For the past month I’ve had our Mac mini connected to the plasma to allow us to play videos such as stuff from our movie library, iTunes, as well as music through our stereo.  This has been great fun, and opens up many possibilities for convenience and choice, not to mention being a serious alternative to cable TV.  However, since this is our main computer, it has made regular computer use a little more difficult.

Need to check email?  Walk into the living room and fire up the plasma.  Mail.app is easy to read on a 50-inch screen, but it is kind of silly.  The kids are enjoying Webkinz in full plasma goodness as well.  As I type this I’m crouched over a piano bench sitting on a child’s chair, with the keyboard hooked up by USB extension cord.  Funny, I know, but this has become known as Problem Number 1.  And we don’t plan on buying another computer just to have in the media center.

So that brings me to the title of this post.  Apple TV has been out for quite a while now, without much change other than the Take Two software upgrade.  For a little over $200 you get a small, silent box that will play your iTunes music and videos streamed from your PC to your HDTV.  Since the Apple TV connects by HDMI or component cables, it solves Problem Number 2, which was the difficulty of getting the resolution settings right.  I’m currently using SwitchResX to display my screen in an odd 1224 x 688 format (which by the way, prevents iMovie HD from opening, but that’s another story).  My Mac resolution is working, but I still have some quirks and fine tuning to work out.  The Apple TV is designed for television, and as such it will just work.

Many folks have hesitated to get the Apple TV due to some limitations, such as small hard drive space or playback of Apple-only video formats.  These limitations don’t matter for me now, as there are third party plugins for Apple TV (such as boxee and XBMC) which allow for added convenience of playing alternate video formats, not to mention connecting to internet video services such as Hulu and CBS.com (something we were already doing with the mini).  I can also use my EyeTV and Mac mini as a DVR, and stream those programs to the Apple TV as well.

The time has come. And with Apple refurb prices at $199, the time is right.  Apple TV, here I come!

Simplify Media went bye-bye a while ago now. Now with the advent of cloud sharing, you can do essentially the same thing with Apple’s iCloud, Google Music, Amazon’s cloud storage, as well as subscription services like Mog or Spotify.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

Original post follows…

I just got turned on to this great free app called Simplify Media.  Simplify Media lets you share your music library anywhere over the web.  Simply install, pick a username for your free account, select folders or playlists to share, and you’re all set.  The setup is simple, and I didn’t have to configure my firewall or open ports or anything.

How is this helpful?  You can listen to your home music library at work.  Or listen to your work computer’s music library at home.  Or listen to your home music anywhere on your iPod touch or iPhone.

What? On my iPhone??

It’s true.  And the sound quality is fantastic.  Once you set up Simplify Media at home, you can log in with your iPhone or iPod touch using the Simplify Media iPhone app (the app is US$4.00) and listen to your music, streamed in full quality to your device over wifi.  Incredible.

For months now I’ve been using lala.com to stream my music to my work machine in a browser.  This was OK, but it took an initial upload of a couple of days to get my music sync’d with the lala.com servers.  Once my music was there, I could open a browser and listen to my stuff at work.  But Simplify Media does one better than that, and plays your music right in iTunes or Winamp.

Have friends?  Good.  Have friends with music?  Even better.  You can invite your buddies (and they can invite you, up to 30 friends total) and share their music too.

I got this set up the other day with a good friend that has been living in Spain.  We both installed Simplify Media this week, shared our music folders, invited each other, and can now enjoy each other’s music library from the computer, iPod touch, work machine, or whatever.  The little Simplify Media window even tells you what songs are being shared!  At this time I’m listening to The Decemberists on my iPod touch, streamed from his laptop in Spain.  The sound quality is great, buffering is quick (plus once you’re listening to an album there are no gaps between songs; if you shuffle, there is a bit of a pause between tunes).  This is great fun.

While the iPhone / iPod touch app costs 4 bucks, the PC client is free.  They have a version for Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu Linux.  Check it out, and free your music.

The Good

• PC or Mac client is Free
• Easy to set up (and nearly firewall-proof)
• Share and stream your music anywhere you have a ‘net connection
• Share and stream your friends’ music anywhere
• Sound quality is excellent

The Bad

• Must use iTunes (or Winamp) for music playback
• iPhone / iPod touch app isn’t free (but well worth it for 4 bucks)
• Won’t play music purchased from iTunes (DRM’d)

In short

If you love music and wish you could access your own music library anywhere, this app is a great way to do it.  If you have an iPod touch, and wish you had bought the larger one, regret it no longer; you can have access to all of your music, not just 8gb.