When I got my new iPod, with it’s fancy video capability, I was quite surprised by the quality and viewability of the video. I downloaded an episode of “Lost” from the iTMS just to test that all was kosher with my new toy. Everything is peachy.
Except… the content I can get from Apple. I know Lost and Desperate Housewives are popular shows but I don’t think this is the right content for the (current) target audience. Apple should be making deals with comedy central for shows like Southpark. I mean watching an 80 foot satellite grow out or Cartman’s ass is what the geeky early adopters what, not the latest housewife gossip.
Shows like Southpark and The Simpson’s are perfect for a variety of reasons: they are animated so the reduced quality of the H.264 video on the iPod is not a problem, the have large (or in the case of The Simpson’s, huge!) back catalogs of episodes so there is a body of content from day one. They are both still on the air so they will continue to grow pulling in more people to browse the archives each week when a new episode is available. Other shows I’d like to see are the cult classics from the BBC and A&E. And basically anything in syndication, think Gilligan’s Island while your on the bus/metro to work.
And where are the pay-per-download podcasts? How about a monthly subscription to a 30-minute daily news broadcast? If I am a commuter who takes public transportation, then I would pay $10 a month to get the evening news on my iPod at 5:00 before I leave the office and watch it on the train/bus ride home.
Apple should get together with TiVo and produce a TiVo box that has a built in iPod doc to sync your iPod with your recorded TiVo archives.