[tweetmeme] Soon after updating the iTunes Terms and Conditions to include a mention of the AppleTV 3.0 software, Apple released the 3.0 update free for existing AppleTV customers. The highlight of the update includes a complete redesign of the user interface, with support for iTunes LP and Extras formats.
AppleInsider summarises it nicely:
- Experience iTunes Extras: Buy select movies with iTunes Extras and take your entertainment beyond the credits and behind the scenes. Access special features, watch interviews and trailers, view photos, and more right from Apple TV.
- iTunes LP, now on your TV: The visual experience of the record album returns with iTunes LP. Download select albums and experience a beautifully designed interactive world — many are created by the artists — full screen on your Apple TV. While you listen to your favorite songs, you can dive into animated lyrics and liner notes, watch performance videos, view artist and band photos, and enjoy other bonus materials.
- Genius Mixes: This new feature searches an iTunes library, finds songs that go great together, and creates multiple mixes, all automatically.
- Visual aids — Events and Faces: Apple TV brings the ease and organization of iPhoto to the big screen with Events and Faces. Events lets users flip through photos grouped by event, like “Beach house” or “Vegas trip.” Faces uses face detection to identify people in photos and face recognition to match faces that look like the same person. Click the Faces view and Apple TV shows you a corkboard featuring a snapshot of each person named in a photo collection.
- Streaming Internet radio: Browse thousands of streaming radio stations and every genre imaginable, including rock, reggae, classical, and jazz. Just click a station and begin streaming. Apple TV now includes stations in high-quality HE-AAC formats for your listening pleasure.
There’s even reports of HD playback of YouTube videos, a welcome change especially given the large screens displaying the content. A quick twitter search reveals users are loving the new UI. David Chartier tweets, “The most significant Apple TV 3.0 win is it puts MY content center stage. No more scrolling 6 times to get past store links for MY videos.”
If you’re an AppleTV user, go ahead and download this update. You will also need the iTunes 9.0.2 update for compatibility with the new software. For the rest of you interested in seeing what the new UI looks like, Wez Knowles a.k.a. The Flossy Monster was kind enough to grab a video of the UI in action. It’s evident he’s not the best videographer, but it’s good enough. Video after the break:
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I downloaded the update yesterday and I’m still a little uneasy about the big part the Apple store has in the new version. At the top of the home screen you see different preview of content, you get 3 preview of your own content and 3 to twenty preview of content you can buy at the store
I bought the Apple TV to stream MY content first, now I get what is basically ads instead of showing me my content, not cool.