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Costly iTunes...
| Let's see if I got this right. iTunes finally has TV shows for us 3rd world country Canadians. That's great. And they're adding TV shows as well, including Daily Show and Colbert Report. For a mere $1.99 for each episode, you too can have a DRM encased video file that will only play in iTunes or on an iPod. Isn't that great? But wait...let's just surf a bit further down the netstream...and we land on thecomedynetwork.ca. And guess what? Here I can watch Daily Show and Colbert Report (among a whole lot of other Comedy Network shows) in a streaming video window for FREE! Now granted, they seem to like WMV and MS Silverlight, but all in all, it's FREE. I'm watching full episodes on my MAC with the Flip4Mac plugin enabled in Quicktime. I watched an episode of Corner Gas and Daily Show, and it's not bad. They're broken into four parts and the quality isn't high, but it's watchable and fullscreen. Hook it to a TV out, and you're set. So, why would I pay 2 bucks an episode? Granted, I haven't figured out a way to save the streaming video, but I don't want to either. I just want to watch it once and then move on. I can't imagine paying 2 bucks an episode 4 times a week for these shows. That would cost $32 a month just to have Daily Show in iTunes! Who can afford that? That's as much as my cable bill, and I can just record it to my PC if I want to save it - without DRM! Do they really think we're that gullible? |
posted by Eaglewing at 6:14 PM
Comments on "Costly iTunes..."
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Anonymous said ... (February 01, 2008 3:37 AM) :
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Eaglewing said ... (February 03, 2008 9:05 PM) :
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Anonymous said ... (February 04, 2008 7:05 PM) :
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Tony said ... (February 08, 2008 12:52 PM) :
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Eaglewing said ... (February 09, 2008 5:07 AM) :
post a commentMost people are that gullible, unfortunately, myself included. I think that's how these companies stay in business.
In fact, there's a lot of folks that will pay a dollar for just a 2 minute song...
the song I can see, because I can strip the DRM and do what I want with it. But video is something else. especially at the high cost they're selling it for.
Well, stripping the DRM is sort of a lucky accident... if the DRM worked like it was supposed to, everyone would be stuck with only using it the way the software allowed.
Fortunately, DRM schemes seem to have a regular habit of being cracked. :-)
I think the real difference with songs is that it is possible to enjoy a song hundreds of times, while that can't really be said for an hour long TV episode.
Still, I think $1 is too much for an electronic copy of a song. Unless the money was going to straight to the artist, in which case a fan might opt to spend more.
I had to fall into the iTunes pit last week when our power went out and I missed the premier of Lost. CBS was streaming it for free, but it would not work on my Mac. This week, however, they've changed something and I've been watching the premier of Survivor this morning, with no problems. And...the kicker is, that this week that Lost episode is free on iTunes...just a few days ago, I paid $1.99. Oh well. For the most part, I've been able to get virtually all content, thanks to Flip4Mac. I can even convert WMV, cause I popped for the Studio version, and I don't regret it for a moment.
Anyway...I've learned a little patience can save me $1.99, but then again, my Mom has some stock in Apple, and I don't mind supporting the company that created this fantastic laptop that I'm using.
I still have a Windows machine if I run into a Mac block, although that Flip4Mac does come in handy. However, for me, it's usually the "this video won't play in your region" not in the US block I have to deal with on those streaming sites. So I have to use other methods to grab vids.
I can't see paying 1.99 for the iTunes video though. I'd rather wait for a DVD set. But if you've got Apple stock, at least you're kind of paying yourself :)