Downloading today’s available update to the Apple TV (aptly named “Take 2″), I can now experience within my living room, the promise that was buzzing about at last month’s MacWorld conference.  That is, the Apple TV may very well revolutionize the way we consume (and track!!) downloadable RSS media.

These are tall words.  You’ve probably heard this story before (the Roomba will revolutionize home cleaning? Pet owners might disagree);  but let me explain the two reasons why:

1. Watching and listening to podcasts is straightforward and simple.   Quick navigation leads to consumption without the prior subscription hassles.  Devices need not sync.  Desktop media management disappears, just sit back, and watch or listen.  The navigation of popular and featured content is a snap.  When (if?) Apple comes out with a qwerty entry device instead of the painful text entry process via the super-simple remote, we might soon easily explore the over 125,000 available subscription points within the podcast directory.

2. A download (finally!!) is a watch.  The untethered nature of prior RSS media consumption has many great benefits, but it also stymies attempts to answer the question:  how can you prove that a download is an actual watch/listen.  In a sense, Apple TV re-tethers RSS.  Developers will investigate whether Apple TV watches are distinguishable in server log so as to aggregate usage in a way that is meaningful to publishers, advertisers and other interested parties.

Is this a fraction of the pie of all RSS media usage?  Today it is a very very small sliver, and likely to grow, but unlikely to amount to the biggest portion of the pie any time soon;  the larger slices will comprise desktop and portable media usage for the foreseeable future.  But the usage data will open up a new revolutionary window into how many people are starting to watch and listen to downloadable media, on the couch.

Chris MacDonald