On iTunes Sharing To iOS Devices, HDMI Out
So two tidbits in yesterday’s keynote deserve some further attention: sharing an iTunes library with iOS 4.3 devices on your home network, and the Digital AV Adapter featuring HDMI out and screen mirroring.
I’ve been dreaming of sharing an iTunes library containing music and videos to iOS devices literally, for years, and finally justifies all the time spent tagging, updating cover art, and converting files into iTunes-friendly formats. Streaming to the Apple TV kept me invested, and now it’s about to pay off.
I’ve checked out third party solutions like StreamToMe, Air Video, and Simplify Media. All worked well, some even featuring on-the-fly encoding, but all required server software which always seemed redundant since iTunes was already opened, streaming content to the Apple TV.
Then add AirPlay speakers which will play audio from any iOS device as well as iTunes. Already have my eye on iHome’s entries — and already looking forward to the musical battle as I boot streaming Bret Dennen / Ingrid Michaelson from the spouse’s iPhone with my 3,450 song-long Elvis Costello playlist.
And then there’s the Digital AV Adapter, which works not only with iPad 2, but is also backwards-compatible with the original iPad, iPhone 4, and iPod Touch. It provides HDMI out plus screen mirroring, and therefore a huge improvement over the Apple VGA Adapter which only allowed video out from particular apps (making it one of the most useless Apple accessory ever). With screen mirroring plus all the iOS apps, the iPad or even an iPhone becomes an Apple TV running apps, or a gaming console — provided you have a really long HDMI cable. And one wonders if said cable will eventually be replaced with a WiFi connection to an Apple TV — another personal wish list item.
In both situations we have features that would have been awesome from day one, with some considering their absence examples of Apple being “closed.” I predictably give Apple a pass here, and suggest that the time spent rolling out these features was to ensure they would work properly on launch.
And both moves represent Apple’s specific sort of openness — this should all work seamlessly so long as you’re using Apple software and hardware. Buy into the ecosystem and you get seamless synergy between software, hardware, computers, and mobile devices.
Yes this is Disneyland but I’m totally loving it.
The HDMI with screen mirroring was a limitation of the hardware of the iPad 1 more than anything else. I don’t think it has anything to do with open vs. closed, or Apple limiting features to force people to upgrade. I think Apple just decided that the video card on that iPad was incapable of reliably mirroring its display. It was good enough for a Keynote demo, but not good enough for every day use. So they pulled it.
Apple always follows this basic philosophy with its products. That’s why the earlier iPhone models still can’t do multitasking, even after the iOS upgrade. Not enough RAM. Jailbreakers quickly confirmed that while those devices COULD multitask, it’s far from a pleasant experience.
Apple always wants to shelter the user from a bad experience, above all else. In the Android world, of course, it’s “do anything you want at your own risk.” I think the customer satisfaction surveys speak for themselves as to who has the smarter long-term strategy.
Remember, the new iPad has graphics that are 9x faster. And note, also ‚that even with this new adapter, you still can’t mirror on an iPad 1. I really do think that older iPad’s graphics just aren’t up to the task.
That’s probably why the original iPad didn’t have cameras, either.
Screen mirroring only working on the iPad 2 is an important limitation to note. Your explanation of the graphics hardware not being speedy enough on earlier devices makes sense. Am now wondering how the new version of GarageBand will run on the first generation iPad (assume iMovie may not be much use without cameras anyhow).