Erica Ogg at News.com’s gadgets blog writes that Slingbox support of AppleTV would open the “intriguing new possibility” of streaming music from iTunes on your home computer to your cell phone. I’d recommend that she check out Avvenu’s smartphone client. I have used the desktop version of the Avvenu music service and think it’s the slickest remote PC music experience I’ve seen yet.
Nevertheless, Sling Media’s race to support AppleTV raises questions about how this support will differ from that of its own forthcoming hard drive-equipped television accessory, the SlingCatcher. SlingCatcher stands to be a triple-threat, capable of receiving content from a PC, Slingbox, or the Internet. It’s the third source that might benefit from having a Slingbox and SlingCatcher (or perhaps a future combination of them) connected to the same television. And with an expected street price of $200, available for only two thirds of the price. Of course, Sling won’t have access to Apple’s advertising budget, so perhaps supporting AppleTV is the least they can do to thank Apple for resurrecting the digital media adapter category.