Thanks a lot, Apple!

Some background: I've never been a fan of television speakers to the point I've never heard sound directly from a television I've thought passable. For as long as I've been able I pipe the sound from my television to my home stereo system (which itself is nothing special) which instantly improves the sounds quality by a factor of at least one thousand.

Last weekend while at the Outer Banks I noticed the audio from Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii sounded very "not right". At the outer banks, like home, our TV output is piped through a modest home stereo that generally serves no greater purpose. After a minute of troubleshooting the connections I found the audio output to the speaker wires was suspect and the "El Cheapo Stereo Especial" was likely no-beuno, ka-put.

No problem, I thought! I'll just pick up a 2nd Apple Hi-Fi unit and that will live at the beach and will thus fill the room with beautiful, rich sound I've grown so accustomed to at home in Youngsville (lest we not be confused the Apple Hi-Fi at home is plugged directly into an Apple Airport Express and is used to play music and Internet radio via iTunes. I've been so impressed with the Apple Hi-Fi sound I knew it would be the perfect companion for the TV at the beach and I could enjoy the same quality of streamed music that I enjoy at home while at the beach via streaming through the the Apple TV through the TV into the Hi-Fi.

Ah, problem solved and all would be well.

Until I found the Hi-Fi was discontinued!!! Why, Apple? Why? These were great boxes! People don't belive me when I say the Apple Hi-Fi sounds better than anything from Bose (that perfroms the same or like function) but once they hear my Hi-Fi everyone walks away impressed.

Oh well, it is not to be. My TV optical audio output will likely continue to do nothing and I'll just replace the dead stereo with another power-hungry and unecessry stereo.

Boo!!