AppleTV

Monday, March 19, 2007 by Dave Winer.

I just got an email from Ole Eichorn saying he got a notice from Apple that they've shipped his Apple TV. So that's it, whatever it is, it's shipping. 

I feel like I've done my homework on this, not sure if I'm going to get one, a lot of it depends on how heavy the DRM is. I supsect it will be pretty heavy. I've had an iPod virtually since they came out, but I've never bought a song at the iTunes music store. I also have a Mac Mini on my TV, acting as my Internet-based DVR (I also pay Comcast $115 a month for subscriptions to all the services I use). 

In a rational world, we'd be building apps off this site as we're building on Twitter, it's really rich, but we're all to scared of Hollywood to work together on this. Or at least I'm too scared. But I admire what they're doing, esp since they just added excellent RSS support. I may go ahead and design some software that automates BitTorrent for a friend of mine (who will remain nameless) who is a Gilmore Girls fan who thinks its silly that she has to remember to download the program every week. I know Azureus has RSS support, but as its implemented it's way too technical for even me to configure properly, and it's hopeless to try to explain to a person who knows how to use a TiVO. 

The point is this -- the open DRM-less world is tantalizingly close to delivering nirvana. If we somehow could get clearance from Hollywood to go ahead (unlikely) we could take the last few steps. Compare that against what we are offered from Apple in the next few days. Maybe Apple will challenge Hollywood, the open letter Steve Jobs offers a sliver of hope. We'll be watching, very carefully.