Apple invades the living room

An Apple TV box in an undated handout photo. The long-awaited home entertainment adapter has finally shipped, and for the first time reviewers and consumers can see for themselves whether Apple's iPod magic can extend into the living room.

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - The long-awaited Apple TV home entertainment adapter has finally shipped, and for the first time reviewers and consumers can see for themselves whether Apple's iPod magic can extend into the living room.

The Apple TV is a wireless network adapter that lets users stream movies, music and photos from their computer through their home entertainment system. Unlike other similar products, the AppleTV is the only device that supports music or movies purchased from the iTunes store.

Overall, reviews have been moderately good. The device gets high marks for its simplicity, easy user interface and design. But it has been knocked for having only 40 GB of storage, limited file support (apparently even some iTunes files won't work with the device) and iTunes movie pricing. Additionally, it has no support for Internet radio, and users can't purchase files from the iTunes store directly (it simply streams what's stored on your home computer).

The AppleTV is available in all Apple retail locations for $300.

Reuters/Billboard