There's no doubt about it, the internet has revolutionized the way we consume media.
Do you even remember the bad old days of television? I do, and it still makes me wonder how we ever dealt with it. Mankind spent decades held hostage by the schedule doled out by the flickering cathode tube overlord in the corner of our lounge room.
We once had to put our lives on hold in order to catch our favorite TV shows or movies. Who else remembers rushing to catch their favorite show, frantically trying to get dinner cooked, or get home from work or school, or get the kids to bed, just so you could relax and take in an episode of Twin Peaks? Or having to choose between two good shows because they were on at the same time? Or having to wrangle with the VCR, punching in codes and setting clocks and rewinding tapes to record a show you knew you couldn't miss, and invariably have it miss the first 10 minutes of the show? (or the last 10 minutes, or if you were extra lucky the damn thing would tape a different show entirely).
Well, thanks to the internet, those days are over. Faster download speeds and better computers have allowed us to enjoy our favourite media whenever and wherever we choose. Peer 2 Peer services, Torrents and TV download sites allow us to download our favourite shows and movies to watch on our PC at our leisure, or burn to DVD and enjoy with the family. But unfortunately, with our new found freedom comes new found problems.
Torrent sites everywhere are going down under massive pressure from television studios and the MPAA, citing copyright violation. Studios installing secret tracking software in media files have led to individuals have being sued after downloading media from peer 2 peer services. Malicious hackers and sleazy companies profit by hiding spyware, keystroke loggers and viruses inside popular movie downloads. And if you are lucky enough to avoid all that, there's no guarantee on the quality of what you download.
Frustration doesn't even begin to describe the situation when you have a few friends over to watch a new blockbuster, and your movie is recorded on a camcorder by someone sitting in the third row of a packed movie theatre. Or, the resolution is so bad Brad Pitt looks like he's made from lego. Or, worst of all, the file is incomplete, and the whole thing locks up just as Bruce Willis decides to cut the red wire instead of the blue, or just as the sexy starlet is about to jump into that steamy shower.
So what's the answer? I'll tell you. The new wave of TV and movie streaming and download sites.
For a small fee, these services supply the shows and movies you want to see, and as an added plus you don't have to worry about quality issues, catching a nasty virus or spyware. These services are 100% legal, so you don't have to worry about the MPAA knocking your door down. The shows and movies are there for you when you want and how you want, to be enjoyed on your PC, in the lounge room with the family on your Home Theatre PC, or burnt onto DVD to take to your pal's place or to watch while you snuggle in bed with your special someone.
All the shows and films are assured to be high quality, and they carry huge selections of films and shows in every genre (which means so no more searching for hours to get that Cary Grant film your mom adores, or that cartoon series you loved when you were ten).
Almost all the services currently operating are cheaper than cable or satellite, have a wider selection, and best of all, everything they carry can be watched on demand. That means watching what you want, when you want, and not being a slave to the programming schedule of the cable service that you are paying big bucks for the right to sit up all night to catch the movie you want to see or lament all the cool stuff that's on while you're at work. When you think about it, it's really not hard to see the huge amount of value these services provide.
So cancel that cable service, throw away your video rental card and recycle that dish on the roof into a nice birdbath for the lawn. The future of online media is here now.
