Digital Home Thoughts: Apple Finally Has An Answer to Media Center with Front Row

'Frankly, I'm underwhelmed -- I really expected Apple to have much more to brag about, especially given their momentum with iPod over the last couple of years. Based on everything I'm seeing, Front Row doesn't even have feature parity with the first version of Media Center released back in October 2002. No hint of a developer platform either -- that's a shame -- I was really looking forward to dusting off my Mac coding skills again. But don't get me wrong -- I do think this is a good thing. The halls here in Building 50 are buzzing with excitement (and yes, it's positive excitement -- we love this stuff). It's classic Microsoft vs. Apple, and we haven't really had that for a lonnnnnng time, and some of us miss that competition. So, welcome back Apple, it's good to see you again!"



Since it's release, a lot of people have been lauding Front Row for what it isn't, or for what it doesn't do. Frankly, I don't mind that it doesn't do TV, or FM radio, or transcoding, or any of a million other things. It does a few things incredibly well. The interface is quick, intuitive, and easy to use. Apple is doing the same thing with Front Row that they did with the iPod: do one set of things extremely well, test the waters with it, and build on the product and the brand later in the life cycle. If they fail, they've lost very little. If they succeed, they could be a real threat to the integrated digital entertainment marketplace. Windows Media Center Edition could face some stiff competition.