a lack of familiarity with WMP, but should that function be easy to find?
Also, I don’t exactly know why you need a TV tuner card or TV recorder when those boxes already exist. It seems to me that Apple’s approach is not the same as Mircosoft’s integrate everything into your computer, but to increase their own conent delivery and to organize the stuff you bought. Why compete with TiVO and every DVR out there with the same thing? The TV show thing has it’s own niche because it is different that on-demand or DVR. It may not win, but it’s a great first step.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
My VCR is still blinking 12:00. So how in the heck can I use M$ Media Center.
Hmmm, I really don’t think that MS should be going around talking about people trying to copy them. Perhaps they were too busy copying os X to stop and think about what they are saying. Furthermore, after looking at both I wouldn’t exactly call front row a copy of media center. Front row just appears to be a nice interface for your iapps and not the basis for an entire operating system. It’s kind of like how the itunes widget is a different interface for operating itunes via dashboard. I personally like the text list. For example, if I want to try and find a file in a finder window I prefer a text list as opposed to a thumbnail view of files. It is much faster and efficient to scan a list than to look at each thumbnail.
Computers are not designed to take over the TV arena. TiVo has done a good job because it does not feel like a computer. I’ve never had to do a software update, fix a software incompatability, install software to get it to do what I want, put on a Firewall, check for viruses, etc. Nobody wants to have to deal with these issues in the entertainment center. These devices need to work and be as stable as your DVD player. Apple isn’t fighting for the entertainment spot here, I think they are testing the waters with the iMac. If it goes well, the Mac Mini is the one that they will want to put in the living room because it is small and will be able to hook up to a normal TV and an HD TV.
Where does XP MCE fit? If it’s in the living room, it plays TV, but it can’t be much of a computer, but if it’s in the office, who wants to watch TV in an office chair – I like my sofa better. TiVo handles this because it is only one thing – it does TV and it does it will. Having one device do everything is not all that it cracks up to be.
When the electric motor came out, people originally thought that each house would have one motor that you would hook up to many different appliances in your house. But, as they got cheaper, people started getting multiple motors for specialized purposes. Go look around and see how many motors you have. I predict this same thing will happen wiith computers – we are going to have many specialized computers, like TiVo, doing certain tasks. As time goes on, they will all start to talk to each better.