Giving in to the Apple vortex

For a Christmas present this year, I asked for an iTunes gift card.

I have never received nor bought an iTunes gift card and have probably only bought 3 songs on iTunes (maximum) in the 6+ years I've had an iPod. Why? Because I never had to. There were always "other" ways of getting the music I wanted onto my iPod without paying out of pocket. Now it's not even worth it to take that route, partially because those routes are shut down. 


Ok, so I'm lazy and would rather out the $.99 per song off a Christmas gift iTunes gift card than bother poisoning my computer with viruses and illegal torrents. What about the rest of the music consumption population? There has to be more passengers in this Lazy Boat than just me, so why hasn't iTunes taken recent torrent shut-downs as a marketing technique? In the "Store" and "Gift" sections on the Apple website, iTunes gift cards are a tiny little link on the side bar. I get that that's probably not Apple's major revenue, but I think it'd be great marketing to feature little slogans like "Do it legally" or something clever to promote the potentially higher number of music buyers on iTunes now that many websites and softwares have been shut down.


Also, who really cares if the Beatles are on iTunes? They had their own Rock Band game before iTunes, that's more shocking to me.

WWYD? (What would you do?)

These people I know own a beach house and over this past summer a renter downloaded the movie, The Hangover illegally on their computer using the house’s wireless internet. The owners received information from a government piracy prevention fining them for illegally downloading a movie. Luckily the internet provider had a date for the download and the owners were able to track down the renters to pay the fine. It's interesting that although the renter downloaded the movie to their personal computer that the person that pays for the internet service takes the heat. Everything worked out in the end, but I guess it makes it a little awkward calling a renter asking for a couple thousand dollars for a movie…

I wonder what happens when college students use campus internet to illegally download files. Do the schools get a free pass? What would you guys do if our school billed you $3,000 for an illegally downloaded song?

Webisodes?

In class we’ve been talking about web television and how it begins on the internet and thrives from online viewership. A thought came to my mind when we discussed these kinds of shows because it sounded very similar to “webisodes” of television programs. I’ve never personally watched them, but there are mini-bits put together of shows like “The Office” that begin a scene and encourage viewers to log onto the website to “watch more”. They are 30 seconds to 2 minute episodes created especially for the internet but come from a full length television show. Does that count as web television? Another example are the commercials that different companies put out to create a narrative for their product. For example a cell phone company creates a 30 second commercial beginning a narrative then inviting the viewers to “go online to see what happens”. Strange marketing but I guess if it gets people on your site and gets them to buy products, good job.

Vlogging at the vineyard

So I found this vlog Vineyard Vlog. I don't look at it but I thought it was really interesting. It looks professional, nice graphics, clear to read, a mix of the author's own videos, youtube videos, and written blog portions. He's been blogging, and vlogging, for a while, at least a year and has lots of comments on his vlog from readers/watchers. He co-developed a wine accessory brand and says about himself, "I consider myself brand savvy, architecturally “hip”,  and when it comes to wine I am a mid-level sommelier" ... whatever that means... There's a lot of information in his biography section about his resume, where he studied etc. but not much on why he's doing this, or what makes him a good source. I guess I would have to look at his early b/vlogs to figure that out. Either way, this is a nicely put together, formal vlog that you all might find interesting too.