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Apple TV ships; Vista PCs need not apply

Apple said it shipped Apple TV today and we'll now get a feel for how big of a product this will be for Steve Jobs & Co. Apple TV allows you to port content from your PC and iTunes to your television set.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor

Apple said it shipped Apple TV today and we'll now get a feel for how big of a product this will be for Steve Jobs & Co.

Apple TV allows you to port content from your PC and iTunes to your television set. Walt Mossberg gave it the thumbs up (subscription required) in the Wall Street Journal today.
Most of the details about the product--a $299 price tag and a 40GB hard drive--are known. What's most interesting is what wasn't said:
Apple's statement notes that "Apple TV requires iTunes 7.1 or later running on a Mac with Mac OS® X version 10.3.9 or later, or a Windows PC with Windows XP Home/Professional (SP2)." Translation: Vista PCs need not apply.
And then there are the Apple's asterisks, which include:

  • Video playback based on 640x480 iTunes video content. Music capacity based on four minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding. Photo capacity based on Apple TV viewable photos transferred from iTunes. Actual capacity varies by content.
  • Compatible with 802.11b/g/n. Based on an IEEE 802.11n draft specification.
  • Wireless video streaming requires an 802.11g/n network.
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