Categories: AppleAudioGaming

Apple TV Updated. For Real This Time.

For a few short hours last week, Apple TV software update 6.0 was available. However, due to a variety of glitches, had been pulled. The patched software has made its triumphant return today, featuring iTunes Radio along with a few playback and synchronization enhancements. While iTunes Radio is frequently compared to Pandora, it feels more like a platform to merely sell tracks – given prices displayed all over the place. And if I wanted to listen to music through my TV, I’d head over to the way more visually stimulating VEVO — MTV for the digital age. Of course, Airplay remains unrivaled… although Google’s $35 DIAL-powered Chromecast dongle looks real promising. But I’m still holding out hope for a more powerful aTV, sporting a full fledged app store and the ability to take advantage of iOS’ new gaming controller API – I think you know where I’m going here. Folders for ‘My Apps’ versus the current Roku-esque clutter would also be an appreciated enhancement.

From the release notes:

Tunes Radio Create your own radio stations and listen to them ad-free with iTunes Match. (Available only in the United States.)
iTunes Music Store Browse, purchase, and play music directly from the iTunes Music Store.
iCloud Photos Adds support for playing video from a shared photo stream and viewing photo streams from multiple contributors.
AirPlay from iCloud Apple TV will play content from iTunes in the Cloud instead of your AirPlay device when possible. Requires iOS 7 on AirPlay device.
Podcasts Sync your podcasts and podcast stations across Apple TV and all your iOS devices.
Subtitles & Captioning Automatic subtitle selection based on Apple TV language setting. Customize closed caption style.
Conference Room Display Lock Apple TV into Conference Room Display (for business and education environments) and show onscreen instructions for using AirPlay.
Published by
Dave Zatz