Apple TV 2.0 Review: Podcasts Get Center Stage

February 12th, 2008

Today Apple released their “Take 2″ software update to all AppleTV owners. The update was made available as a software download (free for all current Apple TV owners). After a quick look around, this is a great update to the device for several reasons. For me, the most important update is the podcast update. But we’ll get to that.

Installation
First, the installation was a breeze. In the menu is an option to “Check for Updates.” After clicking this button, the device tells me an update is available and asks if I want to update now or later. I hit now and the download began promptly, as well as a progress bar telling me the remaining time for the download.

Once the download finished, it rebooted and asked me to choose my TV’s resolution. One more restart and I am presented with the Apple TV’s new menu. This is a much cleaner design than before and is more organized. I am able to select similar features as before, with a few additions.

Movies
Under the movies section, there is now an ability to search movies by different genres, by HD, etc. Under Television, it is structured like on iTunes. I can choose from Top Movies, Genres, All HD, Search, Trailers and My Movies. the Genres is broken down into typical subcategories like Comedy, Drama, etc.

Under each movie’s section, there is an option to watch the trailer, rent SD or rent HD. The My Movies category is for movies that were purchased and synced with the desktop computer. I was able to pull up without any problems the movies on my computer.

Podcasts
The podcast section also received a nice update. In fact, this is the section that most interests me from a video production point of view.

Not only can I watch my subscribed podcasts like before, but now I can browse shows just like under the movies and TV sections. Like the movie section, the Podcasts are divided into subcategories. As shown in the photo, you have Favorites, Top Podcasts, Genres, Providers, Search and My Podcasts.

The Fovorites category is empty when you start off, but as you watch podcasts, you can click it like you would bookmark a website. That podcast then shows up in your Favorites folder. The Top Podcasts is identical to what is shown on iTunes, with subcategories.

The Providers is a very interesting addition. I predict this will become the future version of channel surfing. The top podcast providers have a section here and you can flip through each one. For example, you can click from CNN to NPR to the TWiT network. Some are actual networks, some are new podcast only networks. When you click on that “channel” you see all the shows produced by that network.

Finally, you can search for a specific show. When I searched for magic, The Magic Lantern was listed and I clicked on it:

What is interesting is the related searches below the main show. This is exciting because it works just like on YouTube and also the Amazon “People who bought this book also bought this…” It is a way to recommend other shows that interest people.

Now that people can easily search for and browse podcasts on their computer without any need to go to their computer, I can see the number of podcasts begin to skyrocket. We’ve already seen an increase in the number of podcasts last year, but this is going to give a much bigger incentive for others to get their shows out there.

Now, new media networks like TWiT, Revision3, TPN and others are listed right alongside of CNN, MTV, ESPN, Discover and Disney.

Conclusion
This update makes the AppleTV a device that will possibly make it the iPod of TV. Other devices have done similar tasks before, but not with the ease of the AppleTV. Apple is king when it comes to taking something complex and making it dirt simple for the average person.

As a result, there will be more digital delivery devices like this and the competition will make all the devices even better. It will also mean people will want more content.

In 2008, we are not only going to see an explosion of content in the form of podcasts, but the quality is going to approach that of the big networks. We are already seeing this with GeekBrief TV and MacBreak.

The question is, are you taking advantage of this now and start your own production, or will you be struggling to catch up in a year?

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