The Entertainment Junkie 
Whether you’re into music, movies, or TV, your digital media hardware should have an Apple logo on it.
The Basics.
Ever since the iPod made its debut in 2001, the Mac’s status as a great media machine has been well known. Despite all the kicking and screaming on the part of the music and movie industries, it’s become clear that the future of media is digital, and that more than anything, consumers want choice and portability in how they consume entertainment. Thankfully, between Macs, iPods, and a plethora of third-party gear, we’re now in the best position ever to control what entertainment we consume, wherever and whenever we like.
The foundation of a great media machine is in raw processing power. While every Mac all the way down to the Mini does a fine job ripping your audio CDs, for converting large amounts of video, you’ll appreciate the power of the Mac Pro ($2,799 and up, www.apple.com). Without additional software, Macs aren’t able to do anything more than play back most commercial DVDs. With the widescreen displays available—and video playback capabilities available on the iPod touch and iPhone—this seems like a ridiculous limitation. Fortunately, a variety of apps exist to help you consume your video content on devices of your choosing, although using apps like HandBrake (free, handbrake.fr) or MacTheRipper (donationware, dig into the forums at www.ripdifferent.com for the overly elaborate download procedure) is still legally questionable. (For a tutorial on ripping your purchased DVDs, see “Make a Backup of Your Movie DVD,” Apr/08, p28.) Once you begin ripping your own video into more flexible formats, you’ll appreciate the additional processing power of a Mac Pro.
If music is more your thing, an iPod classic is the way to go. Topping out the iPod line at 160GB, the $349 classic (www.apple.com) lets you store more than 7,000 songs in Apple Lossless format and up to 40,000 tunes in 128Kbps AAC, depending on where you fall on the audiophile scale. For movies, however, the 32GB iPod touch ($499, www.apple.com) offers the most storage in a widescreen device, although there’s no way you’d get through that much content without taking several battery-recharge breaks. If you end up with more than one iPod, a charging station like Griffin’s PowerDock is the perfect solution for charging them all at once ($49.99 for PowerDock2, $69.99 for PowerDock4, www.griffintechnology.com).
And since we’re talking about music and movies…do yourself a favor, and dump Apple’s mediocre—though iconic—white earbuds. For on-the-go listening, we prefer in-ear models by Etymotic, like the brand-new hf5 ($149, www.etymotic.com), although to be honest, virtually everything but the cheapest pair of replacement earbuds would be an improvement over Apple’s bundled ’buds. For at-home or other more stationary listening, Grado’s SR60 earphones ($69, www.gradolabs.com) offer a tremendous bang for your buck.
Replacement ’buds—the best iPod upgrade.
If you’ve got a bunch of tunes—or movies— hanging around inside your Mac, backing them up is not negotiable. Sure, you’ve got hard copies of CDs and DVDs, but when a drive bites it, the last thing you’ll want to do is spend endless hours re-ripping your media. We highly recommend taking advantage of those four drive bays in your Mac Pro, and mirror your data onto a second drive, either by setting up a RAID, or using a backup app like SuperDuper ($27.95, www.shirt-pocket.com) or ChronoSync ($30, www.econtechnologies .com). If you have some extra dough, Data Robotics’ Drobo ($349 USB, $449 USB & FireWire, www.drobo.com) is probably the simplest in set-it-and-forget-it backup, featuring hot-swappable drives that you can replace as drive capacities and your storage needs increase over time.
Drobo: Like the Jetson’s Rosie, except for your data.
With your Mac chock-full of media, you should consider the Apple TV ($229 40GB, $329 160GB, www.apple.com) to pipe your music, movies, and photos through your network onto your other AV equipment, including your HDTV. With the Apple TV, you can pull media from anywhere on your home network, in addition to movie rentals and purchases from the iTunes Store via your television. If that’s more than you need, check out the iLuv i1255 ($149.99, www.i-luv.com), a combo DVD player/ iPod dock that charges your iPod, and feeds your iPod’s audio and video to your home theater gear, in addition to playing standard DVDs. If you’re just looking for music streaming, Apple’s AirPort Express ($99, www.apple.com) features wireless streaming to speakers throughout your house (although if your Mac is close enough to your entertainment center, a stereo mini-plug to RCA cable is a more reliable connection, and will only cost about three bucks at your local electronics store).
Sonos puts all your music at your fingertips.
For a high-end, highly customizable music solution—with a price tag to match—check out the Sonos line of wireless music products ($999 for Bundle 150, www.sonos.com), which allows you to set up different music zones in every room of your house and stream different music to each of them, all controlled by Sonos’s Wi-Fi remote. Of course, for iPhone or iPod touch owners on a more limited budget can wring similar—if less elaborate—Wi-Fi remote capabilities out of their device running 2.0 software by downloading Apple’s free Remote application from the App Store.
benet
November 10, 2009 at 7:01pm
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pegasusbsb27
October 12, 2008 at 5:58pm
Yeah...They are expensive in Brazil (Don't ask me why but Apple products here are more expensive than in neighbour Argentina, for exemple!), but never mind...this year was my Apple year! I bought my first iMac 20'' 2,4 GHz and my first iPod 160Gb. Thank God the dolar started to up after my shops!!!
cdnair
September 27, 2008 at 5:16pm
I've noticed that this article seems to be pimping out the Western Digital hard drives quite a bit. I just wanted to make it clear to anyone in the market for an external HD, that, though the value may be there, these are absolutely horrendous machines. If all you're using it for is to plug into a desktop computer and leave it there, you may be alright- if you don't bump the desk... walk around the desk too heavily... blow on it too hard...
I'm a film student and have heard endless horror stories that almost always route back to the failure of their MyBook. Footage for final short film projects, important interviews, footy for demo reels; gone. And this is with proper plug/unplug (power downs, disconnecting from the computer) and transport ever so delicately in the original packaging.
I can strongly recommend LaCie drives myself. Yes, you may pay a bit more, but you do get what you pay for, and sometimes can find some great deals on certain models. Bought one a year ago and have been known to cram it, cables and all, into the bottom of my backpack and go. Needless to say it's got a few surface scratches, but it's given me no problems whatsoever.
nightshrill
September 27, 2008 at 1:54pm
Mr. Reeee, I think you are a tad confused about the overall point of my and others comments. I, at least, was not arguing against the overall price of a mac (although I feel as though I could make an argument against it, as I can build a custom pc for about 800 dollars that compares equally or better to an iMac). The point is that the editors of MacLife for whatever reason put a computer that is more than 1,000 dollars in category recommended for "Starving Students", which is absurd in its own way. As Brendan had also mentioned, pc magazines do this all the time to, if you're a starving student the only thing I'd recommend aside from possibly a real "budget" pc is go build one yourself on the cheap. Yes it'll be underpowered (for example, an intel pentium dual-core processor, not a core2duo) but it'll serve the average user well.
Mr. Reeee
September 27, 2008 at 8:57am
Why complain about the cost of a new Mac, when you can buy a used machine?
You can get a 1 or 2 generation old Mac for 1/2 (or less) the cost of a new machine. If it needs more RAM, that can be bought and installed easily.Macs hold their value well and remain useful years longer than your typical generic Dell or HP DOSBox running Windows.
I generally sell my Macs on craigslist when they're 1 1/2 to 2 years old.
I'm happy, because I've paid for half my new Mac.
The person who buys it is happy, because they get a good, well cared for machine for half price.
It's a win-win!
gmsquires
September 26, 2008 at 3:05pm
Yes depending on what "your" budget is will determine what you can afford and what kind of pc you will be able to get. If you are stuck for something under $500 then you may be rather limited and have to settle for a rather udner powered no name brand unless you can find a refurb or used machine. As to the Macmini not having a fan, it does have a fan and it has a temp sensor to activate the fan only when needed. I have a mini and have been very happy with it. It is generally over the $500 amount unless you can get a refurb and if you add memory it boosts the price. A bare bones system adding in Ubuntu linux may be an option depending on if the video card will work with it.
njdevilsfan
September 26, 2008 at 1:19pm
i agree completely hopefully apples new products or updates on oct 14 send the price back a few hundred dollars
Brendan Bartholomew
September 26, 2008 at 12:47pm
Nightshrill, I feel you dude. For what it's worth, the Windows PC-oriented magazines and sites are just as guilty when it comes to having some sort of gross disconnect between what they imagine we can afford and what we can actually afford. I could maybe afford a bit more if I had a dime for every time I've paged through some PC publication whose cover story was something to the effect of "We Build up a Blazing Budget Bare-Bones Kit that won't Break the Bank!" or "How Low is the Low End? We Look at Eight Entry-Level Laptops that Won't Loot Your Life's Savings!" or maybe "Fiscally Frugal Frag-Fests with Five Affordable Form Factors to Prevent your Piggy Bank from being Pwned!" If I'm foolhardy enough to delve into these articles in search of any kind of bottom line, I will inevitably find myself in a state of shock when confronted with the jaw-dropping price of what they're calling a "budget" system. I seem to recall more than one of these publications recently pitting "affordable" mini-towers from Dell, HP, Lenovo, and all the usual companies against each other in order to determine whether any of them were really adequate for meeting a computing dilettante's basic needs. Affordable to them meant computers that cost at least $650, with most of them retailing for around $850 or more. At that just-under-a-thousand-dollars (!) price point, they tend to conclude, you can, in fact, purchase a system for your grandmother that will be up to the task of meeting her basic e-mailing and Web browsing needs. At which point I want to reach into the page or through the Internet so I can grab the editors by their shoulders, shake them vigorously, and shout in their faces, "HELLLOOOO, Earth calling! Down here in the real world, a budget PC is that loss leader in the Office Depot ad that's $299 after the alleged rebate! It's that refurbished, de-branded HP mini-tower that Geeks.com is selling for under $200 with no OS but a dual core processor and plenty of expansion slots! That's what a cheap PC looks like out here in the real world, and if it's gonna cost $850, it had better be equipped to perform sexual favors for its owner, or it'd better be a fully loaded Mac Mini!" Both would be good, but the Mini has no internal fan, and you wouldn't want it to overheat, you know? But.... I digress...
nightshrill
September 26, 2008 at 5:15am
I know that this is clearly a mac publication/website, however I think it is worthwhile to point out as a "starving student" who happens to work + go to school full-time that blowing 1,099 dollars on a computer is not "budget" what-so-ever, especially compared to Asus' epc (or however they spell it), or even your standard run-of-the-mill dell/hp/toshiba, sure you don't get as nice hardware with any of those options but it is by fear cheaper than 1,099 dollars. I think to call this the "starving student" option is absurd. If you're a starving student get a cheap laptop and slap linux on it.
