Thanks Hulu, I'll be returning to bitTorrent

Update: Here is a LifeHacker link that explains how to put Hulu back into Boxee: Hackers FTW!!


I have been using an application named Boxee for quite some time now, and it has completely changed the way I consume TV. It allows me to watch streaming content from my computer on my TV with a super slick interface. Because of this, I've stopped downloading shows (that are in HD with no commercials) from bitTorrent and now watch almost all my shows in lower quality with commercials. Yeah I can't believe what I just wrote either.

The point I'm trying to make is, people will, if given the chance, use legal means to watch TV/movies and listen to music even if the legal alternative isn't as high quality as what they could steal. I want content creators to get paid. I understand the circle of life and by no means do I expect people to make content for free. What I do expect, and I don't think it's unreasonable, is to get my media for a reasonable price with reasonable limitations. Amazonmp3.com is a perfect example of what I'm talking about: fair priced music that doesn't have DRM on it so I can listen to it on the many media devices I own or will own in the future.

So to come full circle, I point you to a recent Boxee blog post that says they will be removing Hulu.com from Boxee because Hulu's content providers don't want Boxee to stream the content. So let me get this strait, Hulu (or the powers that be) want to stop 100k plus streams of publicly available content that has all the original commercials/content because people aren't going to Hulu.com? I don't get advertisements when I visit Hulu, so what source of revenue is getting bypassed? Well if this isn't the most short sighted move I've seen in a long time, I don't know what is.

All I have to say is now I won't be using Hulu at all. In fact, I'll discourage people from doing so by explaining to them the bad they are doing (much like I do with iTunes), and I'll probably go back to getting shows that are commercial free. So I see this as a lose-lose situation. Hulu doesn't get to advertise to me any more (and Boxee doesn't allow you to fast forward), and I have to starting waiting a few days to get my shows.

PSA for the day

Here is my public service announcement for the day via XKCD.com:



Don't know what DRM is? If you want a full explanation then check here, otherwise just know that it's used so companies can lock you to proprietary hardware/services under the cloak of "protecting intellectual property". It sucks because most of us don't know what DRM is until we have a useless music collection...

Why people steal music

You want to know why people steal music? It's because the RIAA and bands DRM their music to all hell and make it harder to buy music than to steal it. Why buy music that I can barley play when I can just download it and play it on whatever device I want and on as many devices as I want?

I bought an album from Snocap directly from MySpace from a band that I like called Kill Switch Engage. I knew the album had DRM on it, but I wanted to support the band so I bought it anyway. I use Itunes as my player, but this album has Windows DRM. This means that I can only play the album with Windows Media Player. Fine. I like the band and I didn't want to "rip them off". I played it a few times, and then forgot about it because it wasn't in my Itunes library which is what I use. Then I got a new laptop and moved all my music over. All my music played fine in Itunes (because I strip the DRM with a third party app), but I was unable to play my KSE album. Here is what I get when I try to play it:



Simple right? Just download the nice executable and be on your way. Wrong. I'm still having problems. I'm sure I can get them worked out being that I'm an engineer, but that's not the point. I shouldn't have to work anything out just to listen to the music that I bought. I can't even put the shit on my Ipod. So I emailed the band telling them I won't be buying any more of their music, and because Apple just sent a C & D to my favorite fair play stripper, I won't be buying music from Itunes anymore. So where does that leave me? Well there is Amazonmp3.com which doesn't have all the major labels, and there's Emusic which is in the same boat and also has a subscription model that I'm not so hot on. So what is an honest person to do? Looks like the people that are trying to keep me from stealing music are pushing me to start exploring my options.

~ Rob