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Front and center
To me, the most interesting news from Apple yesterday was about the new iMac. Front Row looks incredibly promising, and it’s exciting to see Apple piece together their all-media strategy before our very eyes.
The do-it-yourself Mac media center
I’ve been fascinated by the idea of the Mac as home media center since the Mini came out earlier this year. There’s Center Stage, an open-source project that aims to turn the Mac into the center of your living room and a server for all your music, movies and photos. The Mac PVR is a feasible but still-rough-around-the-edges proposition. And now that Apple has introduced Front Row and Cute Little Remote, things are starting to look very real.
A couple of weeks ago, I finally figured out how to rip DVDs (that I legally own, of course) to my Mac using MacTheRipper and compress them into more manageable self-contained movie files with Handbrake. Add to that my 30 GB music library, and you’re talking about a lot of stuff.
If only there was a way to manage and play all this content without a lot of fuss and the hassle of third-party peripherals…
Enter Front Row
Apple’s new iMac + Front Row looks like just the ticket. Well, almost.
I agree with Khoi Vinh — Apple’s solution is cool but only frustratingly close. And that’s not close enough. Like it or not, downloading movies and ripping DVDs is not feasible for mainstream video content distribution. For now, broadcast and cable television is where it’s at.
Opposite Khoi’s concerns about content are Mark Boulton’s concerns about connecting your Mac to your TV. This is less of a serious problem, as most HDTVs can talk to most Macs (via DVI/HDMI) and the rest can be connected with regular composite video or S-Video. But until we can stream video with the elegance of Airport Express, it’s just not going to be practical for most people to plug their Mac into their television.
Coming soon… hopefully
To me, this is one of the most important Apple announcements in years. But a lot of pieces have to fall into place before the grand vision is realized.
I, for one, have a few questions. Please share yours (and your answers!).
- Will Front Row be available to owners of older/other Macs? What about the Cute Little Remote?
- Will it ever get easier to rip DVDs? (I know this isn’t something Apple is going to pioneer, but someone could apply an Apple-like elegance to solving the problem.)
- Will Apple sign distribution deals with other networks, studios, etc?
- Will Apple offer video in higher resolution than 320x240 so we can actually watch it on the television?
- Will cities be swarmed by iPod-carrying fools staring at their hands? (And what will they be watching?)
I can’t wait to see how this one ends. In the meantime, I’ll be ripping my CDs and DVDs… waiting for the revolution.