As anyone who read my last blog post is aware, I had complaints about the Apple TV and its video playlist options. They aren't visible by default, and there's no shuffle option. I think you might be able to shuffle music videos, but I only have one Weird Al video, so I can't really test it. People have offered reasons for this, but I don't buy them. I stand by the "average consumer would want these if they're bothering to buy an Apple TV" stance.
What one might not know is that I own an iPod touch. It's like an iPhone without the phone and camera, which is find by me. My phones go with me everywhere and have a high mortality rate. I want them to be cheap and do their job as a phone well, but I also want it to merely be a minor inconvenience if I inadvertently destroy them.
But I digress. The point is that there's a free app for the iPhone / iPod Touch that lets it be used as an iTunes remote. This means one can control iTunes on the computer or an Apple TV using an iPod Touch or iPhone. One can navigate the library entirely from the iPod and access all of the playlist options available on the iPod.
This includes the "shuffle" option, and it works with the Apple TV.
Just to clarify: There is no video shuffle option native to the Apple TV. If all you have is that, you can't shuffle videos. If you have an iPod Touch or an iPhone, however, you can download the remote app, use it instead of the Apple TV remote, and shuffle to your heart's content.
Perhaps I'm crazy, but that sounds like bullcrap to me. I like iTunes, but the proprietary hardware needs to get its act together.
No comments:
Post a Comment