I am now a full on Apple TV user … I know that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to those of you who know me as an Apple FanBoy. What has surprised me is how the device has really changed the way I use my iPod. For the last 4 years or so I have taken my iPod to work with me everyday and instantly dropped it in the cradle upon returning home so it could drive music throughout our house. I killed the CD collection years ago and have been living in a digital music ecosystem since my iPods’ storage capacities started to match my old analog collection. The routine still includes me taking my iPod to work everyday, but I now walk in to music already playing throughout the house via the Apple TV … it is easy to use and everyone seems to like it.

I do have an issue though … my iPod is 80 GB and it stores all my stuff — Music, TV Shows, Movies, Podcasts, and Pictures without issue. Last night I was syncing the Apple TV after purchasing some new content from Apple and noticed things getting a little tight.

As new podcasts, movies and shows that I buy come in daily the thing is syncing a lot in the background getting filled to the brim with content.

The thing that has me very frustrated isn’t so much the ridiculously small 40 GB drive (which I am now considering upgrading via this kit) it is the poorly designed syncing limitations. I know simplicity is the goal, but what if I want all the episodes of the Office, but only the last 5 of another show? With the built in tools I don’t get the kind of granular control that I need to make the most of the 40 GB drive. There’s stuff I watch over and over — like episodes of the Office — and there is stuff I only want to watch once. One of the things my daughter loves is having all her Disney Channel shows at her fingertips … but if I set it for all episodes just for that reason, I put my hard drive in a serious crunch time situation.

How about giving me the ability set a different sync schedule for each show? That way, the little lady can have all the episodes of Kim Possible ready to rock and roll, while I don’t need to have every episode of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia (great show BTW) taking up HD space? All I want is a little more control … I shouldn’t have to feel like I need to hack my device or void the warranty to use it the way I need to.