So the question was posed to me today, Why the AppleTV and not one of the many other “Media Center” solutions out there?

The answer is pretty simple. I use iTunes. Well let’s go deeper than that, I have a large collection of content already dedicated to iTunes. All my music and podcasts are already in iTunes. I have an iPod somewhere, it’s missing at the moment but I do have one. I do not have an iPhone but I will eventually.

But what about recording TV shows?
My cable box already does that, so I don’t need my “media center” to perform that function.

The AppleTV provides the best solution, I can stream all my music to it and then through my stereo. I can rent HD movies, entertain myself with YouTube videos, look through my flickr photos (well, not actually at the moment because it’s not recognizing my flickr info) on a glorious 42″ LCD TV. It’s providing everything I need in a nice simple little box with TWO wires, the HDMI cable and the power cable.

If I went down the route of the traditional PC media center, which I have considered doing since the time I worked at Alienware, it would of been way too complex and I really don’t need that. I have enough wires and junk behind my entertainment center as it is with the Receiver, DVD player, Wii, Cable box and the soon to be Xbox. I’m actually eliminating the carousel CD Player, because now it’s obsolete.

So if you want a more complex solution. Go for it, but the AppleTV is actually pretty powerful for such a simple device that takes about 2 minutes to set up.