So much cool tech. So many choices. But we still have a long way to go.
I’ve written here before about my Palm T|X, which makes a nice handheld media player thanks to Kinoma and wifi. With the Download Helper plug-in for Firefox, I can download Flash video and watch it on the T|X. Pocket DVD Studio lets me put other videos on the T|X. But what about the latest TV shows?
I can download most of the TV episodes I’d want to watch (or save) from iTunes. I can watch them on my desktop, laptop or on an iPhone/iPod touch. Nice, but I don’t actually want to own most of these shows — I just want to watch those I might have missed. And disk space on my old desktop is at a premium, so I have to archive HD videos immediately. Why can’t I steam them and “pay” by watching ads, like on Hulu or the network’s own sites?
On my Samsung Instinct, over the Sprint mobile phone network, I can watch streaming video. Most “channels” offer short clips. A few offer full episodes. I can watch Heroes on NBC Mobile (though sadly, this season hasn’t hooked me). I can pay extra for channels with premium content.
We’re still not where I, as a consumer, want mobile media to be. I want to …
- Watch what I want to watch, where I want to watch it.
- I want it to be free — ad supported is okay. I only want to pay if I want to keep a copy.
- I want to be able to watch programs on a variety of devices — stream to my phone or over wifi to a computer or PDA/media player.
- I want to be able to watch on a mobile device, then plug that device into a TV to watch on a big screen.
That’s my wish list for 2010. Let’s see how close we get to making it happen.
