Oh No! I'm Addicted To iTunes Video!

On Video Wednesday, when Steve Jobs launched the new iTunes video download store section, I went to take a look. What I found were the much-hyped 'Lost' and 'Desperate Housewives' episodes the whole world was already jabbering about. But... surprise! There were the first two episodes of an all-new series I had intended to begin watching... but, I had gotten busy it seems, and had completely overlooked the series launch. Yessir... I was tickled to hand over my $1.99 per show to grab the two episodes of 'Nightstalker' that I had missed.

Well, the next Thursday night I was out and about, away from home as the air time for 'Nightstalker' approached. For a moment I considered hotrodding it through traffic to the house, to try and catch the show. Then, I realized I didn't have to bother. I could just download it from the iTunes site the next day! And, that's what I did. I watched that Nightstalker episode while eating at Krystal on Friday afternoon. Hmmm... sounds like the seed of a possibly huge behavioral change, eh?

This Thursday night, I was at home, in front of my 30-inch Cinema Display, with my ElGato eyeTV 200 set firmly to ABC. Not only did I watch Nightstalker in real-time, I also recorded the show into a Quicktime file. Job done... right?

Yesterday and today I've had this nagging voice in my head telling me that I had a nice start on a commercial-free collection of Nightstalker episodes, that one was now 'missing.' So, guess what? I have now gone back to iTunes, like a junky needing a fix, and have paid $1.99 to download Thursday night's show... the one I had actually already watched, as well as recorded.

Am I the only one out here acting this way? If I am not, then Apple has a much, much more powerful business model started here than a lot of people have realized.

Comments

CJ Sorg said…
I wouldn't say you're necessarily an iTunes video addict. You're a "completist."

I've seen your DVD collection. Does anyone really need every episode of Star Trek ever made? Although if I ever need to view that episode where Worf contemplates his own sexuality again, I know where to go.

You are the very center of the demographic for which the term "The complete box-set" was invented.

Myself, I'm well on my way to owning every episode of "The Dukes of Hazzard" on DVD. I feel that same passion for owning everything (in the same format) of something I feel strongly about. It's the same reason I own everything ever released by The Barenaked Ladies, The Beatles, Ben Folds, Billy Joel, and Twisted Sister.
No, not an addict, just yet another person that wants IP TV. Have you noticed all the TV series available via bittorrent on sites like eztvefnet.org or tvtorrent.info? I never really cared for pirated movies, bad quality etc, but I like having a growing collection of commercial free HD captures of current tv shows.

Oh, ABC quietly released the concluding episode of Nightstalker, The Sea, on iTunes. Maybe last week according to the producer's blog entries, biglight.com/blog, maybe this week according to another blogger, davodd.com.

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