AppleTV's YouTube, 160 GB upgrade kick off direct-to-broadband support

At present, AppleTV requires the use of an on-LAN iTunes Mac or PC client for access to music and video content. AppleTV can sync with the content on an iTunes client for standalone playback later, but the only content that AppleTV can stream directly from the Internet is a limited selection of iTunes movie previews. I posited in my initial writing on the subject that the streaming previews were a proof of concept for direct-to-Internet streaming access to commercial content, and that AppleTV would, through a software upgrade, eventually be equipped to purchase content from the iTunes Store, eliminating the need for an iTunes client.

Apple has taken two steps toward becoming a direct broadband streaming receiver/recorder. Apple is now selling a $399 build-to-order configuration that upgrades the standard 40 GB hard drive to 160 GB. For now, this eliminates the need to winnow down your Mac or PC-based iTunes library to fit AppleTV's tiny hard drive. It'll dissuade some people from taking power tools to their AppleTV units to perform homebrew disk upgrades.

I think that the 160 GB BTO option sets AppleTV up to be a broadband DVR that you can use to indiscriminately suck in everything that you might want to watch later without worrying about whether you've got room for it.

Supporting this notion is Apple's other AppleTV news of the day, access to YouTube videos directly from the AppleTV unit. I had to get Apple to verify that access to YouTube videos would not require that the videos be downloaded to an iTunes client first, and I'm told that yes, AppleTV can go straight to YouTube from its on-screen menu.

Is YouTube going to sell AppleTVs? Maybe not, but if you have AppleTV now, the next automatic software update will give you direct broadband access to YouTube that you didn't have the day before. Apple's tossing out a hint to prospective AppleTV buyers that it can push a button in Cupertino and add channels to AppleTV at will. And it will. It's just a matter of time before AppleTV taps directly into, or even becomes, a Wi-FI gateway to the Internet with no need for an iTunes client.