Apple Spins New iMac as Media Hub

[thrunner]

Looks like Apple would like you to buy a package and not a software OS.

 

 

Apple Spins New iMac as Media Hub

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1870306,00.asp

 

October 12, 2005

 

Updated: Apple has designed its latest iMac G5 to be a home's central point for accessing everything from music files to television, in a bid to strengthen the links between its computers, music players and online music store.

[bobojuice]

I love it!!! Apple is out of there mind. They just keep getting better and better. I have to say that after test driving OSX on my laptop, im converted. I think the next machine i buy may very well be an apple imac.

[Takuro]

............................................

[blahsucks]

Wait 'till the Macintels come out. Darwine is going to trump anything that comes out, and Apple has a decent habit of announcing features for one product and spreading them to their other Macs 2 weeks later, or to their other iPods 2 months later.

[Metrogirl]

I think that's great - Windoze Media Center can take a back seat. No doubt Apple have seen that they must rise to meet this challenge and also tackle the media appliance challenge from vendors such as Creative and D-Link. I agree with Takuro; the PS3 and PSP may offer a lot but the Mac is in a better position. If they can get market share.

 

Here's the downside. It occurs to me that offering that functionality will require some hardware mods. If they use a neat integrated chipset on the system board they have a golden opportunity to lock down the OS to try to prevent it running on other machines... Which of course will give us a lot of challenges of our own.

[blahsucks]

There is a semantic difference between Media Center and OSX, though. Jobs is shooting for the Mac as a media hub, not a center. Case in point: the lack of TV tuner cards in Macs. You interweave your TV and PC, instead of combining them. This seems to be a more elegant solution; mediacenters have yet to become popular, but it doesn't seem to be gaining much traction either.

 

Media Center and OSX are eventually going to compete, anyway. Apple has their work cut out for them; they compete with Sony's hardware and MS's software (and multiples of vendors).

[lane]

Hate to say it but Frontrow & Centerstage are still lightyears behind the functionality of MCE 2005.

 

Remember MCE 2005 is the third version of the Media Center operating system and its been greatly improved since its first rendition.

 

If anyone else here remembers the first version it was buggy and unreliable. Today Frontrow appears to be more like the new Nero Home program built into Nero 7 Ultra Edition.

 

Not to say that further development in either Frontrow or Centerstage couldn't bring them up to par with MCE 2005 its just unlikely to happen.

[redmeat]

I guess no one told Apple that the RIAA will NOT let computers become entertainment centers. They have proven that over and over again due to them not being able to control the content in any meaningful fasion.

 

I really don't know whats going to happen in the next few years but its looking like the Entertainment Industry vs Everyone else.

[zfire89]

i would totally buy one of these if i had money it sucks being unemployed

[natefrogg]

at first i thought this was cool, until i noticed the lack of a tv tuner

 

apple has had computers with tv tuners 10 years ago, why can't they slap one into this media imac?

 

this one leaves me dissapointed....seems like only half of a media imac without tv tuner ability =\

[DiaboliK]

if you guys check it out front row and centerstage is OPEN source!!!

[ajmas]

The lack of a TV card is a bit of a shame. Then again the least they could have done is add an RCA video in, with RCA audio in.

 

On the other hand you could see this more of a solution for people looking for their content on DVDs and online.