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Chapter 7 of “Take Control of Apple TV” Available

It’s easy to assume that the Apple TV is all about video, but thanks to AirPlay and a number of built-in apps, Apple’s little black box makes a surprisingly good hub for all your audio as well, as Josh Centers outlines in his streamed ebook, “Take Control of Apple TV.” In Chapter 7, “Rock Out with Apple TV,” Josh offers some pointers for hardware that can improve the Apple TV’s audio quality, and then dives into the five apps that (insert required “This Is Spinal Tap” joke here) take the Apple TV to eleven.

As you may expect, the Apple TV’s Music app offers access to your music, but only if you’ve purchased it from iTunes. For music you’ve acquired from other sources and stored in your Mac’s iTunes library, the combination of the Computers app and Home Sharing gives you what you need (and Josh provides advice for the best way to rip your existing CD collection, if necessary). And if you want to go beyond your personal collection, the iTunes Radio app ties into Apple’s excellent streaming service and the Radio app serves up numerous Internet radio stations. Lastly, the Podcasts app syncs up (theoretically, at least) with your podcast subscriptions from iTunes and the iOS Podcasts app (see “Explaining Podcasts in iTunes 11.1,” 14 October 2013).

As with Chapter 6, “Apple TV at the Movies,” Chapter 5, “Master AirPlay,” Chapter 4, “Discover What’s on Offer,” Chapter 3, “Control Your Apple TV” and Chapter 2, “Set Up Your Apple TV,” this chapter is available for free, but only to TidBITS members; everyone is welcome to read Chapter 1, “Introducing Apple TV,” to see what’s still coming. Please keep those comments coming —
they’ve been very helpful so far! When we’re done, everyone will be able to buy the full ebook in PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket (Kindle) formats, and TidBITS members can save 30 percent on this and all other Take Control titles.

Publishing this book in its entirety for TidBITS members as it’s being written is one of the ways we thank TidBITS members for their support. We also hope it encourages those of you who have been reading TidBITS for free for years to help us continue to bring you carefully considered, professionally written and edited articles each week (for more details on what the membership program means to us, see “Support TidBITS in 2014 via the TidBITS Membership Program,” 9 December 2013).

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