Read Me First

Welcome to Take Control of Apple TV, version 1.0, published in February 2014 by TidBITS Publishing Inc. This book was written by Josh Centers and edited by Tonya Engst and Adam Engst, with help from Kelly Turner.

This books tells you everything you need to know to take full advantage of your Apple TV—from basic features to importing your own content, running the Apple TV as a home audio system, and even using the Apple TV for gaming!

If you want to share this ebook with a friend, we ask that you do so as you would with a physical book: “lend” it for a quick look, but ask your friend to buy a copy for careful reading or reference. Discounted classroom and Mac user group copies are available.

Copyright © 2014, Josh Centers. All rights reserved.

Updates & More

You can access extras related to this ebook on the Web (use the link in Ebook Extras, near the end; it’s available only to purchasers). On the ebook’s Take Control Extras page, you can:

• Download any available new version of the ebook for free, or buy any subsequent edition at a discount.
• Download various formats, including PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket. (Learn about reading on mobile devices on our Device Advice page.)
• Read the ebook’s blog. You may find new tips or information, links to author interviews, and update plans for the ebook.

If you bought this ebook from the Take Control Web site, it has been added to your account, where you can download it in other formats and access any future updates. However, if you bought this ebook elsewhere, you can add it to your account manually; see Ebook Extras.

Following Links

All blue text in this ebook is hot, meaning you can click (or tap) it, just like a link on the Web. If you click a link to switch to a different part of the ebook, you can return quickly to where you were if your ebook reader offers a “back” feature.

For example, if you use iBooks to read the EPUB of this book, you can click the “Back to” link at the lower left. Or, in Preview on the Mac, you can choose Go > Back or press Command-[.

Apple TV Basics

The main menu is the grid of icons that you see when you first turn on the Apple TV. This is the primary interface for the Apple TV.

When I discuss choosing a menu option within an app on the Apple TV, I may use an abbreviated description that puts the name of the app ahead of the command. For example, “Settings > General” means to open the Settings app from the main menu and then select General.

Note: Some discussions of content available on the Apple TV are based on what’s available in the United States. The content on offer may differ in your country, but otherwise, the information in this book should be applicable worldwide.

Mac Basics

Here are a few fundamentals that will help you read this ebook:

• System Preferences: I sometimes discuss settings in System Preferences that you may want to adjust. To open System Preferences, click its icon in the Dock or choose System Preferences from the Apple  menu. When the System Preferences window opens, click the icon of the pane whose settings you want to change.
• Application preference: I occasionally refer to preferences in a Mac application. Don’t confuse an application’s preferences with the system-wide settings found in System Preferences, or with the Apple TV’s Settings app. To access an application’s preferences, choose Application Name > Preferences. For example, in iTunes, you would choose iTunes > Preferences.
• Big cats: I sometimes mention features specific to a particular version of Mac OS X, which Apple usually refers to by a “big cat” or “California” code name:
  • Mavericks: 10.9
  • Mountain Lion: 10.8
  • Lion: 10.7
  • Snow Leopard: 10.6

To find out which version of Mac OS X your Mac is running, choose Apple  > About This Mac.

What about Windows?

This book is mostly about the Apple TV. However, a small portion of it describes interactions between an Apple TV and a computer. In a few of those cases, such as the topic about ripping DVDs, I assume you have a Mac.

When you’re reading about playing media from an iTunes library, note that iTunes on Windows works nearly identically to iTunes on the Mac. The main exception? Choose Edit > Preferences to open the iTunes preferences instead of going to the Apple  menu.