I can't seem to quite understand what the new AirTunes feature on Apple TV Take 2 is all about.

Does one need an Airport Express to use it?

What is *it* exactly?

Thanks!

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I believe you don't need an Airport Express to utilize the feature.

From what I gather, it streams tunes from your Mac to the Apple TV so the music is available through your hi-fi home entertainment system, which you can then pick and choose what music you want via the Apple TV menu.

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Apple TV 2 can act as an AirTunes client, in exactly the same way that the Airport Express can.

Select it from the destination pop-up menu in the bottom right corner of iTunes and you're done.

Is the AppleTV software update out yet?

Yesterday, Jem.

As I understand it, you control the AirTunes feature from WITHIN the iTunes interface on your computer, exactly like with an Airport Express. It's an alternative to having to turn on the TV the AppleTV is connected to in order to select the music you want to hear (whether it be stored on the internal HD or streamed from another computer).

~A

Aah, thanks for the explanation. I think it's clear to me now.

Airtunes is one of the features that I would really want on an apple TV. If I am streaming audio to an apple TV, does the itunes visualizer appear on the TV (not important to me, but my kids will sit entranced by the visualizer, so it would be a neat effect)?

No visualizers on Apple TV currently, but I agree it seems like it would be a nice and easy-to-implement addition.

Quote
tahoedrew
It's an alternative to having to turn on the TV the AppleTV is connected to in order to select the music you want to hear (whether it be stored on the internal HD or streamed from another computer).

Yes, you can do that but if you have the TV on while using Apple TV in AirTunes mode, it will also provide the standard music display on the TV (album art, song progress bar, etc.). Nice touch.