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Switched On: Why it's time for an iTunes TV subscription
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. In the 10 billionth song that Apple sold through iTunes, Johnny Cash's "Guess Things Happen That Way", a man other than Steve Jobs famous for black attire bemoans the happenstance of his romantic misfortune. But nothing could be further from the story of iTunes, in which Apple's meticulously crafted ownership of the end-user experience led to a dominant position in music sales. Now, on the dawn of releasing a new device that could be to television shows what the iPod was to music, Apple has an opportunity to create as commanding a lead in TV distribution -- if it is willing to again capitulate to consumers' media consumption habits. Apple has enjoyed great success with iTunes in part because it adopted the purchase-to-own model that had been so successful with CDs and records before them. However, Apple didn't simply mirror that model. By allowing consumers to purchase the vast majority of songs as singles, it provided better perceived value, Such an option was also a natural fit for the iPod, where playlists made it trivial to create the digital equivalent of "mix tapes." The iPod's capacity for thousands of songs was also no match for most albums that typically had a dozen or so songs.
CBS promises to sell some TV shows on iTunes for 99 cents
We'd already heard that Apple hoped to bring at least some TV shows down to the 99-cent mark on iTunes in time for the iPad launch, and it looks like CBS is now the first to officially come on board. While a final deal apparently isn't done just yet, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves has flatly told the Financial Times that there "are certain shows that will be sold on Apple for 99 cents" -- not exactly much wiggle room there. Other networks aren't speaking on the record just yet, but the Financial Times has previously reported that some have already agreed to similar terms, and are expected to start selling shows at the lower price -- possibly coinciding with the iPad launch. Update: Peter Kafka at All Things Digital has some more info on this -- sources tell him Moonves was speaking off the cuff, and while CBS is open to a deal with Apple, there's nothing in place quite yet. Unfortunately, no one's going on the record here, so the situation remains hazy -- we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Batch tagging your iTunes videos the easy way
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare, Romeo and JulietIf we applied Shakespeare's logic to today's digital age, then it would also mean that watching mis-tagged or untagged videos on your Apple device (be it a Mac, iPhone, iPod or Apple TV) would be just as enjoyable. Okay, you got me, they'd probably be just as good. But this doesn't mean you're excused from tagging your videos appropriately.First, a bit of background. The vast majority of videos purchased from the iTunes store, as well as "digital copy" (iPod/iPhone pre-formatted videos that are sometimes included on DVDs and Blu-Ray discs), will come pre-tagged. So, the situation for those in this camp (myself included) is peachy, especially when using an Apple TV. Your videos show up on the screen screen with proper titles, season and episode numbers, actors, and descriptions. Just the way Steve likes 'em.But what if you already own the DVD and want a version for your iTunes library? For those of you with the time and patience to rip an MPEG-4 version (and believe me, this takes some patience, especially if you use H.264 encoding) of your favorite videos, a HandBrake-MetaX martini make tagging your videos a bit more of a pleasurable experience - as if it wasn't fun enough already.
The best fall programming to dazzle onlookers
Now that that Fall 2008 HDTV schedule is well underway, Sound & Vision has had time to investigate which shows are best for showing off your new flat-panel / surround sound system. Sure, we know you're still interested in those far-fetched "plots" and "story lines," but what about tickling your retinas and eardrums with the best TV has to offer? We'd rather not give away any surprises, but after reading through their top seven, why not chime in below with how you agree / disagree?
Netflix inks deals with ABC / CBS, current TV shows streaming soon
Whoa boy -- the Netflix wagon just keeps picking up steam. Announced today, the movie rental service has landed separate agreements with both CBS and ABC that will allow a swath of current TV shows to be streamed at Netflix. Starting next month, subscribers can indulge in current season episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and beginning this week, current season episodes of CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. Over on the ABC / Disney side, you can expect to find streams of Hannah Montana, The Suite Life on Deck, and Wizards of Waverly Place, two of which can be seen just 24 hours after they air on television. Users will also find heaps of catalog episodes to enjoy at their leisure, and we have all ideas the quantity of available content will grow as time passes. Now, if only we had an ETA on HD streaming...[Thanks, Anthony]
ted: episode downloader for bittorrent
In the past we've covered the Mac application TV Shows, which automates starting bittorrents for tv show episodes. Sadly, it hasn't been updated in a while (though the main page still promises an update soon). However, I recently ran across another application that works in a similar way called ted.With ted you can select various shows, even see summaries of episodes, then send the torrents off your your favorite bittorrent client (e.g. Transmission). Unfortunately, ted is a cross-platform java application, but it should run fine on any modern Mac.ted is a free download from sourceforge.[via Gizmodo]
TV shows added to Australia iTunes Store
The Australian iTunes Store has become the latest to offer television programming for purchase.Shoppers will notice that pricing is standard across all shows at $2.99 AUS per episode. There are no season passes available as of this writing, and several American shows, like Lost, Pimp My Ride (we're sorry), Hannah Montana (we're really sorry) and Scrubs (we're indifferent) are available along side Australian shows like Sleek Geek and We Can Be Heroes. ABC Studios, Disney, MTV, Nine Network and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are represented in iTunes.[Via MacNN]
Zune TV lineup gets some NBC love
While we're still waiting for the early year flirtations of NBC and Apple to sprout into a renewed relationship, it looks like Microsoft is picking up the ball and running with it. The new Zune Marketplace TV lineup includes NBC favorites "The Office, "Heroes" and "30 Rock," in addition to popular shows from Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, and Sci Fi Channel. Over 800 episodes in total are available at the moment, and all of them are going for 160 Microsoft Points -- about $2.00. A more complete list is after the break.
Apple issuing refunds, credits from WGA strike
Here's a nice bit of information. Many iTunes customers bought season passes to television shows in iTunes that never aired as a result of the recent writers' strike. As of this writing, Apple has begun addressing their concerns.In an email that has been delivered to some customers, Apple describes how customer plans will be extended into the next season, or refunds will be issued:"We will make all additional episodes which are broadcast during the 2007-08 season available to you as we receive them. If the season does end up with fewer episodes, you will receive a partial refund to make up for the difference."Also, some customers are finding an instant iTunes Store credit that may be used towards the purchase of any two TV episodes, music videos, or short films on the iTunes Store.Let us know if you receive one. Thanks, Apple! [Via Uneasy Silence]
Say bye bye to Heroes: NBC to end iTunes show sales
Following on the heels of the Universal Music/iTunes rift, NBC/Universal has declined to renew its iTunes contract according to the NY Times. The current deal is due to expire this December. 1500+ hours of NBC Universal content, including The Office and Heroes, will remain on iTunes until that time. So what happens after December? Between now and then, the two parties may return to the negotiating table--or they may not. Seems to me that iTunes sales have got to be putting some money in NBC/Universal's pocket. iTunes almost singlehandedly turned The Office into a hit, allowing people to catch up and join in with its episode backlog. To quote our own Scott McNulty, this continues the trend of content providers trying to "show their might and put Apple in its place."
CenterStage open source media center updates, offers preview of future interface
The Mac media center market is heating up lately, with a healthy collection of competitors to Apple's Front Row offering unique features and different UI experiences. This is great news for anyone who wants to turn an older Mac into a media center, or if Front Row simply doesn't float your boat. CenterStage, while still very much in alpha and under heavy development (they're always looking for more developers to lend a handy, by the way), is a promising open source media center that brings a strong style, some exclusive features and the promise of an impressive UI down the road.For now, CenterStage covers the meat of what a media center needs to be pretty well: it can play movies, music and your photos; nothing too much to write home about there. CenterStage can already do interesting things like play TV shows recorded with EyeTV, but highlights from the planned features list, however, is what might peak more of your interest: Bonjour support is coming to allow access to the media of other machines on the network, which will include viewing photos and slideshows from other computers (take that, Apple TV) Subtitle support for playing movies Live TV viewing Live and scheduled TV recording Game support - playing CD-ROM, Flash and emulation games For now, CenterStage has released a significant v0.6.2 update which the team calls the "most fully functional release to date." For the future, however, the CenterStage crew have also produced a slick video of what the interface will eventually become, with demonstrations of browsing the library and a few other choice features.Like I said though, CenterStage is still very much an alpha product so if you give it a spin, definitely treat it as such. Still, the project seems to be progressing nicely and it will be great to see the day when it is a formidable competitor to the likes of Front Row and equinux's MediaCentral.
Is the Apple TV a dud?
Of all the products Apple has been rolling out in the past few years, the Apple TV is easily one of the most debated. While I haven't seen any specific figures from Apple on how well or poorly the device is selling, Apple's first foray into the living room seems to be getting off to at least a decent start. Jobs made another uncharacteristic move in revealing upcoming plans to support YouTube next month. But could the Apple TV be a dud? CNN Money's Brent Schlender sure thinks so. In fact, Mr. Schlender goes so far as to take a jab at the Apple TV's development: "Apple TV is so Zune-like, you'd think Jobs was so busy with the iPhone that he outsourced the Apple TV project to the folks up in Redmond." He then follows with a list of the largest complaints against the device, which includes: No DVD drive The perceived requirement of an HDTV (though we know that to be not-quite-true) even though you can't buy full HD content from the iTunes Store The fact that you can't shop the iTS right from the Apple TV despite its internet connection The annoying conundrum with only being able to use images from one computer's photo library, even though most people's pictures are probably the one batch of HD-ready media that isn't rights-managed in any way and completely sharable over a network and amongst friends or even strangers Schlender is quick to point out, however, that the one other device everyone expected to be able to shop online via its wireless connection - Microsoft's Zune - can't do that either.
iTunes collects season finales for you
Say what you will about the video quality of iTunes content, but it sure is convenient to download an episode or two of a show that you missed when it aired. The web elves that run the iTunes Store are determined to make it even more convenient it would seem, as they have gathered all the TV season finales available for purchase on one page [iTunes link]. Everything from American Dad to Battlestar Galatica is listed for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to check back because shows are going to be added daily.Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find out if Sylar is stopped (warning, if you don't like spoilers I wouldn't click that Sylar link).
TV Shows: automatic torrent finder
This falls into the category of we report, you decide (what to do with it). TV Shows is an open source project that simplifies bittorrenting. It is not itself a Bittorrent client, rather it interfaces tvRSS together with your bittorrent client (whatever it happens to be) to let download shows automatically. Basically, you run the TV Shows client and pick whichever shows you want downloaded. After you close the client, a daemon runs in the background monitoring tvRSS and when a new show is available it downloads the torrent automatically and sends it to your default bittorrent client.TV Shows is open source and a free download from Sourceforge.Thanks, Bradon!
Sony TV shows added to the iTunes Store
Macworld reports that some Sony shows have just been added to the iTunes store. Amongst the new offerings are: Charlie's Angels NewsRadio Starsky and Hutch Till Death Spiderman All the more content for that brand new Apple TV you just bought (you knew I had to work that in somehow).
Disney iTunes sales top 1.3 million movies
After just three months, Disney has sold more than 1.3 million movies through the iTunes store. Fears that digital sales would cannibalize DVD sales led to recent disagreements with retail partners like Target, however, those fears seem to be unfounded as brick and mortar DVD sales remain healthy. Experts do expect a long-term downturn in DVD sales as the market matures and consumers turn to other viewing models including iTunes and Netflix, but for now DVD sales of titles such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest have reached record highs. It seems to me that there are two kinds of movie buyers these days: those going for convenience and instant gratification, for whom the iTunes store is the perfect fit, and those looking for long-term durability, who want the portability, device independence, and physical reality that DVDs offer. As far as TV shows go, Disney has sold more than 20 million downloads in addition to their movie titles.
Full length Battlestar Galactica on XBLM
You can download an entire episode of BattleStar Galactica: The Story So Far -- actually a recap of seasons 1 and 2 (Season 3 starts in October) -- on Marketplace. As Major Nelson notes, this is the first time a full length TV show has been offered on Live, albeit in crappy standard definition (492.20mb0. Of course, the thing that really hinders a solid library of long-from HD content is the small size of the 360's hard drive. Apart from a bigger drive, what we reall need is a way to transfer this stuff to a computer (or Zune), or better yet get it there to start, yet still play on our 360 with ease. It's called "Live Anywhere" right?[Thanks Aragorn]
What's on HDTV for Fall 2006?
The fall television season is almost here and it brings with it a bevy of new shows, new seasons for old shows, and old favorites moving to new timeslots. Add to that the prospect of quick cancellations and you've got a situation that can be very hard to keep track of. Luckily the networks have made things easier for us this year by producing practically every prime time show in HD so you don't have to guess, with the exception of reality shows. The guys at AVSForum have put together a continuously updated list of summer/fall/winter shows, what's in HD and what isn't, what's premiering tomorrow (Prison Break, Vanished) and what we'll be waiting until September or October to see (The Office, The Nine). They've even got the new networks, The CW and MyNetworkTV listed, although Dancing with the Stars isn't indicated HD yet. Keep an eye on the daily listings as well, we'll continue to give you a heads up on all the new shows this fall.
"Invasion: The Complete Series" coming to HD DVD too?
TV shows turned into HD DVD/Blu-ray might turn out to be the golden lining for these formats. We already knew that The Sopranos are on their way with season 6, plus we are pretty sure that Smallville and The West Wing are next. Now, there are reports that ABC's somewhat-of-a-hit show Invasion might be coming to HD DVD too. The show was canceled by ABC and then the new network CW considered pick up the show but decided not too once they found out the production costs. The show was consider one of the best sci-fi shows outside of Lost and Battlestar Galactica, but it just didn't find a home on ABC -- maybe it will on HD DVD though. Shows like this are just prime picking for the high-def formats as they already have following, they are filmed in high-def but mostly, a person gets a plethora of HD content rather then just one movie. [Via MovieWeb]
