It must have been frightening for my neighbors to see this big guy running around, laughing into the cold night air.
I just couldn’t help myself. The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman (a.k.a. PC from the Apple commercials) is very funny. Download it for free (via Marusin) from iTunes while you can.
This evening, I bought the current season of Battlestar Galactica from iTunes. It’s a show that I’ve been wanting to watch for the last two years. I’d seen an episode here and there, but I just can’t bring myself to regularly sit down in front of the TV on a Friday night.
I’ve been reading great things about the current season. Fortunately, I don’t have access to cable television, so watching it on Friday nights is no longer even an option. So I bought the season pass, downloaded the three episodes that have already been released (I’m going to need another external drive pretty soon), and watched all of them. Marvelous. Great writing, top-notch graphics, believable acting, and it even makes you think a little.
Then I saw that Steve Gillmor wrote a post along the lines of, but much better than, my post from last Wednesday.
TV is dead because of the Internet. TV is dead because we don’t have time for it. TV is dead because the computer lives. TV is dead because of the stupid blogosphere, the so-called “new” medium of podcasting, TiVo, RSS, and HDTV. TV is dead because TV now sucks more than all of the previous.
That guy is on fire lately.
By the way, check out the Scobleshow vid that Steve mentions, but doesn’t link to. It’s quite an eye-opener.
Steve, I agree with you about a lot of things being dead. But links aren’t one of them.
In October, I wrote:
I like distribution of programming via iTunes better, because it’s also portable. Now they just need to make shows I’m interested in available. Battlestar Galactica would be a good start.
Ask and you shall receive.
But since it’s now rather simple to rip DVDs for use on the video iPod (and on the computer, since I don’t have a video iPod), I think having the shows on DVD would be preferable.
Joel Spolsky doesn’t think that making more money per song is the real reason (via TUAW) why the music industry is pushing for variable pricing in iTunes.
Now, the reason the music recording industry wants different prices has nothing to do with making a premium on the best songs. What they really want is a system they can manipulate to send signals about what songs are worth, and thus what songs you should buy.
I think he’s correct. The music industry isn’t happy unless it has complete control over a situation. A few examples: DRM, payola, P2P, wanting a cut of iPod revenue, contracts that take away most (if not all) of the artist’s rights.
I really hope that Apple will hold the line on uniform pricing. iTunes is a place where independent labels and artists can compete with the major labels on quality and taste, rather than price. It would be a shame for that to be lost.
BetaNews is reporting that the major music labels are still trying pressure Apple into raising prices on iTunes (via TUAW). This is not the first time we’ve heard this story. The music industry won’t rest until it has completely destroyed itself.
About the iTunes/ABC deal, Mark Cuban wrote:
It is a business marvel. Bob Iger has gone contrary to what every current and previous TV network head has and would have done had Bob not turned the industry on its head with his announcement with Apple yesterday. Bob Iger has saved Network TV.
I think Mark is right. There are four major reasons that I don’t watch much TV (other than sports or sometimes PBS):
Yes, reasons 1 and 2 can be solved by a digital video recorder. But reason 4 means that I don’t watch enough TV to make buying a DVR worth the money. And it doesn’t solve the portability problem.
I like distribution of programming via iTunes better, because it’s also portable. Now they just need to make shows I’m interested in available. Battlestar Galactica would be a good start.
About three weeks ago I pointed to Nivi’s post about Apple’s digital music monopsony. Last week, the music industry started firing back (via Slashdot). Apparently, it’s not enough that Apple has sold millions and millions of songs for the music industry. Now they also want a cut of iPod revenue. This is greed at its finest, folks.
Did you notice that Steve Jobs’ iTunes presentation had an unusually aggressive tone? Nivi says that the real message wasn’t iTunes 5, the iTunes phone, or even the iPod nano. In retrospect, it’s totally obvious.
Also, thanks to Nivi for adding a new word to my vocabulary.
John Gruber has written a very funny post about brushed metal being removed from iTunes.
I like the new dark Aqua look of iTunes. It allows for a little variety without being jarring (or ugly). The only problem I have with it is the corners of the windows. They really ought to be rounded off like the light Aqua ones.
Now Apple just needs to update the Human Interface Guidelines and stick to them.
