Review: Apple TV media streaming

This updated version of Apple’s media-streaming device suffers from the same problem as its predecessor.

It’s well designed and easy to use but you have to live in the US in order to get the most out of it. The idea behind the original was that users would buy films and TV programmes from the online iTunes store and download them to a Mac or PC. The Apple TV would then link the computer to a TV so that the downloads could be watched on a big screen, not a computer monitor.

Apple recently admitted that those film sales had been poor, which meant there wasn’t much demand for the Apple TV either. The main problem was simply that people prefer to rent films rather than pay £15 to buy things they’ll only watch once or twice. The company eventually got the message and recently announced that it would rent films through the iTunes Store as well.

To take advantage of the new rental service it's updated the AppleTV box so that it can now connect a TV directly to the iTunes Store over the internet. In other words, the new AppleTV has been transformed into a self-contained set-top box that allows users to download films and TV from the internet straight to a screen without having to use a computer at all.

It’s got a 40GB hard disk inside, which provides reasonable room for storing music and videos (there’s a 160GB version available for £269). It’s a big improvement marred only by the fact that we still can’t buy or rent films from the store in the UK. Admittedly there is a selection of TV programmes for sale and you can also use the Apple TV to stream music and photo slideshows from the computer to a TV or hi-fi system.

But as Apple boss Steve Jobs said recently: “what people want is movies, movies, movies”. Which means that – for a UK audience at least – the new Apple TV still lacks the crucial ingredient that it needs to succeed.