Internet Entrepreneurs Blog

Let me start this off by saying I’m no neo-Luddite - I like to think I embrace the latest technology just as quickly as the next person (though I’m more of a rev. 2 kinda guy for practical reasons). Anyway, I can’t be the only person that gets annoyed by the lack of control DVD players give consumers.

Remember the old days when you popped in a VHS tape from Blockbuster to watch a movie and you’d hit play then fast forward to skip past the FBI warning, previews, and credits? Annoying, yes, but not as annoying as popping in a DVD and hitting menu only to see a “Not permitted” message flash on your television while you are forced to sit through the FBI warning, the “commentary expresses the views of the actors and not the studios…” message, and these days, the beginning of the previews. DVD manufacturers have taken freedom away from consumers and as a freedom-loving American this pisses me off.

Yep, the studios must be quite satisfied with DVD technology since it allows them to control every aspect of the home viewing experience. What’s next - the inability to fast forward through slow parts of the films themselves? Eject button stops working during the credits? No pausing?

I read commentary recently where one writer noted the irony of the FBI warning on DVDs these days. Pirated copies don’t have this warning (obviously) so studios are really just wasting the time of honest, paying customers and not getting the message out to those who need to see it.

As soon as movie companies stop treating their paying customers like a captive audience of criminals I’m convinced good things will happen. Power back to the people!

* Updated 4/23/09 *

Well, it’s been about 3 weeks since we announced that Review App is free but as of today we’re pulling the plug on the free downloads. It turns out we’re not really set up to be in the software business…

So far only a handful of people have downloaded Review App and these are the patterns that are emerging:

• Requests are coming from China where we’re afraid our licensing agreement will be ignored
• Non-technical users need too much installation support (we honestly don’t have time)
• Spammers: Review App is pretty powerful and could be used to set up spammy websites with thousands of search engine indexed pages. Obviously we don’t want the software to be used this way.

We may still implement review sites for select clients using the Review App base so if you’re serious about your online review project, go ahead and contact us.

iTunes has been the best MP3 software for PC and Mac for years now but there are some things Apple still hasn’t gotten right. Most notably, the DJ feature which has been included for years now, is really nothing more than a modified “shuffle” interface. Sure, it randomly picks songs and plays a constant stream of tunes while allowing you to nix upcoming songs and see previously played tracks - but it could do sooo much more.

FIrst of all, DJ should automatically skip audiobooks, musicals, and any other genres that are associated with spoken word or need to be played in order. There’s no better way to end a party early than to break into Charlton Heston reading Genesis on the hi-fi. The same goes for the voicemail messages I’ve downloaded from my online service that end up stored in iTunes (my default Quicktime player.) Not party.

iTunes DJ also doesn’t understand length conventions when it comes to song selections. If a song is less than a minute long it’s probably not a real song - more of an interlude or skit - and it should be skipped. On the other hand, if a song is more than 6 minutes long or so it’s probably not a good party choice either - Americans like variety and we have short attention spans so skip the ballads Mr. DJ.

Finally, when it comes to parties iTunes DJ should skip the comedy tracks. Now I love Wierd Al songs as much as the next guy but I’d rather not show off my collection while the ladies are bumping and grinding. Jerry Seinfeld is funny too but he’s not easy to dance to.

All of these shortfalls are simple enough to fix and it’s not as if iTunes needs to develop any sort of artificial intelligence to filter out the junk. This DJ just needs some simple rules to rock the party (or the coding session).