Microsoft claims its Xbox Live users spend more time consuming media—videos wii remote controllerand music—than playing games. Over the past five months, the company has brought more than 20 new apps or improved versions of apps to Xbox specifically to entertain nongamers. So if you are a person who put up with looking at cheap xbox 360 controllers someone else's Xbox console stored under the TV for years, you're finally getting something out of the deal.

The apps, available from the Xbox Apps Marketplace, provide easier ways to watch movies or video, play music or get updates on favorite sports. Icons are large and easy to see from a couch. I quickly navigated to my recently opened apps from the Xbox home screen.

I've been testing the Xbox 360 with a focus on nongaming apps, and it's cheap xbox 360 controllers clear that Microsoft is serious about them. All apps are free to download onto Xbox, though some, like Netflix and MLB.TV, require paid memberships and others, like HBO Go, require an existing cable account with a specific channel or service. Most apps require an Xbox Live Gold account to use, and this costs about $60 a year for one person or $100 a year for a Gold Family Pack that four family members can share.

A frustrating aspect of using these Xbox apps was that I needed to download updates for them almost immediately after I initially downloaded the app. This cheap xbox 360 slim happened on several occasions with all kinds of apps. And the Xbox console is a bulky, expensive box compared with palm-size competitors like the $50 Roku and $99 Apple TV, which offer some of the same entertainment apps and don't require annual fees like Xbox Live Gold.

The Xbox apps I tested work with an included wireless controller or with a Kinect sensor, which responds to gestures and voice commands. A smaller $20 Media Remote also does the job and is sold separately. If you don't already own an Xbox 360, the 4-gigabyte console will cost you $200; it holds 20 to 25 apps, depending on size—which should offer enough storage for nongamers. For another $100 you can buy cheap xbox 360 slim the $300, 4-gigabyte Xbox 360 with a Kinect sensor, or for $400, the 250-gigabyte Xbox 360 with Kinect.