Friday
Jan262007
Apple TV Made A Slow Start But is Gaining Momentum
Friday, January 26, 2007 at 8:42AM The Apple TV is a time-shifting media viewer that allows me to buy only the media content I want to watch, when I want to watch it, with pause/rewind/fast forward, at a reasonable price, with no monthly subscription fee, small hardware footprint, works with Macs and PCs, automatically downloads my season passes when available, doesn't require any BS to move it to my iPod or another computer, could very well stream "live" television like news and sports (as it does movie previews), supports HD, I only pay for content not service, doesn't force me to watch commercials, and gives me back 18 minutes of my life for every hour I spend watching broadcast shows.And why would I want Cable/Tivo?So Apple…I am opening the door to my living room. Come on in.
» Is Apple Out to Kill Tivo? | Web 2.0 Explorer | ZDNet.com
Read the article on the link above, it makes for fascinating reading! Especially the breakdown of the costs comparison between Tivo/Cable and shows delivered via iTunes.
A few of things have really brought home to me just how effective the Apple TV may be:
- I really don't watch that much cable TV anymore. I've got a HD capable PVR which is full of stuff I don't really want to watch. I never watch terrestrial TV.
- Even though I get a weekly listings magazine, I rarely spend time to review it and sit down and program the PVR. There is too much cr*p to wade through and the overall experience of programming the damm thing is just too painful.
- Adverts - now the programs I do watch have got adverts but because I tend to onlt watch stuff that has been recorded, I'm pretty adept at Ad skipping. One thing that the article in the link eluded to has hit home though and thats the amount of adverts that are embedded in US TV shows. When in San Franciso early this month, the TV in my hotel room was barely watchable. Oh yeah, I watched some shows on my MacBook via iTunes!
- A previous post mentioned my current viewing habits i.e I've been watching two or three episodes of US serials but it's been a very manual process to obtain them and the quality is just OK.
- I'd gladly pay for a prepacked good quality format TV show minus adverts that would be downloaded automatically to the Apple TV. No programming, no having to review listings. Just easy and seamless.
I also read that Apple have been suprised at the initial take up of the Apple TV and have allocated the original 100,000 units. New orders have been placed for 200,000 units with the manufacturer.
So, I'm glad mine is arriving in March and I'll be looking forward to see if the rest of the Family take to it.
Mind you, if we don't get some video content via iTunes here in Europe soon, it might not get that much usage!
Reader Comments (1)
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