Accidentally in Code

Tag: itunes

  • TV via iTunes

    Ugly Betty / Justin
    Credit: flickr / Litandmore

    I’ve never bought any music on iTunes. I’ve long resented the fact that it’s nearly as expensive as buying a CD, and I don’t have the physical CD to put in my car or just to have in case of a computer crash. But not that long ago, I started renting, and then buying movies on iTunes.

    Typically, I don’t watch a lot of TV. However recently, I’ve been ill, so I’ve been watching a lot of TV shows. I find them better for distraction than movies because the characters are more developed, I become more invested in what’s happening to them.

    Everyone I know gets frustrated by DRM. My iTunes is locked to my British credit card, so even though I live in Canada I have to wait longer for the next episode of Brothers and Sisters. A season costs about the same as a DVD, but I had to buy an external hard-drive for storage. It’s not fair. We know we’re being screwed by the studios, and so we find away to watch the things we want to see online, for free. The studios do have a comeback, though. They can cancel.

    The penultimate episode of Ugly Betty was an extraordinary, touching, sympathetic handling of a boy coming out to his family. It was a show that I enjoyed because – I’m a girl in computer science. I know about feeling like you don’t fit in. It’s been running for four years – four years that I’ve also been figuring out who I am and the balance in my life.

    Lipstick Jungle, Cashmere Mafia, were like Sex and the City – women trying to find balance in their lives. The trade-offs between career and family. Ran for two seasons and one season, respectively. Samanath Who – a smart, funny, look at reinventing yourself. Canceled after two seasons.

    So I’ve started paying the ridiculous prices to watch shows on iTunes. I bought all four series of Brothers and Sisters. Because even though I know it’s over priced, that the marginal costs are zero… in this stand-off between consumers and The Man, what’s going to be lost are the funny, sympathetic TV shows that capture and critique the state of now.

    I remember when showing two men kissing on TV was taboo, so that penultimate episode of Ugly Betty? That’s history. And I feel like if every show with potential gets canceled after a season or two we’re going to lose that commentary – because there was four seasons of build-up – of the characters and the situation – before they showed that moment. And yes, we’ll still have the internet and more user-generated-content than we can ever hope to watch… but personally, I’m not convinced that will be a satisfactory replacement.

  • iTunes Store Optimization?

    MobileCrunch has an interesting article about the dodgy tactics of a PR firm promoting iPhone apps. The thrust of it is that this company (Reverb) has, as part of the strategy they advertise to customers, been having interns post reviews of apps submitted to the store and also around the web.

    These tactics have something familiar about them – they’re similar to the kind of things that are used by dodgy SEO companies. It’s like the proprietors that post glowing reviews of their own hotel, or restaurant. Like the person on Twitter that automatically follows and unfollows people to get the maximum follower count.

    The web is a popularity contest. We want it to be a meritocracy – where the best content wins – but the sad fact of it is that sometimes, maybe often, the most popular content wins. The most popular content will hopefully be the best content, but when people are gaming the system – we can’t be sure.

    For instance, I just searched “evolution vs creation” and top hit is from allaboutcreation.org. I’m not a biologist, but I am fairly confident that this isn’t the best resource available on the web. Extract below:

    Evolution vs. Creation is indeed the Great Debate of our scientific times. In any scientific debate, the theories must be tested according to the evidence. We propose that the burden of evidence should be upon the Evolutionists, since Creation has been the historic and inherent default throughout virtually all cultures and religions until roughly the last 200 years.

    There’s more here. I took this search from Google’s suggested searches after typing in evolution; sadly it’s possible to be confident that although the science in support of evolution is solid there are enough people who vocally disagree that I thought something like this would rank highly – number 1 was a surprise though! However it illustrates the point I’m trying to make – Wikipedia (number 3, I promoted it for my results though) is likely a better resource. And yet it’s not number 1 – probably because the other one is more popular.

    SEO, and apparently PR firms make a living trying to game the system, artificially inflate the popularity of their clients. The example above is irritating, but is at least organically popular. And it’s a shame, because popularity is often a fantastic indication of what’s better. But when it’s not – how do we tell? If it’s something we know about, then maybe we can make a good guess. But say I’m trying to find the best place to buy ski boots in Ottawa, or the best sushi restaurant downtown – I’m relying on popularity to help me make that decision, and I want it to be real, not fake.

    This is why Personal Recommendations will be so important, I guess. I’m reading the Social Network Business Plan at the moment, and whilst I don’t agree with everything he says, I guess on this – he has a point.

    Related: Good to see – highly ranking when you search for “Search Engine Optimization” is advice from Google – listing aspects of SEO that are useful and suggesting you make sure you know what you SEO is doing, with some examples of dodgy practices. bMighty has an article on How to Hire An SEO Company. And, in support of Why (I think) SEO is a Load of Crap, a lawsuit for an SEO company that made infeasible promises from the Seattle Times.

    Edit: article on engagement – 11 Things More Valuable Besides Clicks and Conversions.