The problems with digital distribution

Companies like Apple and Microsoft have managed to persuade a good few people that the future distribution of music, movies and almost everything else will be internet based. Whilst it would be hard to disagree that music has almost entirely shifted to digital distribution, with iTunes becoming the most popular music supplier in the US, the same can't be said for video. 

The above mentioned companies have provided some pretty slick ways in which to watch movies and TV shows over the net on your computer and/or T.V. A couple of years ago Apple released the AppleTV - a tiny set top box that syncs with your iTunes library much like a giant static iPod. The user can play movies, music and podcasts on the big TV rather than sitting in front of a desk or staring at a tiny laptop screen. Apple then released an update that included 'renting' high def movies and TV shows.

Microsoft has done a very similar thing with the XBox 360. Movies can be rented or downloaded and in America users can stream movies for (almost) free if they already have a Netflix account (the American Lovefilm).

All of these things sound very cool. No more trips to the video shop and no more waiting for that Lovefilm DVD (if in fact they have enough copies to send you a new release) to arrive. That would be if UK ISPs aloud us to download a decent amount of these movies. For the last couple of weeks our internet connection has been running at a speed of 125kb/s between the hours of 9am and 11pm. This is because we have apparently downloaded over 50GBs of data. Now I'm not saying that that is not a ridiculous amount of data - it really is. But these HD movie downloads from Apple and Microsoft often come in at about 4GB. Even without downloading a few podcasts, system updates and a couple of albums you could only watch 13 movies a month before you went over the limit. What happens if you were a family buying each other movies for Christmas?

ISPs don't usually print their fair usage limits on their websites. Rather annoyingly they just write 'unlimited'. It would be interesting to see how much each ISP considered too much to download in a month. I know for sure that my housemates and I downloaded a lot more than 50GBs some months when with Be (a company I cannot recommend enough). 

I just wish that the telecoms companies and the government spent a bit of time and money on creating a decent fiber network like the one in Japan that delivers 100Mb/s with no limits. Or I suppose it would also be nice if someone other than Virgin were running their network but lets not get into that just now...

Bits and bobs

I've just returned from the cinema. I don't go nearly as much as I should but I'm hoping that will change at least over the next couple of weeks as there is a growing list of films I very much want to see. I went to see Che: Part One which was actually my third choice of film but I am forbidden to see The Wrestler or Slumdog Millionaire without Jordan (I may just go against that as there is a chance I'll be having a day off this week and I'm really itching to see The Wrestler). The film was actually really good and I'm looking forward to the release of part two. I have to admit that my knowledge of Che Guevara was fairly limited before seeing the film. I love Benicio Del Toro and as always he's really fun to watch - once he dons the iconic hat you can really believe that he really is the famous revolutionary. I feel like I learnt a lot from seeing the film and it definitely didn't feel two and half hours long.

At some point this week before I see The Wrestler I'm planning on re-watching Darren Aronofsky's previous three films - Pi, Requiem For a Dream and The Fountain. Anyone familiar with the former two will know that that will be a pretty heavy day if viewed together. I know it's not a popular viewpoint but I'm really looking forward to watching The Fountain again. As Darren Aronofsky himself describes it 'it's a 40 million dollar art film.' It's not supposed to be mainstream. It's not supposed to have a nice, clean happy, ending. It's meant to be ambiguous and personally I think it's one of the most beautifully shot films of this decade. 

/rant

In other news I've had my first 'celebrity' acknowledgement on Twitter. If you've not heard of Twitter it's basically a mini blogging site. You are limited to 160 characters in each 'tweet'. It's much the same as Facebook's status updates - in fact, you can install an app in Facebook that updates your status every time your post to Twitter. At the moment I don't have many people following me so it sometimes feels like a relatively pointless exercise although I'm hoping that people will catch on in time.

The great thing about it is being able to follow famous people that interest you. Steven Fry is a very popular tweeter. He's fun to keep up to date with as he's always jetting off all over the place and often has many witty comments to make. Another person I am following is Jhonen Vasquez - an alternative comic book writer responsible for Johnny The Homicidal Maniac, I Feel Sick and the cartoon Invader ZIM. He's especially fun to follow as his tweets are more on the surreal side of things. This is how things went...

JhonenV Other game systems need miscreant mascots like the 360's 'Xbox Taco Assailant'. Put on your Helm of Brainstorming and get this shit done.

JhonenV PS3 Burrito Murderer? The Nintendo DS Sausage Ronin? The PSP McMuffin Rapist? I'm seeing a fighting game in this.

Louisblack @JhonenV Atari Jaguar Chrizo Child Molester

JhonenV So far Atari's gotten the worst of it from you lot. The Atari Chorizo Child Molester? Atari Hamburger Fucker? Good god, guys. Well done!

Very fun indeed.

I was going to write about Jordan's growing obsession with Viva Pinata as well but I think I'll save that for another day. 

Sieve head

Damn...

Today is an example of how even with lots of technology that make life lots easier my forgetfulness will always prevail. This morning I was flicking through eBay and found a last generation iBook which was at about £60 with a couple of hours to go. The seller wrote that it didn't boot, it just went to a screen with a folder and a question mark. This just means that the hard drive might be dead or even that the installation of OS X is corrupt. I have a couple of spare hard drives around and a Leopard disk so this would be perfect. I made a note to check back before the auction ended.

Of course... I forgot. I just checked the auction now to see what it went for and it went for the measly sum of £123 with £20 P&P. They usually sell for around £350-£400.

Bugger.