Apple's iTunes store breaks the 200 million TV episodes / 1 million HD sold mark
By Richard Lawler 
posted Oct 16th 2008 9:01AM
posted Oct 16th 2008 9:01AM
posted Oct 16th 2008 9:01AM
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Ugh. When is Apple going to quit telling us how "smart" they are. Frankly, I think paying $3 for a TV show that comes into your house for free is actually "stupid". It's even "stupider" if you are paying for cable and still buy TV shows.
Dana, I hear yah! And agree, I pay $1.99 for tv shows on the Playstation network and still wonder why I do it. All I have to do is DVR my shows and I would be fine, don't get me wrong I love the PSN system; but I love my blu-ray movies more.
@Dana - Thanks for calling me "stupid" since I have purchased several Itunes HD shows.
Not all shows come into your house even if you are using a cable TV provider. My cable provider doesn't carry any NBC/Universal networks (MSNBC/USA/Bravo, etc) other than the local NBC feed. I have purchased several NBC sister network show seasons in HD from Itunes. Also, I missed Heroes season 2 and recently purchased it in HD so I could watch before I resumed watching season 3 that my DVR was recording.
now, if only itunes would add video control features (color, contrast, etc), it might actually get me to purchase. as it is now, the settings for recorded HD and itunes HD are totally different (not to mention both are different from my laptop's blu-ray player).
Downloadable HD is not the same as BluRay HD. I think it's unfortunate that HD is considered anything that's 720p with zero regard with bit rate. However, downloads are fine for the people that think their over-compressed HD cable looks "awesome".
It is good to see that that digital download future is not ten years away as some would have you believe. It seems like a good portion of the buying public has decided the future is now.
If you have internet connection.
I agree. The future of digital video and audio content does not depend upon a rotating disc. The disc is a storage medium for data...period. The days of data on discs are numbered. Look at what has happened to music downloads. CD's are quickly becoming a niche market as a new generation of listeners either steal their music from Limewire or purchase it from Apple's Itunes store. The biggest competitor to Blu Ray isn't DVD, it is the present and forthcoming alternative methods of receiving high definition data. I would go on to say the future of gaming consoles (game disc data) and even operating systems will be internet based. The writing is on the wall.
The iTunes store has a purpose and can be quite valid at rare times. For me, I will only use the iTunes store if a show is (a) not on DVD, (b) not online, (c) is really a must have. Such as the case of Superman: The Animated Series. We had Seasons 1 and 3, but couldn't find season 2. In the end, we just bought it from the iTunes store and filled our collection. Now, shows like the Daily Show, House, or Lost, yeah, we'll never buy those because they are readily available on either DVD or Hulu.