Apple TV 3.0 software update is out, with iTunes Extras, LP & Genius in tow

Looks like Apple's "hobby" is finally getting the iTunes Extra & LP features it was initially denied, as the Apple TV 3.0 software has just released, featuring a brand new main menu (above) plus Genius Mixes and internet radio access. It took a reboot and a few tries for units around here to start seeing the new software was available, so feel free to give that "check for updates" button a workout, 'til then the official PR is after the break describing what your box is missing.

Show full PR text

Apple Introduces Apple TV 3.0 Software With Redesigned User Interface
Enjoy iTunes Extras, iTunes LP & Genius Mixes on Your HD TV

CUPERTINO, California-October 29, 2009-Apple® today introduced new Apple TV® 3.0 software featuring a redesigned main menu that makes navigating your favorite content simpler and faster, and makes enjoying the largest selection of on-demand HD movie rentals and purchases, HD TV shows, music and podcasts from the iTunes® Store even better on your TV. You can now enjoy iTunes Extras and iTunes LP in stunning fullscreen with your Apple TV, as well as listen to Genius Mixes and Internet radio through your home theater system. The new Apple TV software is available immediately free of charge to existing Apple TV owners, and Apple TV with 160GB capacity is available for just $229.

"The new software for Apple TV features a simpler and faster interface that gives you instant access to your favorite content," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet Services. "HD movies and HD TV shows from iTunes have been a huge hit with Apple TV customers, and with Apple TV 3.0 they get great new features including iTunes Extras, Genius Mixes and Internet radio."

The redesigned main menu on Apple TV gives you instant access to your favorite content. Recently rented or purchased movies, as well as other content including TV shows, music, podcasts, photos and YouTube, are accessible directly from the new main menu. The new software also allows Apple TV users to enjoy stunning fullscreen iTunes Extras and iTunes LP, including great new movie titles such as "Star Trek" or classics like "The Wizard of Oz" and albums such as Taylor Swift's "Fearless (Platinum Edition)" and Jack Johnson's "En Concert." iTunes Extras gives movie fans great additional content such as deleted scenes, interviews and interactive galleries. iTunes LP is the next evolution of the music album, delivering a rich, immersive experience for select albums on the iTunes Store by combining beautiful design with expanded visual features like live performance videos, lyrics, artwork, liner notes, interviews, photos, album credits and more.

Now Apple TV users can enjoy Genius Mixes through their home theater system and listen to up to 12 endless mixes of songs that go great together, automatically generated from their iTunes library. Customers can also enjoy Internet radio, allowing them to browse and listen to thousands of Internet radio stations, as well as tag favorite stations to listen to later. Apple TV's support of HD photos is enhanced with iPhoto Events, which simplifies finding your favorite photos on Apple TV, as well as iPhoto® Faces, which gives access to photos organized by people identified in iPhoto.

Apple TV users have direct access to a catalog of over 8,000 Hollywood films on iTunes including over 2,000 in stunning HD video available for rent or purchase. Users can also choose from a selection of 11 million songs, 10,000 music videos and over 50,000 TV episodes to purchase directly from their Apple TV or browse and enjoy the iTunes Store podcast directory of over 175,000 free video and audio podcasts. Purchases downloaded to Apple TV are automatically synced back to iTunes on the user's computer for enjoyment on their Mac® or PC or all current generation iPods or iPhones.* iPod touch® or iPhone® users can download the free Remote app from the App Store to control their Apple TV with a simple tap or flick of the finger.

Pricing & Availability
The new Apple TV software is available as a free automatic download to all Apple TV customers. The 160GB Apple TV is available from the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $229 (US). Apple TV requires an 802.11b/g/n wireless network or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking, a broadband Internet connection and a high definition widescreen TV. Video availability varies by country.

Apple TV easily connects to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theater systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. Using high-speed Wi-Fi, Apple TV automatically plays your iTunes content without setup or management.

*Movie rentals work on iPod classic®, iPod nano® with video, iPod touch, iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 2:58PM]

needed the updates but i think i like the old menu better

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 9:24PM]

The new interface looks sure fugly!

[metric Posted Oct 29th 2009 9:59PM]

Apple TV is a joke. Just like Apple's phailed video game system. Pipin was it?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:00PM]

yeah.......apple ftw.....


or not.....


absolutely worthless....great a new menu....but the other features....ehh

[DRoizman Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:13PM]

No matter how the good the news are, there will always e people that will complain just for the sake of complaining.

Dizaztor, 2009.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 6:15PM]

Daniel, also ever noticed they're always one of the first to comment too. It's as if they're waiting in the wings to pounce on things to criticize.

[Towncivilian Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:00PM]

iTunes 9.0.2 is out in Apple Software Update. It's strangely not posted on the iTunes download website, though.

[manifest3r Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:02PM]

HOLY CRIPES BATMAN!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:01PM]

While I am not at home to play with it, judging from the graphic posted, I like the new menu. Instead of having "My Movies" or what have you, as being the last option, it's the first. Instead of trying to plug the store, they are plugging your own content. That and the internet radio were much needed updates. I'll have to test the iTunes LP integration for myself.

[jmc Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:22PM]

i LOVE that the 'My' library options are back at the top. seems like a small thing but what a difference it makes. as for internet radio; nice touch, but i'd just been tuning in using itunes and then sending to the appletv via airtunes. all thru the ipod touch remote. but nice to have it builtin now.

[jakem Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:02PM]

So did they deliberately decide to make it ugly to hide the fact that they copied Sony?

Oh well, it's not like anyone actually owns one of these anyway so what difference does it make.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:43PM]

copied Sony!?! HA! That's hilarious! Sony's store is a complete joke. I despise using my PS3 for anything except a few games and Blu-Ray movies. Pull your head out of your ass!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 4:51PM]

I own one.

[Ryujin Posted Oct 29th 2009 5:09PM]

While i don't think they copied with Sony they are competing with PS3 and 360 and with what the 360 brings to the table I don't see how will succed in anyway, on top of that you have either a ps3 or 360 in most households while competing with any other companies media centers. I mean Windows 7 with a cheap extender can bring media center and playback to anything, I would think Apple would try to create a media center type environment minus the expensive hardware.

[harley3k Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:03PM]

I love that "My Movies" is at the frick'n TOP instead of the BOTTOM.
That was so annoying, and never encouraged me to buy more iTunes content because it was harder to reach.

[M Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:03PM]

give this thing a webbrowser with full flash support and I might consider it...

[N900 Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:04PM]

Oh yeah, AppleTV.

How come they don't run ads for this product anymore? This and the Air; I hardly see commercials for those.

[Dafrety Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:08PM]

Apple doesn't run ads anymore unless it's for the iPhone or iPod.

[Engadgeter Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:20PM]

i barely even see ads for the iPod anymore. all i really see is ads for the iPhone or anti-Microsoft commercials...

[XIYL Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:05PM]

Does XBMC still work? XBMC is very important you know.

[harley3k Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:08PM]

I tried the XMBC and the Boxee hacks; they were too slow in my opinion.
And I hated the social-networking hooks of Boxee; like I give a sh*t what my friends are watching?!@#

[THJ Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:11PM]

XBMC works like a charm (been running it for nearly a year with upnp from my desktop), but Boxee is a travesty (audio, no picture, minutes+ lag), but that's mainly due to Hulu trying to block it.

[XIYL Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:14PM]

Yeah, I don't really like boxee. It fails at local media.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:18PM]

@THJ: i think he means will xbmc break under the new update........................ but yes xbmc > boxee. boxee only focuses on breaking hulu open, not making something thats quick and nice to use. i started off with boxee but after it breaking constantly (its a beta, i know, but the thing never really worked anyway!!) i switched over to xbmc, and ODAMN it runs fast, real fast... shame about 1080p with the atv, but who wants to wait to download a 1080p movie anyway, ill like with my sd content (all 2 terabytes worth.)


BTW: does this break xbmc/boxee/patchstick?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:58PM]

1080p may be coming

[APPLETV] Hardware Decoder for Apple TV? If comes true sounds very nice

http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=55042

[Kyle P Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:09PM]

Oh yea!!!

Downloading it right now!

[Mikkis74 Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:10PM]

They should also update Frontrow UI

[harley3k Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:14PM]

Yes!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:14PM]

Why bother with FrontRow when Plex is free? It's a great app, definitely recommend.

[CapnHowdy Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:29PM]

XBMC > Plex

[bjsguess Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:13PM]

If only Apple users understood what they were missing out on. Media Center with Media Browser FTW!

[RandomGuy Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:27PM]

As much of a fan of Media Center that I am, I have to say AppleTv has its market and they don't really compare. AppleTv is merely an extension of iTunes that can be viewed on your TV with a remote control. Media Center is a do-it-all wonder app that can be finessed and customized to your needs, but it still lacks that cohesive ecosystem that allows you to just buy your TV series on iTunes and have it magically viewable on the AppleTV without any thought or significant configuration.

That being said, where are the HULU, Netflix, or streaming Internet-TV plugins?

[Jack Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:31PM]

"Apple users"? Who are these "Apple users" you speak of? Can you name one? Or are you using that tired old straw man again? I know this may come as a shock to you, but people who use Apple products are not indoctrinated into a cult. They actually have free will. And not everybody who owns a Mac or an iPhone also has an Apple TV.

I'm assuming people who buy an Apple TV do so because it has an appealing list of features to them, and works the way they want it to work. Isn't that the reason you use Media Center? Or are you just brainwashed by the cult of Microsoft, which is far bigger than the cult of Apple?

[bjsguess Posted Oct 29th 2009 4:16PM]

@ RandomGuy ...

Media Center has integration with free content to you record. Applications like MetaBrowser make configuring your TV shows a snap. I have close to 2000 episodes. Took a total of maybe an hour to configure. It really is quite simple. If course, you can also use downloaded content as well. There are hundreds of available plugins to improve your entire media experience. Most are free and available to anyone. Hulu and Netflix are just icing on the cake.

@ Jack

This is no strawman argument. I did not state that every Apple user is a mindless drone. I will say that there is simply no comparison between Apple TV and Media Center. One of my favorite things to do is have my Mac friends come over a check out Media Center. Needless to say, they are blown away. Coming from Apple TV the difference is just huge. Even the most strident Mac defenders are impressed with how Media Center works and behaves.

[Dalhectar Posted Oct 29th 2009 4:45PM]

Media Browser works for me because...

uTorrent downloads TV shows from a private torrent site that publishes scene TV releases over RSS...
SCRU automatically unpacks the rarred torrents after downloading and sorts it properly in the right subdirectory...
metabrowser and/or YAMMM add the metadata...
and Media Browser displays the content with all the eye candy in the Media Center environment...

That's what, 6 programs to do what Apple TV does from its firmware, all because I'm too cheap to pay the $2 an episode? Don't get me wrong- I am that cheap, and Media Browser is that good to justify tweaking all 6 apps just right to work without user intervention on my part. But I can understand the appeal of going the Apple route. It's just not worth it for me, a person that would rather spend time getting a superior UI vs spending money for ease of use.

[RandomGuy Posted Oct 29th 2009 5:54PM]

@bjsGuess, As I said I am an avid fan of Media Center. I have multiple media center PCs at home, and use and XBOX360 as an extender. Furthermore I am enough of a fanatic that I have participated in some pretty fun and exciting betas regarding the platform. So don't think I am discounting the value Media Center offers to an enthusiast. But quite honestly if my mom wanted a way to easily download and watch a season of her favorite show on her TV, there is no way I would set her up with Media Center (unless it so happens to be content found on Netflix, or the new Internet TV app, even then I would be reluctant. However as much as I am not a fan of Apple's locked down, our way or the highway attitude, I would not rule it out as a way for to accomplish what she wants.

Like all Apple products; Easy, attractive, simple and very limited has it's place in the market and should not be dismissed in all cases. Not everyone likes to delve into the geekier side of Media presentation.

[RichyS Posted Oct 30th 2009 9:14AM]

I used to have a Media Centre (XP, then upgraded to Vista). I found it to be a complete pain in the ass, to be honest. My needs are pretty simple -- just playing music, photos, and DVD rips; so I didn't need all the extra functionality of MCE. So, for me, ATV is a much better solution.

I can see though that if you want to record TV (and do whatever else it is that MCE is good for), then ATV is not for you.

[Jamus Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:14PM]

Any sign of new codec support?

[Neutral Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:15PM]

Seriously sick dude.
So is this part of the iPhone ecosystem??
Hell of an Eco.

[Look Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:16PM]

I love AppleTV..I wish that they will do one without the HD (streaming only).

[Kyle P Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:20PM]

The update downloaded and installed quickly.

The new OS is great! I love the look of it, it is more functional, and the performance is noticeably better (decreased load times and improved overall speed while flipping through menus).

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:21PM]

The biggest thing from this announcement: Internet Radio. Finally! I've been using the playlist work around, but you can't see artists/songs and it freezes up all the time. I don't know how they have impimented Internet Radio, but I hope it's good...

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:24PM]

FANBOI ALERT !!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:29PM]

TROLL ALERT!!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:50PM]

How ugly is that!

[Marmite Turkey Posted Oct 29th 2009 4:05PM]

Dude, no. It's really well done, I think - coherent with the new itunes store interface, clean, logical and fresh. Me likey. Glad i just stuck a 320gb drive in my apple tv. I can't quite understand why this thing gets so much flack - it works brilliantly, is small, perfectly integrated with the iphone/touch. Loads of people walk away from mine wishing they were 'tech' enough to own one - they don't believe me when I tell them it's easy (too many other wires in my house, I suspect)...

[Miguelitosd Posted Oct 30th 2009 3:06PM]

@Marmite
I actually got my parents an aTV and they use it. My mom has bought a few seasons of TV shows and watched them. To me, that's a huge plus for Apple's designers. My parents are NOT computer savvy at all and if they can use it, it was designed well. My dad even sets up slide-shows and creates movies from his HD camcorder and uses the aTV to play it back. This is a guy that could never get a VCR to stop flashing 12:00 and needed me to fix them for him. They've both picked up stuff on Macs that they could never get going on a windows box over the years no matter how much I tried to teach them.

Apple may not be covering every aspect of the computer market (no low end desktops or laptops as is often pointed out) but they know what they're focused on, and they do it well.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 3:55PM]

Hmm it plays uTube videos under the internet menu.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 4:27PM]

This would be AWESOME if the last Apple TV update didn't permanly fry my AppleTV.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 29th 2009 4:19PM]

I hope there's a way to stop shows I purchase on my AppleTV from automatically being copied to my laptop. I don't have room for these shows on my laptop! That's why I bought them on my AppleTV!