Steamd

NBC is continuing its efforts to distance themselves from iTunes even further with its anything-but-Apple strategy. Latest news says that NBC is teaming up with SanDisk. “SanDisk?“, you say. Yes, SanDisk!

The stategy is to sell the SanDisk Sansa TakeTV and let customers use the Fanfare video service to download content. In theory, this idea seems really cool since it means watching content on your TV. However, there is some really big downsides to this:

1. The TakeTV is Windows only and there is no indication from SanDisk that it’ll ever be Mac compatible.
2. The TakeTV is for video only. No features for listening to just audio, music, podcasts or showing your photos like the Apple TV can.
3. You’ll have to shell out another $99 to $150 for yet another device to hook up to your TV.
4. Still doesn’t solve the problem of not being able to take your media on the go.

This may be a fine solution for some folks out there…but not when it’s the only solution for playing NBC content on your TV. Like others have said, it’s basically NBC telling you how they want you to use their content. And, yes, the TakeTV is going to have DRM out the ass cause that’s exactly how NBC wants it.

Others have talked about how Apple needs NBC:

“Don’t let the Macgeeks posting angry blogs against NBC fool you…The loser here is Apple, which relies on NBC Universal to deliver 30 percent of video download sales. Any supposed backlash against NBC will not materialize because NBC has made its content available, for free, on NBC.com and six other major portals sites, via NBC Direct download, as well as over cable VOD.”?

It may seem like that now, especially when NBC is doing everything they can to make NBC look like the bad guy. However, just because NBC is making its content available for free doesn’t mean that it’s a good thing. There are a lot of people out there that simply want readily available content that they can use as they please whether it’s playing it on an iPod/iPhone, on their computer, TV, or any other way they want. NBC wants everyone to pay a fee for every device they want to play the content on whereas most consumers would rather pay for it once and play it anywhere.

So all the stuff NBC is doing…who is it really good for? Definitely not Apple…but not the consumer either. Although it’s easy to say that Apple is the real loser here and that Macgeeks are just blowing hot air, in the end NBC will likely end up being the real loser. It’s bad enough that they killed all their content from iTunes…but it’s even worse then their so-called solution doesn’t even compensate Mac users. Who are they kidding? “Anything but Apple” indeed! Shitheads!

It’s official! Wanna watch the latest Heroes episode on your Apple TV? How about 30 Rock on your iPod or Zune? “Sorry!”, says Mr. Zucker, “No can do! You’re SOL for now!” No 30 Rock, Battlestar Galactica, Bionic Woman, Heroes, The Office, Scrubs, or The Tonight Show. And that pretty much sums it up for any content from Bravo, mun2, NBC, NBC News, CNBC, NBC Sports, Sci Fi, Sleuth, Telemundo or USA Network. Wanna watch this stuff at a later time? Better keep those DVR set to record then! Thanks, Mr. Zucker, I appreciate it!

But, on the bright side, you can watch a lot of this content on the network websites! Err…provided you’re on Windows! Yep, NBC’s new fangled video download service has been getting a lot of flack lately. It requires that you use Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player to view and use the site and the videos are laden with DRM (the files expire 7 days after downloading!). You can’t play them on a portable player either…you’re forced to play them only on your computer. And if you’re on a Mac then you’re screwed. But they do say they’ll have Mac support in the first part of 2008. Great…so what do we do till then? Oh yeah! That’s right! We use Pirate Bay!

NBC also has a private beta of another video serviced called Hulu. A lot of early reviews have already been posted about Hulu (here, here, here, and here). But, just like NBC’s own video download site, there are restrictions on what you can and cannot do with the video downloads. It’s a streaming only service and thus you can’t download the video to your hard drive to watch later. Also, many new TV episodes will expire after 5 weeks so there likely won’t be a way to watch any back catalog of episodes online. And, of course, you can’t watch any content on a portable media player.

I’ve already talked about my disdain for CEO Jeff Zucker in a previous post. NBC’s new video download service is a travesty! No way am I going to sit there and watch a f#$king episode on their site. It’s quirky, the video is too damn small, and it skips. I honestly would prefer just to buy the damn episode for two dollars and watch it on my big screen…but NBC absolutely refuses to allow me to do so. Instead, they come up with some goofy scheme to make wads of cash off of services online like Hulu and their own video download service. Never mind what the customer wants because it’s clear that NBC doesn’t care. It’s about maintaining total control over their content and squeezing every last nickel from the consumer. Corporate bullshit at its finest!

You wanna impress me, Mr. Zucker? Why don’t you follow Amazon’s suit and offer up a way for me to download your content and burn it to a DVD at a fair and decent price? That, my friend, would impress the shit out of me!

People download from sites like the Pirate Bay simply because they are tired of DRM and their tired of people telling them what they can and cannot do with the content they are trying to legitimately purchase. DRM is a dead end, NBC! Get used to it!

Ok, so I just read this article on AppleInsider about how NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker said the following during a business breakfast:

“We know that Apple has destroyed the music business — in terms of pricing — and if we don’t take control, they’ll do the same thing on the video side,”

Umm…ok. So giving the customer what they want is bad business. That makes total sense. So, charging $4.99 for what used to only cost $1.99 is good business? You gotta come up with something better to prove your point than just “Apple bad, NBC good”.

“We wanted to take one show, it didn’t matter which one it was, and experiment and sell it for $2.99. We made that offer for months and they said no.?

Ok…so let’s do the math for a sec. Let’s take Heroes for example. I love Heroes and I certainly don’t want to miss any episodes. A season pass that would allow me to download and watch it on my TV any time I want would be pretty enticing. Last I checked, the average season pass on iTunes was around $35 to $40 for most TV shows. However, even with a measly $1 increase, that season pass could potentially be raised to
$50 or more. Now, I’m no dummy but why would I pay 33% more for something when I could wait and just buy the entire damn thing for $40 on DVD? Seems to me like you just don’t get it and simply want the consumer to pay more simply because you think they’re suckers and will pay it!

“Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content and made a lot of money. They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing.”

Oh, puh-lease! If it wasn’t for companies like Apple you’d still be in the dark ages! Actually it’s the other way around…more like you were the ones riding off the back of Apple’s innovation. There have been plenty of opportunities for another company to rise up and create something that can seriously compete with iTunes. Last I checked about the only company that is doing that is Amazon.

Mr. Zucker, let me ask you…when is the last time NBC Universal or any other media company has collected a share of the profits on the number of DVD and/or CD players sold in the last 10 years or so? How about never! Do you want to know why? Because you’re not entitled to it, that’s why! In fact, if it wasn’t for the sale of said hardware your company would never be able to make any money off the sale of CD’s and DVD’s anyways.

Now, Mr. Zucker, an iPod or any other music player similar to it is no different than a CD and/or DVD player. The only difference is that the media it uses is “soft” instead of “hard”. And don’t even talk to me about piracy, Mr. Zucker…I could just as easily copy a CD and DVD.

I buy stuff on iTunes and Amazon simply because I enjoy the convenience of not having to figure out where the hell I’m going to store all the damn CD’s I could have potentially bought. And when it comes to TV shows, I very much would like to have the convenience of watching them the way I want to watch them. One of the ways I DON’T want to watch them is on the web:

“It’s extraordinary. It’s like a small cable channel in our universe that is becoming very successful.”

You think it’s going to be very successful…but it won’t. When is the last time you realistically sat down with your family and watched a missed episode of Heroes or some other NBC show straight off the NBC website? Was the experience of watching it on a webpage as good as what it would be on your TV? Seriously, Mr. Zucker…is this really the future of television? No, it is not.

You know, I could have bought an Apple TV, hooked it up to my 42″ plasma, and bought a season of Heroes and Chuck. Not now. Apple won’t see a dime from the sale of an Apple TV…and neither will you. Instead, I’ll have to wait till you get a brain. Your company could have had $60 or more of my money so that I could have the convenience of watching Heroes and Chuck when I want and where I want. That’s what Apple TV is to me…but of course Apple is bad, NBC is good. Sorry…forgot about that.

Do you know what you’re creating? More pirates. What happens if I do miss an episode of Heroes? You think I’m gonna sit in front of my computer and watch a lame, stuttering version of it off your website? You’re sorely mistaken, sir! Given that there is no alternative, I’ll simply just download a copy off of a torrent site, burn it to a DVD, and watch on my 42″ plasma. Thanks, but no thanks, Mr. Zucker….I think you’re new business model sucks!