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Battlestar Galactica is a good choice, and is available for streaming in HD. It has all 4 seasons (split into how they were released on DVD). Also in the Sci-fi genre, there's Babylon 5 (I've yet to watch it; I don't know if they have all seasons or if it's in HD, but it is streaming). There's Firefly and Serenity. How about Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels? ? If you look, you can find plenty of good things to watch. Their DVD selection is way better, of course, but that doesn't mean streaming is bad. It's especially good for classic films.

Battlestar Galactica is a good choice, and is available for streaming in HD. It has all 4 seasons (split into how they were released on DVD). Also in the Sci-fi genre, there's Babylon 5 (I've yet to watch it; I don't know if they have all seasons or if it's in HD, but it is streaming). There's Firefly and Serenity. How about Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels? ? If you look, you can find plenty of good things to watch. Their DVD selection is way better, of course, but that doesn't mean streaming is bad. It's especially good for classic films.

Battlestar Galactica is a good choice, and is available for streaming in HD. It has all 4 seasons (split into how they were released on DVD). Also in the Sci-fi genre, there's Babylon 5 (I've yet to watch it; I don't know if they have all seasons or if it's in HD, but it is streaming). There's Firefly and Serenity. How about Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels? ? If you look, you can find plenty of good things to watch. Their DVD selection is way better, of course, but that doesn't mean streaming is bad. It's especially good for classic films.

Battlestar Galactica is a good choice, and is available for streaming in HD. It has all 4 seasons (split into how they were released on DVD). Also in the Sci-fi genre, there's Babylon 5 (I've yet to watch it; I don't know if they have all seasons or if it's in HD, but it is streaming). There's Firefly and Serenity. How about Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels? ? If you look, you can find plenty of good things to watch. Their DVD selection is way better, of course, but that doesn't mean streaming is bad. It's especially good for classic films.

For example : "The hurdle has been the lack of a generic and complete platform security and content protection mechanism available for Android. The same security issues that have led to piracy concerns on the Android platform have made it difficult for us to secure a common Digital Rights Management (DRM) system on these devices. [...] Although we don’t have a common platform security mechanism and DRM, we are able to work with individual handset manufacturers to add content protection to their devices. Unfortunately, this is a much slower approach and leads to a fragmented experience on Android, in which some handsets will have access to Netflix and others won’t. This clearly is not the preferred solution, and we regret the confusion it might create for consumers."

It has everything to do with DRM (Or the lack of it in Linux). This is why they are slow to launch streaming for the android phones which is also a linux client: http://blog.netflix.com/2010/11/netflix-on-android.html

Yes, Google does not treat Linux users as first rate consumers. However, they do at least acknowledge our existence (Google Earth, Picasa (kindof), chrome, Android Dev tools). What NetFlix does is completely ignore us. By some definitions you could even argue that they actively ignore us (Seriously, silverlight? WTF?).

Ignore you? Who the f* are you? Who the lot of you represent? The majority of Linux users are ... *tada* admins running heavy shit on Linux, not desktop users. First and foremost to start with.

Second, what are your contribution to FOSS? Specially compared to NetFlix.

"Here is an incomplete sampling of the projects we utilize, we have contributed back to most of them: Hudson, Hadoop, Hive, Honu, Apache, Tomcat, Ant, Ivy, Cassandra, HBase, etc, etc." http://techblog.netflix.com/2010/12/why-we-use-and-contribute-to-open.html [netflix.com]

Just because they don't cater to your specific, alternative-desktop-niche needs that doesn't mean they are smooching to open source. What you are presenting here is simply an argument of convenience. No logic whatsoever behind it. Second, they are under NO obligation to actually even acknowledge your existence. Why should they? Since when open source users and contributors have to acknowledge *you*? They are in the business of maximizing delivery of copyrighted media, and maximizing does not mean catering to *everyone* but to the majority of the market segment.

Whether you like it or not, silverlight (a proprietary product that can actually allow you to create open source applications) is an excellent tool for doing just that (since it is integrated and runs on top of the CLR)... and if it runs in silverlight, it might run on Mono's moonlight (not sure on this, though. Go do some volunteer work on it if you feel so strongly about it - instead of expecting Netflix to bend to your capricious bidding.)

There is nothing in that operational scheme of things that is against producing, consuming and contributing back to open source software projects.

That people actually cry momma and question Netflix's contributions to open source because it doesn't produce a client for their private pet desktops (and without offering to volunteer in creating or working with Netflix for creating a Linux client), man, that's the apex of /. stupidity.

They are mooching.

They have taken from the commons and aren't giving back.

Wrong. They contribute to the projects they use. "Here is an incomplete sampling of the projects we utilize, we have contributed back to most of them: Hudson, Hadoop, Hive, Honu, Apache, Tomcat, Ant, Ivy, Cassandra, HBase, etc, etc." http://techblog.netflix.com/2010/12/why-we-use-and-contribute-to-open.html

Yeah, but since they oh so dare to use silverlight and are not producing a Linux client, the /. in-house retard lot (including the poster of this article) decided in their infinite wisdom that Netflix is hypocrite and not contributing to FOSS. Bunch of useless, clueless fools.

They are mooching.

They have taken from the commons and aren't giving back.

Wrong. They contribute to the projects they use.

"Here is an incomplete sampling of the projects we utilize, we have contributed back to most of them: Hudson, Hadoop, Hive, Honu, Apache, Tomcat, Ant, Ivy, Cassandra, HBase, etc, etc."
http://techblog.netflix.com/2010/12/why-we-use-and-contribute-to-open.html

From the Netflix website:

"The great thing about a good open source project that solves a shared challenge is that it develops it's own momentum and it is sustained for a long time by a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement. At Netflix we jumped on for the ride a long time ago and we have benefited enormously from the virtuous cycles of actively evolving open source projects. We benefit from the continuous improvements provided by the community of contributors outside of Netflix. We also benefit by contributing back the changes we make to the projects. By sharing our bug fixes and new features back out into the community, the community then in turn continues to improve upon bug fixes and new features that originated at Netflix and then we complete the cycle by bring those improvements back into Netflix."

"Here is an incomplete sampling of the projects we utilize, we have contributed back to most of them: Hudson, Hadoop, Hive, Honu, Apache, Tomcat, Ant, Ivy, Cassandra, HBase, etc, etc."

http://techblog.netflix.com/2010/12/why-we-use-and-contribute-to-open.html

Netflix runs on the Google TV... http://blog.netflix.com/2010/10/netflix-on-google-tv.html
Google TV runs on Android... http://code.google.com/tv/web/faq.html
Thus Netflix runs on Android. I don't really know much about the whole pkg infrastructure, is the Android VM still close enough to Java for the write once run anywhere?

Since Netflix recently announced online rental for Canadian customers, I was wondering if there were some Unlimited, or close to unlimited packages available in Canada. Well I can stop wondering that now.

It's not just on the drill, but Netflix has an Extreme Engineering instant streaming episode on the Swiss Mega Tunnel. They spend a lot of time on the drill, operations, repairs, etc.

http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70113457&trkid=438381

You're going to put a soldering iron (or god forbid, a torch) in the hands of a child way before she's eight? Something (or someone) is going to end up getting burned. Speaking as the parent of a seven year old, I can't help but think this is a really bad idea.

Heck, I learned to solder around 3rd grade, in an after-school class no less, which would have made me what, 10 or so. And yes, someone did end up getting burned (me) -- in a couple different ways -- and I learned from it. :)

I'm reminded of a scene in the live-action Hogfather movie (available for streaming on Netflix, actually quite good indeed), where Death is filling in for the missing Hogfather (Discworld's Santa Claus) and makes an appearance at a department store. A little girl comes in with her mother, and when Death asks her what she wants for Hogswatch (Christmas), the mother interrupts with requests for frilly things until Death freezes her, at which point the girl asks for a castle and a sword (and a few other things I forget). Death *does* give her a real sword:

Susan: “You can’t give her that for Hogswatch! It’s a real sword!”

Death: “IT IS WHAT THE CHILD REQUESTED. THINK OF IT AS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE.”

Susan: “She might hurt herself!”

Death: “THEN IT WILL BE A VALUABLE LESSON.”

I'm not advocating that we hand out claymores to children. But I do think that US society has gone a bit too far off the deep end when it comes to "safety" -- past a certain point, protection becomes actively harmful by keeping people from learning what is actually bad for them.

Cheers,

Thanks! and I whole-heatedly agree with you!

I recently watched The Unthinkable (if you haven't watched it, it's a great movie), and as to not spoil it for anyone, all I can say is that I was sitting at the edge of my seat and rooting for Samuel Jackson throughout the movie.

Bin Laden is an a$$hole, and the 72 virgins (myth) will be well-hung top-men scavenging his and his goons' cavities while slow-roasting them to perfection (yes I hate them as much as you do, probably even more so).

The stories that have been hitting Slashdot about censorship in Pakistan and other Islamic countries gathered quite a few "look at them backwards Muslims", instead of generating empathy about the sad state of these countries.

I should know, I lived in a couple of them growing up. People are afraid for their lives and cannot speak up. People can't discuss politics in coffee shops, because that guy smoking hooka is new and he might be from internal affairs, and if he marks you, your family won't even know what happened to you (Egyptian NSA-equivalent calls it "sending someone behind the sun").

America used to be the great nation everyone there talked about. It was wonderland, where you can criticize leaders and "be alive the next day". Where your creed and background did not matter, only what you knew and what you can do.

But somehow when we started meddling with their affairs, we became the villain. There's an Arabic saying that goes something like "Me and my brother would fight my cousin if he does us wrong, but if a stranger comes in, my cousin and I will team up".

The solution is _not_ to go into these countries with military force to "spread freedom", the solution is to stand up against tyranny with words, show them an example of democracy over here and not to co-operate with their regimes to oppress people.

Final words: Any kind of zealotry (religious/nationalistic/software) is ignorant, and I hope that I see a world without hatred before my time is up here. I doubt it, but I'm still an optimist inside and one can dream.

Since they've responded to these requests for Linux support, my guess is you didn't actually try to talk to them about it.

The issue with Linux support is that they aren't allowed to by the licenses. In addition, a simple search for "netflix linux" shows multiple tutorials about getting netflix streaming working on Linux. An official Netflix forum post even addresses this compatibility issue and talks about how one of the developers uses a lightweight VM on his Linux box. http://developer.netflix.com/forum/read/49086

Yes, using Linux means you have to put effort into researching stuff like this, but isn't that true of most aspects of Linux?

You are arguing that it is OK to steal software and break licenses but to download a movie is a crime?
Or do you actually use one of those mythical licensed DVD players for Linux?

You also shouldn't be able to watch the streaming version on your Linux PC.
Are you doing some more "law and license breaking" to achieve that?

Also similar services exist in other nations.

1 - we were talking about Netflix/Blockbuster.
2 - such services, WHERE THEY EXIST, usually have the movies artificially delayed by the movie industry. Also... IP-based crippling works for those too.
3 - ALL of those have the requirement of the user being a credit-card holding adult. While most people do get to be adults eventually, billions of people are not eligible for a credit-card.

(posting anonymously as I've already upmodded those arguing in favor of Freedom)

You must have very mainstream tastes.

Considering that you can find many, many, many movies on NetFlix that you would never find at the average movie rental store, I'm gonna have to call bullshit on your "mainstream" accusation. Not speaking for the GP, but one of the many reasons I subscribe to NetFlix is *exactly* because you can't find this stuff at Blockbuster. Granted, you can't get anything other than region ones, and that's less than ideal, but it's a step in the right direction.

Want to watch Nothing Lasts Forever , Leningrad Cowboys Go America , The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse , or The Bed Sitting Room ? All reasonably well-known and popular cult movies with English-language soundtracks, but you can't get any of them in Region 1.

I'd never heard of these, and my tastes and excursions on the Internet are pretty wide ranging. I do thank you for bringing these to my attention, however (slashdot is just one of many places I get recommendations for books, music and movies).

I've got dozens of non-R1 DVDs of TV shows and movies which I couldn't simply buy or rent in the USA. But not everyone's willing to e-mail a friend in Finland or take a trip to England to get a legal copy of a movie or TV show; and often, if I can't buy it legally, I don't want to wait until I'm next overseas, and I end up 'pirating'.

Infringing on copyright is entirely acceptable when you can't get the information otherwise; for everything else, NetFlix is a reasonable (to me) option, especially considering that pretty soon there won't be any more rental places near where I live. They may not have every movie I could ever want to see, but I never liked "browsing" through all the garbage at brick and mortar stores, the selection is bigger, and I don't even have to leave my house.

(posting anonymously as I've already upmodded those arguing in favor of Freedom)

You must have very mainstream tastes.

Considering that you can find many, many, many movies on NetFlix that you would never find at the average movie rental store, I'm gonna have to call bullshit on your "mainstream" accusation. Not speaking for the GP, but one of the many reasons I subscribe to NetFlix is *exactly* because you can't find this stuff at Blockbuster. Granted, you can't get anything other than region ones, and that's less than ideal, but it's a step in the right direction.

Want to watch Nothing Lasts Forever , Leningrad Cowboys Go America , The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse , or The Bed Sitting Room ? All reasonably well-known and popular cult movies with English-language soundtracks, but you can't get any of them in Region 1.

I'd never heard of these, and my tastes and excursions on the Internet are pretty wide ranging. I do thank you for bringing these to my attention, however (slashdot is just one of many places I get recommendations for books, music and movies).

I've got dozens of non-R1 DVDs of TV shows and movies which I couldn't simply buy or rent in the USA. But not everyone's willing to e-mail a friend in Finland or take a trip to England to get a legal copy of a movie or TV show; and often, if I can't buy it legally, I don't want to wait until I'm next overseas, and I end up 'pirating'.

Infringing on copyright is entirely acceptable when you can't get the information otherwise; for everything else, NetFlix is a reasonable (to me) option, especially considering that pretty soon there won't be any more rental places near where I live. They may not have every movie I could ever want to see, but I never liked "browsing" through all the garbage at brick and mortar stores, the selection is bigger, and I don't even have to leave my house.

(posting anonymously as I've already upmodded those arguing in favor of Freedom)

You must have very mainstream tastes.

Considering that you can find many, many, many movies on NetFlix that you would never find at the average movie rental store, I'm gonna have to call bullshit on your "mainstream" accusation. Not speaking for the GP, but one of the many reasons I subscribe to NetFlix is *exactly* because you can't find this stuff at Blockbuster. Granted, you can't get anything other than region ones, and that's less than ideal, but it's a step in the right direction.

Want to watch Nothing Lasts Forever , Leningrad Cowboys Go America , The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse , or The Bed Sitting Room ? All reasonably well-known and popular cult movies with English-language soundtracks, but you can't get any of them in Region 1.

I'd never heard of these, and my tastes and excursions on the Internet are pretty wide ranging. I do thank you for bringing these to my attention, however (slashdot is just one of many places I get recommendations for books, music and movies).

I've got dozens of non-R1 DVDs of TV shows and movies which I couldn't simply buy or rent in the USA. But not everyone's willing to e-mail a friend in Finland or take a trip to England to get a legal copy of a movie or TV show; and often, if I can't buy it legally, I don't want to wait until I'm next overseas, and I end up 'pirating'.

Infringing on copyright is entirely acceptable when you can't get the information otherwise; for everything else, NetFlix is a reasonable (to me) option, especially considering that pretty soon there won't be any more rental places near where I live. They may not have every movie I could ever want to see, but I never liked "browsing" through all the garbage at brick and mortar stores, the selection is bigger, and I don't even have to leave my house.

I never watched Dr. Who before, but I would like to give it a try. What should I watch to start?

You'll notice that many are recommending to start with the 21st century revival, beginning with the 2005 "Doctor Who: Season One". If you have Netflix, there is a ton of Doctor Who, available through Netflix Instant. If you get hooked on the new series, you can go back and watch some of the older Doctor Who serials. The old serials are not something that have to be watched in any particular order. A new plot begins with each story and wraps up in three to six 30 minute segments. Its a good thing one doesn't have to have strict continuity for the older serials, because quite a few of the earlier doctor's master tapes were overwritten. I tend to seek out serials involving monsters, aliens, and characters from the new series that I thought were interesting. I also enjoyed quite a few of the William Hartnell (1st Doctor) and Tom Baker (4th Doctor) series. There are some real gems in the older Doctor Who, but a few of them just bore me to sleep. The great thing about Netflix Instant is not having to waste a rental on something that will bore you, less than thirty minutes into it.

and I'm looking forward to the Netflix streaming disk for the Wii:

http://www.netflix.com/NRDInfo/Wii

William

Yes, if you click here: http://www.netflix.com/InstantStreamingDisc?device=Wii After you are logged into your netflix account you can click on "send me the disk". I just did and it said I should have my disk tomorrow.

Wii is not listed as a supported player yet here: http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyDevices?lnkceData=0&lnkce=gssiclk&trkid=1445376 Nor in the "Watch Instantly" view menu here: http://www.netflix.com/GetStartedStreamingInstantly#

Wii is not listed as a supported player yet here: http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyDevices?lnkceData=0&lnkce=gssiclk&trkid=1445376 Nor in the "Watch Instantly" view menu here: http://www.netflix.com/GetStartedStreamingInstantly#

It is apparent to Netflix (from its indie apps gallery) that there is a huge interest in mobile apps, especially those dedicated to Netflix queue management. It really is a useful application for people who like to add new films recommended by friends, TV programs, and ads.

There was an excellent PBS production of the play with Daniel Craig as Heisenberg and Stephen Fry as Bohr. Though I felt like I understood it much better in the reading.

There is so much streaming stuff out there now, torrents of stuff ripped from streams and paid downloaded movies that optical storage is not really necessary or useful anymore.

None of which works for folks who are hearing-impaired (either by birth, through age or temporarily accomdating the sleeping spouse in the same room).

Netflix doesn't http://blog.netflix.com/2009/06/closed-captions-and-subtitles.html deliver closed-captioning or subtitles.

iTunes can support closed-captioning/subtitles http://www.apple.com/appletv/whats-on/movies.html, but only some Paramount titles bothered to actually implement them http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1437172.

Good luck finding a torrent where somebody bothered to rip both the closed-captioning and subtitles with it (oddly, just as the non-closed-captioning HDMI started becoming ubiquitous more and more DVDs started dropping subtitles and telling folks not to worry because they still came with closed-captioning).

When the alternatives still lack such basic functionality after so many years, optical storage won't be dead for a long time to come.

Never fear! Netflix has it streaming http://www.netflix.com/WiSearch?oq=real+gen&v1=Real+Genius&search_submit=

Then watch it!

Yes, Real Genius is streamable from Netflix. Now, lets see what happens when it becomes the single most watched movie of the day. Someone at Netflix is going to be really confused.

I presume that worked for you, but for me it re-routed to /MemberHome. If I go to just http://www.netflix.com/InstantStreamingDisc (without the Wii specifier) I get a page to request a PS3 disc.

I have a Wii, but not a PS3, so I'll continue to wait patiently. Thanks for the tip anyway; I hope to use it soon.

I Googled "why no captions netflix streaming". Here is the very first entry listed in the results:

http://blog.netflix.com/2009/06/closed-captions-and-subtitles.html

You're welcome :-)

As other users have pointed out, they don't really have porn on Netflix, but they do have some 'borderline' movies. However, they used to have quite an extensive full on porn collection like 7 or 8 years ago. I remember it fondly (hence the anonymous post). I'm guessing they phased that out when they decided to start sharing your movie history with friends.

Evidence: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Key_to_Sex/22469112

Sure, using netflix is voluntary, but she did not volunteer to have them divulge personal information about her. In fact they promised her they would not in their privacy policy: http://www.netflix.com/Popup?id=5136#collection. Are you saying she has to conform to their terms of service but the service she is paying for should have the right to screw her anyway they like regardless of what they promised specifically not to do or we live in a "totalitarion state"? (http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1483310&cid=30488934). I disagree; the case IS just and so is the law. (well we'll see. The two of us don't know the specifics of the case, 12people we'll be so informed their ears bleed and probably be in a much better position to decide.)

That depends on what you consider adult content. While Netflix claims that Alice In Wonderland: An Adult Musical is rated R, the movie it self has an X rating notice at the beginning. And, while they did cut out the actual close ups of insertion, Pirates was filmed as a full on porno.

So, while they many not have much, and it may not be hard core by today's standards, they do have adult content.

That depends on what you consider adult content. While Netflix claims that Alice In Wonderland: An Adult Musical is rated R, the movie it self has an X rating notice at the beginning. And, while they did cut out the actual close ups of insertion, Pirates was filmed as a full on porno.

So, while they many not have much, and it may not be hard core by today's standards, they do have adult content.

Every nerd should have some Star Blazers stuff. If you won't take our word for it, just watch the damn thing on Netflix.

Japanese movie release of Space Battleship Yamato, subtitled, in Netflix Instant:

http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/Space_Battleship_Yamato_The_Movie/70019030?strackid=4b571c510f73e06f_0_sim&strkid=55575376_0_0&trkid=1266362

There's actually several BluRay players that already have Netflix streaming capabilities. http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyDevicesList?lnkce=nrd-l&trkid=425738&lnkctr=nrd-l-m

The Xbox 360 can stream tv/movies/music using a Zune pass, tv/movies using a Netflix subscription, and it plays CDs/DVDs. You don't need to hack it at all.

Don't you need an Xbox gold account (thus pay monthly to MS) in order to use Netflix? If I was using it to just stream media to my TV, I surely would not pay extra each month just to use my Netflix account.

The Xbox 360 can stream tv/movies/music using a Zune pass, tv/movies using a Netflix subscription, and it plays CDs/DVDs. You don't need to hack it at all.

I've never even used the streaming service (though I'm a long time netflix user and have a Tivo that can do it), but it seems to me like your (and many other people's) dismissal isn't quite accurate.

It looks like non-members can get a brief list of things available via streaming:
http://www.netflix.com/BrowseGenres/Watch_Instantly/gev?lnktrk=GID_WI

and when logged into my account, there were lots of old TV shows, and some recent CBS shows available for streaming. (Though I wondered why a couple of the episodes of the Addams Family were 22 minutes while most were 25 -- syndication cuts maybe?)

Netflix lists over 100,000 titles. It seems quite likely that at least 1/6th of those are feature-length films.

They want their blog back... FTFSDA http://blog.netflix.com/2008/10/opt-in-for-new-netflix-movie-player.html?commentPage=3

I just signed up two months ago and my wife and I each have their own queue. Sign in and go to this page and add a profile.

https://www.netflix.com/ViewProfiles

Actually, Netflix made streaming to Macs available late last year. Unfortunately, it requires you to install MS Silverlight, which is pretty irritating to many Apple aficionados.

It seems to Planetes on Netflix I just added it to my queue, at least season 1.

The reason something like Facebook works is that they can design a database schema to facilitate a complete experience that just kind of... works.... Across mini-feeds, status walls, applications, etc.

Doing that in a way that's completely decentralized requires standardization on interfaces and data that would be hard to do for a couple of reasons:
- Agreeing on the architecture; how many "really" RESTful interfaces are out there? Netflix has a great one, but Flickr doesn't.
- What's the syntax? JSON, XML, YAML, ... ?
- How about a data model? Will people want to go beyond syntax into being able to do queries like what SPARQL gives you?

But beyond the technological hurdles, there's the business angle. Social media isn't exactly rolling in revenue, it's rolling in VC funding at best. Why interoperate when can try to claim a monopoly position? Or aim to be the defacto standard?

So, in the end, I woudn't say we're moving backwards ... we're just progressing through the usual stages of how standards and openness has evolved online. We start with well-funded walled gardens (CompuServe, Prodigy, your local BBS, etc.) , people eventually get fed up and build out interoperable bridges that cross them (e.g. FIDOnet and NNTP in the old days of bulletin boards). Now we have to do the same for the web....

The artist can choose the venue he performs at, it doesn't always have to be at the House of Blues in whatever city you're in.

The ones you are referring also are oftentimes closely connected with labels so if someone signs they have to perform at certain venues. Yea, if it's a really big venue it's going to cost more to get in and use, but there's also room for many more customers and more money for the band. Also, if you sign with a label for promotion, you're obviously going to lose a lot of your cut.

I can definitely get on the bandwagon of using law to improve the band's cut of live performance revenues though.

My problem is with, what I consider, the extortion that's been going on for years by record labels for a recording which is entirely over valued. And now their tirade against their customers.

In the end, they're just going to fail... recordings are just too easy and too cheap to produce and securely distribute. They need to adapt and provide us with super easy and inexpensive access or flounder and die.

http://www.hulu.com/
http://www.pandora.com/
http://www.netflix.com/

Really? How much bandwidth does it take to run a cracking script? I'd bet most bandwidth is "lost" to peer-to-peer downloads.

I host a few servers at a local, regional ISP. I was out there the other day taking care of a power problem with the net ops, and he mentioned all the network upgrades, OC this, fiber that, and I asked him what was driving all the upgrades.

He didn't hesitate, even for a second. "Online Video!". Turns out that everybody is discovering sites like hulu.com, youtube.com, wtso.net, Netflix instant play, and on and on.

Yeah, Bit Torrent isn't anything to sneeze at. But the change is in the air, and my household is living proof. We moved to a nicer house (that cost less!) on the 1st of this month. First on our list was DSL service with a 3.0 Mb plan. Our dual-TV dish DVR? Sent back. We have no intention of bothering with cable.

The TV (we brought over only one) in the living room is only used for the Wii and the PS2. Everything else is done online, on a computer, or on my HTC Mogul - awesome phone.

We really haven't missed the "normal" TV much at all.