Hello again from Arizona. I am still here soaking up the nice weather while I can. Today, I am back in Yuma after having spent nearly a week in Tucson. Let me tell you...if you are thinking of becoming a snowbird, you should strongly consider going to Tucson. It may be slightly cooler than Yuma (but only just slightly), but it is a fabulous city, surrounded by mountains, with enough attractions to keep you very busy all winter long. I really enjoyed my time there and look forward to going back and seeing some of the things I missed.
But, now I am back in Yuma to visit my son Eric and watch the NFL playoffs at our favorite sports bar. I will be here just a few more days before flying back to the frozen north. And, just to make you a little more envious, I will be wearing my shorts today...and remind me sometime to tell you about my visit to the President Bush Memorial Porta-Potty.
But, for now, let's talk about technology. I read with interest some of the goings-on in San Francisco last week at the annual Apple show. One of the announcements that caught my attention was that you can now rent movies from i-Tunes for $2.99 to $3.99. For your hard earned dollars, you can download a movie and watch it anytime during a 30 day period. But, once you start watching it, it is only good for 24 hours. And, they announced, they have around 1,000 titles to choose from.
Now, I do use iTunes for downloading and listening to my favorite podcasts. I don't use it as a music player as it takes too long to load compared to Windows Media Player. But, it is still a good program. But, it is doubtful I will ever use their movie rental system.
When you compare the new iTunes movie download package to other options, it falls flat. For instance, if you are a Netflix subscriber, such as myself, you can watch movies on your computer for free any time. Netflix recently announced that subscribers can watch an unlimited number of movies and other videos as often as they choose with no time limits (prior to this announcement, you were able to watch videos on your computer for only a limited amount of time each month).
Now, you do have to be a Netflix subscriber, with prices starting at $8.99 per month. And as long-time readers know I have been one for several years. The service started out as a DVD rental service, and still is, with over 75,000 title to choose from. But a year or so ago they added the on-line video watching as an additional service for no extra charge.
Instead of the 1,000 videos offered by Apple, Netflix video option has over 6,000 videos to choose from and you can watch them free of any additional charges as often as you want. When I am home, my business and lifestyle does not allow me the time to watch movies on my computer. In truth, I barely have time these days to watch the DVD rentals that I get from Netflix on my TV at night.
But this trip has given me some extra time to try out their video services. First of all, you cannot use the Firefox browser for this service. You must use Internet Explorer, Version 5 or higher. And after you click on a movie to watch for the first time, you will undoubtedly be told that you will need to upgrade your computer with some special upgrades to make it work. Don't worry. It is automatically done for you, although it can be a little time consuming, depending on your connection speed.
After that is completed, you select the movie you want and away you go. For my first movie, I watched the classic film, "Witness for the Prosecution," starring Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, and Marline Dietrich. What a great film! It played flawlessly and I was able to pause it at any time for the inevitable interruptions. I was also able to move it backward or forward at any time. FYI, I watched it on my laptop using Eric's wireless connection from his cable TV provider.
So, will Apple's new venture succeed? As another writer wrote in his review, the Apple movie download terms are not very much different than those of the '80's and '90's when we all went to a video store to rent VHS tapes. Today you can rent movies from Netflix or even Blockbuster stores with no late fees. I am not sure if Apple will succeed...only time will tell. Bet there are some great alternatives which will take a big bite out of the movie rental apple. Oops...did I just make a funny?
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