I'm a PC guy... (Amazingly, I haven't purchased an iPod yet!) Apple TV is the first Apple product I've bought and used in many years. I was originally considering a Mac Mini, but the Mac Mini simply doesn't have the TV connectivity options that Apple TV has.  For the most part, I like the Apple TV. It does what it is advertised to do, but there are a few major problems with it.

I used J River Media Center for organizing my media on my PC for years.  It is an incredibly powerful media program.  But since I bought an Apple TV, I've been forced into using iTunes. iTunes is required to be running in order to sync or stream from Apple TV. iTunes is not a bad program, but due to Apple's desire to provide a simple interface, they fail to offer some of the more complex features available in other music players. The main feature I find myself missing is per-podcast settings. (For example, only download and keep the latest newscast, but keep all episodes of my favorite radio show until I delete them). Other than that, I'm pretty happy with iTunes.

I have a large library of music files. Both Apple TV and iTunes handles my library quite well. It synced to the TV very quickly over my hardwired network... in just over an hour. So long as you have your music organized, you can find what you are looking for easily on the TV. Of course, it's not as easy as typing in an artist name in iTunes.  Also, I also had to download two pieces of software to help me whip my library in shape.  It's too bad iTunes doesn't do this for you:

• iTunes Library Updater - Why Apple doesn't provide the ability to update your library from a given location is beyond me!
• FixTunes - Whether you use iTunes or not, this is a pretty cool little application.  It fills in the blanks on your MP3 tags, including cover art images.  Unfortunately, you have to pay $25 to use this application on more than 50 files.
  

After tinkering with iTunes some more, I discovered it allows you to create a playlist with internet radio stations in it.  Handy!  I have a few internet radio stations I love to listen to, so I place them in this Radio playlist. The playlist synced to Apple TV, but showed no entries. In addition, there is no way to manually search iTunes radio directory from Apple TV. It wouldn't be hard for Apple to add these features, and hopefully they will in future software update. As far as I'm concerned, this is a glaring omission from the Apple TV feature set.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with the box. And my concerns can be fixed with future iTunes/AppleTV software updates. I've got my fingers crossed. Then again, if I get impatient, I can always hack the box. Of course, this would void my warranty.  <sigh>

And about the stereo... A good chunk of our electronics were struck by lightening just before we headed out on our travels.  So we don't own a digital receiver anymore.  That's about to change.  It is kind-of annoying to be paying this much for stereo equipment again, but American Power Conversion did manage to honor their connected equipment guarantee for my fried equipment.  I just have to remember I got that payment back in 2005.  Normally, I'd never spend so much on a stereo.  I blame this on my father.  He keeps giving me his old high-end equipment, and I figure I should at least connect it to gear that doesn't totally suck.

With recommendations from a good friend, I finally settled on the Onkyo SR-TX705 A/V receiver to drive our TV room, and an Onkyo TX-SR304 (connected to the main receiver via digital coax S/PDIF) to drive our outdoor speakers and living/dining room.  I also inherit my dad's old wide screen HD CRT TV... well, kinda HD in any case... it doesn't do 1080p, but it is better than Teresa's ancient Proscan TV.  The Apple TV will be used to drive the music + podcasts + internet TV programs through the system.  We've also added DirecTV DVR to the mix (no HD).  I'm not a big fan of TV, but Teresa put her foot down... "If you're gonna spend that much on stereo equipment, I want my TV!"  Thanks to the DVR, at least we can watch what we want when we want.  In the meantime, Teresa's ancient Yamaha desktop stereo (no digital input/output) is driving my dad's old Mirage M3si's quite nicely.  It will nice to be digital again, AND be able to broadcast music throughout the house. 

Happy holidays to us...