Saw this on the
Slashdot blog today:
"Reuters is running a story on a study that claims "Online video sites that sell shows and movies such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes will likely peak this year as more programming is made available on free outlets supported by advertising." Many channels have wised up to offering their content hosted from their own sites for free — with commercials — to cut out iTunes as the middle man. End result? Predictions that services like iTunes-Video have no future." (eldavojohn)
(Photo: Courtesy Reuters)
I can count on two fingers the number of times I've actually used the iTunes store to purchase either TV shows or movies. I tend to use a fairly good program called PSPVideo Creator to stream DVD's and compress them to the iPod and PSP friendly MP4 format. In fact, unless a DVD is so loaded with DRM that it's been rendered unplayable on my PC, it works for just about anything I have in my collection.
The reality is iTunes has one major edge over web-based network streams: portability. Downloading a TV episode to your PC is fine. Being able to take that episode with you on your handheld device is key. If I want to sit and watch last week's episode of "Heroes" because my Tivo missed it (which would really damage my relationship with it), I'm going to opt to put that content on my PSP and watch it in bed or take it on a plane with me instead of sitting in the same chair I use for nearly everything that's either creatively taxing or work related.
And while iTunes' days as a go-to outlet for episodic content may indeed be numbered, until these other outlets offer up the capability to download that and take it with you (and without commercials), iTunes and similar a la carte sites aren't going anywhere.
Joe Alterio, a San Francisco artist, is donating his talents as an illustrator to help raise money for the upcoming San Francisco AIDS Marathon.
