Shall I buy the new Apple TV? well...

To define if the new AppleTV model (4th gen, 2015) is worth it or not you gotta understand what it is, and to be honest, its a multi-personality gadget because of its background.

Lets take this from the beginning...

AppleTV popped out around March 2007,  its only purpose was to sync and keep data (from your computer) in it's hard drive and play it (music and video) , it was a pain having to sync your stuff to the brand new gadget, but it was worth it (no mobile devices were launched at that time but the iPod which was far from being able to deal with connectivity). In few words, it was a nice hard drive with some piece of software to play its contents.

That was AppleTV.

Later it was something to stream and play info, from some channels (what you know as "apps" nowadays) or your computer (iTunes).

Few years later it became a full streaming gadget, and not only for your files and built-in channels  but also for your device screen, AirTunes (which was designed to stream just music wirelessly) became AirPlay, designed to stream video and audio allowing you since then to stream your device screen directly to your TV just by pressing 1 single button. Yep, it was cool, and still is.

Today a new model came out finally, it was long overdue.
Whats new? Well, nothing new and tons of new.

Not new, but better:
a) The main intention stays the same, streaming content from the internet (through 3d party channels or the built-in iTunes app) or any AirPlay enabled device.
b) Enhanced built-in iTunes Store, enhanced interface.
c) Same channel/apps strategy for 3rd party streaming (NFL, NBA, MBLA, Netflix, Hulu, and so on), but now you can interact with the content on some of them.
d) More power (speed, stability, bla bla bla, since now the lil box can handle bigger and complex apps)

New:
a) New OS, which lets get a better,  deeper and smoother experience with the content.
b) New remote control, with a touch and movement sensor (yes, imagine a mini Nintendo Wii controller mixed with an iPhone touch mini screen so you can use gestures or physical movements to control the software).
c) By saying the last 2 features you can imagine the third one... (and the most important) the capability of downloading, installing and using regular iOS based APPS that have nothing to do with playing or streaming content, such like games and all those productivity, lifestyle, and whatnot apps you have on your mobile devices today. 
d) Siri strikes again, her first appearance out of a mobile device. It's been enhanced to deal not just with the regular stuff we are used to on our iDevices, but also with more specific tasks like searching for an specific movie, tv show, etc...

So in few words, Apple just enabled its TV gadget to work as any other Apple mobile device, it changed what it needed to achieve it (processor, controller and software). Apple TV became Apple Entertainment Center... surprise surprise... just as Microsoft decided to transform its gaming console Xbox to an Entertainment Center: you can still do the original stuff... play games, but you can now browse, use apps to stream content from 3rd parties, etc... with Apple TV you can still do the original stuff, stream content and media files but you can now browse, use 3rd party apps to play games, and many other "non TV" related stuff.

Im still in shock they didn't put a 4k streaming feature though... but thats another story which will probably be fixed in upcoming OS upgrades.

So... SHOULD I BUY ONE? you ask.
Well... back to basics again.

Basic few old reasons you should buy an Apple TV:

a) You have no SmartTV. (since most of them have already channels and apps for streaming)
b) You need to stream your device screen to a TV often.
c) You have a large collection of movies/audio bought through the iTunes Store.
d) You love iTunes Store movie catalogue and rent a movie from it quite often.

Basic new reasons to buy an Apple TV:
e) You have a SmartTV but it sucks, TV software is slow, buggy.
f) You'd like to be able to play or use apps that you like from your iPhone or iPad directly on your TV without needing such devices (those apps will be adapted to work with the innovative remote control they launched, other wise it would be pretty impossible).

If you didn't answer YES to any of these... there's no point getting an AppleTV, for now.

By now some of you shall be asking: and what about the exclusive channels AppleTV has like the NFL app or even HBO Go? To be honest, they are cool... and even more now, with all this software and interactivity upgrade AppleTV got, now you can interact with those apps even better, on real time,  connected to tons and tons of information while watching a football match or a movie... BUT?

But that normally just work for US residents. The NFL app, The Hulu App, and so many others stream content that's allowed to play within the US... because of licensing schemes and sometimes stupidity, most of Apples gadgets come preinstalled with whats allowed specifically in each country, and most of the time, even if you download an app like Hulu... the very same OS will stop you from using it or Hulu will tell you "no way José" before you even finish the phrase "what the F..."

So those benefits and enhancements 3rd parties are implementing in their apps, as cooler as they are, are pretty much limited to the US. (hope that changes one day).

And Siri? isn't it great?
Meh... in developer language, it is FANTASTIC, they've achieved a great virtual personal assistant, "intelligent one", no match yet from the competition, but seriously... those gimmicks are just extras, some people will use them, some others won't, if talking to your TV is a priority, then Apple TV is a must for you... there's no better personal assistant than Siri nowadays, but seriously... if thats your priority to buy a gadget like this... well, you probably need some friends xD

So shall I buy the new one!?
As always you can do as you please, half of this kind of decisions are based on fake needs (created by the never ending marketing strategies), but IMHO, the new AppleTV was built and designed so developers can play with it, this was NOT an end user upgrade yet, even with the new UI and remote control... it will take some time while developers take advantage of all this new stuff and hardware, til they surprise us with new ways of enjoying AppleTV... but as I said, it will take some time, for now... we are stuck with this version, where an iOS device with iOS apps and a personal assistant are injected into your TV... to do, play or such pretty much what you already do through your iPad or iPhone.

Am I gonna buy one?
Nah... for now ;)

Apple iTunes Radio NOT working - [FIX]

So as any mac lover would do, I got my hands on the new iTunes Radio... must accept I had all the intention to leave Spotify for good after getting smashed by "THE APPLE"....

Regardless of what I think bout iTunes Radio, I struggled quite a bit trying to make it work. Searched if I had some kind of restriction because of the country licensing issues we all know they have and what not... NOTHING. It just could't play a single station, playlist or such.

After a few days, I came back to try and make it work, followed a normal process:

a) Open iTunes
b) Click on Radio
c) Click on any station or pls.
d) Nothing... as soon as I clicked iTunes tried to connect for less than a second, and return nothing, stopping the player, no error message, nothing.

So my only logic was that it wasn't... working... right.
So here's what I did, hoping it can help others, this ain't an official fix nor a universal one that could help all of you tho but hopefully it will work for some.

a) Open iTunes
b) Click on Radio
c) Try to play something, if it doesn't work, follow next steps.
d) Go to iTunes Store within iTunes.
e) Click on "Purchased" (located at the right side of the interface, it's a text menu)
f) It should ask for your Apple ID and password,  use it and login.
g) Go back to Radio, and try to play something, it should work.


NOW... after doing that, got a window asking if I wanted to join "Apple Music"... had to accept, selected the 3 month trial mode (and added a massive alert that will pop in 3 months reminding me to cancel the subscription). And here I am, enjoying the Radio stuff... which I must say, I'm far from impressed... bad UI = bad UX.

Anyway, happy tunes.

S.