Daily Show, Colbert Report added to iTunes

Doc,

While I don't quite agree with you, I do hear where you're coming from.

You are absolutely correct that there is higher quality stuff out there on the Internet that can be downloaded - unfortunately, the quality is not consistent and downloading via Bittorrent etc. can be a hit or miss as far as speed is concerned. At least that has been my experience.

While you can lament the DRM scheme, iPod exclusivity, and VCR quality of the downloads, you should send more of your dismay in the direction of the studios, networks, and production companies. They had ample opportunity to experiment with the market and offer up a convenient way to access their programming, but they chose not to and so, Apple, realizing there was nothing left to innovate in their music player except for video, pounced on the idea.

[Now in the spirit of full disclosure, I do admit to owning a 5G iPod. I bought it the day it became available not because I wanted to purchase videos from iTunes, but because Apple made it easy to do my own homebrew videos]

I live overseas. I would gladly donate money to Comedy Central to offset the costs of TDS and TCR that I conveniently subscribe to via RSS and bittorrent. But I won't pay for low res DRM'ed content from iTMS. I'll stick to buying the best of DVD's as my contribution.

I have also considered installing a TiVO and Slingbox at my mom's in the US and paying her cable bill but that is also too inndirect. Please just let me donate money directly to the channels making the content. That's how I pay for my public radio news shows and I like it that way.

I'm cancelling my cable subscription today!

I live overseas with no access to Comedy Central, SciFi, etc. Downloading the shows off Itunes is like Crack for me, I want to make it last but catch myself tearing through the stuff in one night (BSG 2nd season in 2 days)

Maybe it's time for every pic on TV Squad to be Jonnie Stewart. :)

Aside from the tangent about DIVX (ahem!), these are all very good reasons for wanting to buy Daily Show/Colbert.

Thanks for sounding off- I guess Comedy Central knows what it's doing.

rj, 'emerged' might be the wrong word. Flourished if you prefer. Either way, as DIVX disappeared DVD came into its own and became a money making machine for movie studios and networks.

I bring up DIVX in this case because of the hardware tie-in, and the fact that it is not consumer friendly. Two things it shares with iTunes in varying degrees. Still, for some reason the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field seems to keep on chugging along, working its magic.

I think the low resolution of the files is ridiculous. Eric brought up that one reason people might buy from ITMS is the legality. Fair point, but doesn't anyone ask why it is that those illegal files are always of higher quality than the legal ones? There are a couple arguments for this I have heard. One is that ITMS is meant for the iPod. Though, if they aren't marketing this stuff to televisions and large computer monitors I would have to ask just what the hell my Front Row is for. The other reason is, of course, bandwidth costs. Again, I point to those illegal files that nobody is paying $2 for yet they download nice and speedy. The fact that Apple refuses to embrace new technologies to manage bandwidth is a poor excuse.

Next is the DRM. I see a complete logic disconnect here. Most of the best selling shows in the ITMS can already be had cost free from other sources. The people that are buying them have said, with their wallets, that they are willing to come to Apple and support the people making the show. The thanks is a DRMd file that offers no advantages to the consumer, may cause unwanted headaches, and does absolutely nothing in regards to those no cost files that are still floating around the internet.

The reasoning for this is that Apple is being forced into this by the studios and labels. I'll accept that as part of the reason, but the SJRDF comes into play here as well. They may have a DRM requirement, but it doesn't have to go as far as Apple takes it. Locking other devices out of playing ITMS content, and locking the Apple players out of playing content purchased from other vendors is not consumer friendly. Apple may be well within their rights to do these things, but it doesn't mean they aren't crappy things to do.

It leads up to a situation where you have a bunch of different companies making devices to play content you buy from them, confusing things for the consumers needlessly. And, don't forget, all along doing NOTHING to stop infringed content being available on the internet.

If we really must have DRM, there needs to be a standard. As much as I loathe the fact that DVDs have encryption, for the same punish good customers to spite the ones you don't have idea, at least they got the standard of it right. If you buy a DVD, you can be pretty sure that your DVD player is going to play it, no matter who you bought it from. In our brave new world with downloaded versions of that same content, this isn't going to be the case.

Some might say, people should understand their hardware and know that if they have playerX they need to get their media from the right place. That's all well and good until someone strikes an exclusive deal so they are the only ones able to sell that content.

At the end of the day, what I am looking for in downloaded movies, tv shows, and music is the same things that we have with CDs and DVDs. If you buy a song or a video file, you can do whatever the hell you want with it. Play it on your TV, on your PC, in your car, on your iPod, on your PSP, whatever. And at no point will you have to connect to the internet to prove who you are, or to authorize your computer.

So, that is why I bring up DIVX. An example of consumers shaping the way of the technology they purchase. I'd like to think that people would refuse to participate until some of this is addressed. Unfortunately, I am told that there are about a billion reasons Apple doesn't care about any of these things.

And we haven't even got to HDCP or your Tivo telling you no.

How is the DRM anything like the DIVX of yore? I don't find the comparison relevant. If videos from iTunes expired after 48 hours, then I might be more inclined to agree. But that is not the case.

While it is true that iPod is the only mini player capable of playing iTunes video, you can still watch the video on any computer iTunes as long as it's authorized to do so.

Actually, a better more consumer friendly format never emerged once DIVX went away. In case you forgot, it was the format that was already in existence that continued to prevail.

I don't have cable. I was -this close- to getting cable, but now that these shows are on iTunes for cheaper, that's all I need.

My tivo is so backed up that it would be well worth $10 just to get rid of one more seasons pass. Also I have a 30 minute subway ride to and from school everyday, and it would be great if I could watch either show then.