The New Apple TV

I can't wait for the update for the Apple TV. Allowing rentals directly from your TV. I think that is great. Heck, I think what would be killer is if they started having rental TV episodes at $0.99 per episode. Because really, how many people really watch the same episode more than once unless they have too. (i.e. there is nothing better on). Of course, I don't think the production studios wil go for it. Because in my mind that is what caused the decline in the music sales. That is allowing people to buy just the good sounds on an album instead of being forced to by the whole album with the good and the bad. I think the music industry basically got lazy. Instead of trying to product 10 to 15 good songs on an album. They just needed to produce 2 or 3. Enough to get people interested enough to buy the whole album just for the couple good ones. But when iTunes and other online music sellers (not to mention the peer-to-peer) started to allow people to get individual songs that is when the music industry needed to change. But they realized it a little late. So they will be playing catchup. They will need to produce more good songs.

Back to the point that I wanted to make with this entry. That is I have been listening to many Mac podcasts and everybody is complaining about the 24 hour rental period. Saying they can get better on other sites on the Internet. But here is the thing, Apple is not competing with them directly. With the new Apple TV, Apple just made a leap over them. Why? Because sites like Netflix require you to use the computer to get your rentals. Apple has gotten smarter since last year and dropped that idea. What people want and are used to is going to there TV and click on a few buttons on their remote and voila here is the movie that I just rented. For me, it is called Comcast On Demand. And they offer the same conditions as Apple (i.e. you need to watch the movie within a 24 hour period). But again Apple is ahead of them because of the number of TV shows that are offered and the number of movies. Also, the Apple TV's interface is much better. Why you may ask? Because I have used Comcast On Demand pretty much since they offered it and the one thing that drivers me crazy is that there is no centralized location to find movies. There are movies that you can buy. And then there are movies available from each premium channel. The ones that are not associated with HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, etc are available in one location. But if it is HBO offering it. You need to select "Premium Channels" then "HBO" then "All Movies". It would be much better to have it like the Apple TV where you have a single list and that list changes based on what channels I have offered. And then have a way to search it and probably have separate sections for each genre. So instead of waiting for Comcast to catch up, I am going to save my pennies and get an Apple TV. And heck, if the Apple TV is better than Comcast I might cancel the Premium Channels and save a little money too.