Tag: itunes store

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Using the Apps

I have been using mobile devices for years, but I have probably installed more applications on my iPod touch in the last week than I have on multiple devices over the last ten years!

Okay that might be an exaggeration, but installing Apps on the iPod touch (and I guess the iPhone) is so simple, either via the device or on iTunes.

I am getting a lot of use out of the Evernote and Zenbe applications, as well as FileMagnet and the WordPress App.

I read how annoyed the author of iDrops was about the lack of visibility for his game. I went to his website, played the game and understood why Apple may not have wanted the game to be in the top ten – it’s a copy of the Bubble game included with Windows Mobile!  However I did enjoy that game on my PocketPC so after playing the website version for a while, I did go and buy the iDrops game (well it was only 59p ($0.99)).

Overall I am impressed with the apps available (especially the free ones) and unlike others I have only had one crash so far.

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GO!VIEW

I have been playing about with video on my iPod and have downloaded video from the iTunes Store including television shows and movies. It has been relatively simple and painfree (for me). So I was intrigued when I got an e-mail from Sony (or was it Sky) about the new GO!VIEW service for the PSP.

PSP

I was interested less so in the free month’s trial, but more in the fact that season one of both Hustle and Spooks were available, as was some classic Doctor Who. They aren’t available (yet) on the iTunes store.

Now yes I could go out and buy the DVD box sets, but GO!VIEW looked really interesting as (yes a free month) and the Entertainment package was only £5 ($10) per month.

Now that struck me as much better value than the £1.89 ($4) per episode I have to pay at iTunes… and I know I get to “keep” the episodes at iTunes, but sometimes you don’t want to pay a huge amount to see an old series.

So was the process going to be as easy as iTunes was?

Well no it wasn’t.

Firstly you have to be running Windows, so there was no way I was going to do this on my Mac except through Parallels.

To be honest I should have kind of expected that especially as they were probably going to use some form of Windows Media DRM.

So went through Parallels and ensured that I could connect to my PSP through the USB port as the process did require you to do this.

GO!View

So according to the website GO!VIEW is “so simple to use”, well let’s put that to the test!

I then tried to sign up and found I was required to download a GO!VIEW application, well I can’t complain about that if I download iTunes can I?

Once I downloaded I tried to get the free trial, but it would seem you have to subscribe first and then that gets you the free trial. You do need to give a credit or debit card however this is quite normal with any subscription service that I have seen.

Everytime though I filled in the registration data, it found an error and then “wiped” out a fair few of the fields, so after three attempts at pressing the submit button I was getting annoyed.

Eventually I was registered, so you can guess that I got even more annoyed when I clicked the download button for the episode I wanted to watch and I got an error message. Nothing about it in the FAQ or even in a Google search.

Hmm. One of the FAQs did mention Firewall issues, so I checked my Firewall settings in Windows and actually made it more restrictive, but this seemed to do the trick!

So now I could download.

Yay!

Well it’s slow so I haven’t yet managed to download an episode without impacting on my internet connection as GO!VIEW uses a peer-to-peer download manager based on the same Kontiki software that powers Channel 4’s 4oD and the BBC’s  iPlayer download service.

Unlike those two services though, GO!VIEW programmes can only actually be watched once transferred to a PSP.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

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Free iTunes TV Shows (on UK iTunes Store)

I was looking at what new films there were in the UK iTunes Store and noticed that some classic TV shows had been added.

Looking at the four shows, there were Charlie’s Angels, Starsky and Hutch, I Dream of Jeannie and Shatner classic T J Hooker.

Free iTunes TV Shows (on UK iTunes Store)

Checking to see how much they were I was surprised and pleased to see that the pilots for both Charlie’s Angels and Starsky and Hutch were free!

Well I downloaded them didn’t I – actually downloading as I publish this blog entry.

Charlie’s Angels pilot.

Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith star as beautiful ex-policewomen Sabrina, Jill and Kelly, who are hired as private investigators by a mysterious man known as Charlie. All arrangements are made by phone, or through Woodville (David Stiers), the only person who knows Charlie’s identity. The other male on the private-eye team is Bosley (David Doyle).

Starsky and Hutch pilot.

“Starsky and Hutch” is a dynamic new police drama series about a pair of young plainclothes cops. David Soul stars as the soft-spoken Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson and Paul Michael Glaser is the irrepressible Dave Starsky. Bernie Hamilton also stars as quick-tempered Captain Harold Dobey and Antonio Fargas is Huggy Bear, friend and confidante of the two cops.

I like the fact that the info says “dynamic new police drama series”, how new is 1975?

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iTunes Movies in the UK – hmmmm

I was quite pleased the other day to hear that movies films would be available in the UK iTunes Store.

iTunes Movies in the UK - hmmmm

At the time I had a quick look over the store and saw lots of films. The number one film was (at that time) I am Legend, I was quite impressed that the price for the film was only £6.99 – and that seemed to explain why it was number one. I was also interested to see that National Treasure 2 was also available and thought “I’ll rent that”.

At that time I was busy with work so knew I would leave until later to get them.

So today I upgraded my version of iTunes and decided I would buy I am Legend and rent National Treasure 2.

So you can imagine my disappointment, to see that I am Legend had gone up in price to £10.99. So why was it cheaper to begin with? Why has it gone up? Was it a mistake that Apple has now corrected? Or did I imagine it all?

Ah well so not to worry I’ll rent National Treasure 2 instead. Even with the rental limitation, I was fine with that, I could always transfer the film to an iPod and connect the iPod to my television.

Oh.

No.

Yes, though I can buy National Treasure 2 for £10.99, I couldn’t rent it!

It’s suppose to be a reasonably fun film, worth renting, but not worth buying it and certainly not worth paying £10.99.

So my first proper attempt to get films off the iTunes Store was not a great success, ah well maybe next time.

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iTunes Movies in the UK

Great news for all iTunes Store users in the UK, we can now buy and rent movies.

From the Apple press release:

Apple® today announced that movies from major film studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), Sony Pictures Television International and Lionsgate UK are now available on the iTunes® Store in the UK (www.apple.com/uk/itunes). Movie purchases and rentals feature iTunes’ legendary ease of use, which makes discovering and enjoying movies as simple and easy as buying music on iTunes has always been. The iTunes Store in the UK features over 700 films available for rent or purchase, with titles available for purchase on the same day as their DVD release, including favorites such as “Hitman,” “I Am Legend,” “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets” and “Into the Wild.” iTunes Movie Rentals also features over 100 titles available in stunning high definition, perfect for viewing on a widescreen TV with Apple TV®.

I am very pleased with this, and I suspect I may use it a fair bit.

I am even now seriously considering getting an Apple TV just so I can watch the movies on my TV, well I guess I can use the iPod nano in the meantime.

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ITV chasing BBC on iTunes Store

Following the BBC, ITV are now putting TV shows on Apple’s iTunes Store.

Finally!

BBC reports

ITV is to make more than 260 hours of archive programmes available for sale on Apple’s iTunes store.

Brideshead Revisited, Cold Feet and puppet show Captain Scarlet are already available for download. Inspector Morse and The Saint are due later this year.

The Saint

I am pleased that both the BBC and ITV are finally selling TV shows in the iTunes Store.

Now all I need them to do, is sell HD versions.

Also would be nice if American shows were also made more widely available.

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Download MacWorld 2008 Expo Keynote

Steve Jobs MacWorld 2008 Keynote

Sometimes depsite all your planning, it all falls apart.

Not living in San Francisco, actually I don’t even live in the US, I knew it was going to be impossible to attend the MacWorld 2008 Keynote in person. Though I didn’t realise until listening to MacBreak Weekly that it’s like an iPhone launch if you want to actually get in there in person, it starts at 9am, but you really need to start queuing at 4am – now that’s dedication.

So I couldn’t be there in person, like I was ever going to get there!

I didn’t really want to “view” the keynote by watching the Macrumors’ feed, or refreshing Engadget on a regular basis, or watching multiple tweets on Twitter (which I believe went down during the Keynote). I do like watching the stream (as though it was “live”. I subscribed the Macrumors spoiler free link. However fifteen hours after the Keynote, no e-mail giving me the link, I thought to myself, either there is no stream (there had to be, it said it was going to be made available on the Apple website) or (more likely) the Macrumors e-mail service had failed! It hadn’t completely failed, the e-mail telling me about the steam eventually arrived eighteen hours after the start of the Keynote!

So I went to the Apple website, obviously saw the MacBook Air on the front page and thought ah well, and clicked the link for the Keynote stream.

Now maybe it was my connection or my computer, but could I get the Keynote to stream? No.

I tried on two different connections with no luck. I tried on about four computers with no luck.

Probably too many people trying to access the stream.

I am not a great fan of streaming, as too often (with long videos) I want to pause the video as real life gets in the way, you know phone calls, coffee, e-mails, etc… I have found with some streaming, if I pause the stream it never restarts, so I need to start the whole stream from the beginning.

I even tried to find online a place to download the Keynote with no luck.

I was resigned to the fact that I was not going to be able to watch the Keynote this year. Ah well I had found out what was released and I had seen the sixty second version.

So imagine my surprise when looking at the top podcasts in the (UK) iTunes Store when there was the MacWorld 2008 Expo Keynote.

Well I am downloading all 900MB of that then!

I am surprised that not only was it available, but that Apple hadn’t really mentioned it on their main website.

Still downloading, and you know about everything that was mentioned, so leave me to enjoy that distortion field which is Steve Jobs.

One more thing…