Aussie iTunes TV show selection – a bit of a yaaawner

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Wednesday, 25 June 2008

Page 2 of 3 The programs from the ABC and Channel Nine have all already aired, with some available on DVD, or even already available to download free of charge, such as Canal Road, but there’s no sign of shows from Channel 10 as yet, or any shows that SBS might make itself, such as the upcoming Australian version of Top Gear. The Australian ABC has hits like Summer Heights High and others, while Channel Nine is also selling eps of McLeod’s Daughters, Sea Patrol and Urban Magic. All these shows will sell for AUD $2.99 each, much higher than the $1.99 pricing charged in the US. Indeed, it would be better to buy the actual DVDs of the shows in question so they can be watched at a higher resolution on your TV screen, and “ripped” to your PC for transfer to your iPod or iPhone. Of course it is this “ripping” process that buying direct from iTunes helps you avoid, but it has to be said that the selection of shows available on DVD far outweighs that from iTunes. So is the iTunes store aimed at novices and the time poor with money? Any experienced computer user who wants to save money and have their digital media in higher quality and more portable formats will clearly buy the DVD versions of the shows on offer to then modify in different ways, even if “ripping” is frowned upon by the law and content rights holders. Those even less concerned with the law could also choose to break it further by simply download television shows from the Internet and bittorrent channels. So the iTunes store selection of shows, which will hopefully grow, is clearly aimed at users who don’t want to stuff around with DVD ripping, are happy to watch content on their PCs, iPods, iPhones and Apple TVs. These users are likely also happy to buy episodes individually or in smaller chunks, although there’s nothing stopping you from spending the money to buy all the episodes in a series from iTunes at once if desired. But I hope they have large download limits, because TV shows are a few hundred megabytes in size, and these downloads will chew up your download limit. Of course that’s an issue that illegal downloaders already face, but those buying TV shows on DVD don’t need to worry about chewing up the bandwidth. Continued on page 3. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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