Amazon Unbox – Not Super Fantastic.. just barely fantastic.
26
Mar3
Mar3
Last week I wrote up a blathering chronicle of how Amazon Unbox was the digital media king and had made Blu-Ray and DVDs obsolete with its DRM free (sort of) downloads of all the latest movies and TV. While parts of my story were true, but I have to digress a little- I take back a big part of what I said. The downloads are not portable! Not in the least bit, which is extremely deceiving considering they play in Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center and look like good old fashion Windows Media Files. Not even with the Zune, it is partly Microsoft’s fault for creating a walled garden for the Zune.
And definitely Amazon’s fault for creating another proprietary format wrapped in some ugly DRM(!!!) to keep them from being portable, unless of course you have one of the 8 obscure MP3 players that actually will support them. Basically these players have a mini version of Amazon’s player – which is the opposite of portable and not user-friendly. Aaaargghh. While Amazon does specify the players it supports (in fine print) I think they should have definitely made this more clear in the Amazon player, when you are prompted to download a portable version of your recently purchased movies or TV shows.
Plus, 12 of the 20 players supported are old and not even for sale anymore, not even on Amazon. So, unless you own the Archos 404 from 2006, you are pretty much out of luck.
Stupid Amazon, and Stupid Movies. Figure it out already and make it easy for us.
Blu-Ray or HD DVD – doesn’t matter…
15
Mar1
Mar1
With the official end to the format war and Blu-Ray looking like the winner I started thinking about why it doesn’t matter.
The interweb is full of proclamations claiming Sony’s Blu-Ray format is the future of our mind-numbing in home entertainment.
I just don’t see it. See my review of some of the popular download services.
The number of people with High Definition TVs is still not that high and the number of people with Blu-Ray DVD players is even closer to rock bottom. (I know my parents make at least 1 consumer in the world).Not to say it isn’t an enjoyable setup to have, but the fact remains most people just down have the moolah or the interest in this kind of equipment.
While the format war is over, and Blu-Ray marches on, I think by the time the average household catches up Broadband access and bandwidth will have reached acceptable numbers to provide every household with High Definition movies without a player at all, but instead in a file format that can be played from cheap Media Centers, TIVO and Extenders (or Apple TV if you fell for that.)
Xbox live, and others, already provide downloads of HD content to be watched on users TVs. I think the number of these users will grow a lot faster then people looking to use a more physical format like Blu-Ray or the now obsolete HD DVD.
The format war will have moved on to file formats and hopefully we can all agree on an open portable format and by that time the Movie industry will have let go of its grip on obsolete licensing strategies.
Let’s have some crab legs while we wait for this whole thing to sort itself out!
Zune-ariffic
6
Mar0
Mar0
Finally broke down and upgrade my tank of an MP3 player which my current iRiver player is bigger then most people’s microwave. Plus, Tally had the charger for dinner one night and the battery barely lasted for the daily commute on the bus.
Anyway – I download the software for Windows and importing all my music… turns out you get a music card – whatever it’s for (maybe I’m just too old to know or care (sadly)). It is cool though – shows what I have been listening too and I added some of my old photography to the background.
My Zune is decked out with 80’s style boom-boxes and Super Trooper references – now I just have to wait for it to arrive…..
Tapes ‘n Tapes Preview of "Walk It Off"
6
Mar0
Mar0
By 1pm Central time – it will be all over… I have been enjoying the gracious free Preview of the new Tapes ‘n Tapes album – Walk it Off. Which is due out in the US on April 8th.
I really like the artwork for it too. Looks and sounds like it is going to be a huge winner! Can’t wait for the full release.
Update: Every song is great – but I must say the drumming on Conquest stopped me in my tracks and prompted me to write that I love the drum work on this song. Woot!
Update, Update: Simply, wow. I am overly excited for this to be released and can’t wait to stroll down the streets to the beat of this album. Every song has prompted me to want to write an update about my excitement… but I will resist.
If you have a chance in the next 3 hours – go to: http://www.tapesntapes.com/preview and enter your email address to get access to the free preview while it lasts! Otherwise you will have to wait like the rest of ‘em.
What’s it worth to you?
3
Oct0
Oct0
If you aren’t a Radiohead fan (which you should be) or if you live under a rock you probably haven’t heard about the new Radiohead album. It’s called In Rainbows – and it costs exactly how much your willing to pay. That’s right – if you don’t think it will be worth the money – you can get it for free! There is a super content rich box set you can purchase for $84 dollars which will please the super-fans – but the album in mp3 format is enough for me.
Some say this is just Radiohead being Radiohead – but I think it is a larger experiment to demonstrate to Mr. Steve Jobs, and half of the major record labels in the music industry that license free downloads can work. In fact, even when given the choice, people are willing to volunteer their bucks to pay for it.
I eagerly await October 10th when I can download it and enjoy it exactly the way I want it – license free and for exactly how much I wanted to pay for it, $10. Perfect combination.
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