Class 8 Reading Ah-Ha, DRM

"Protecting the rights of the content owners to ensure that they get a fair return on their assets is paramount; otherwise they will not make content available. However this protection should not be at the expense of the fair-use rights of the consumer (p.312)." This is a simple summation of the complex and ever-evolving battle between software owners and users. I am probably not in the majority of techno-savvy individuals when I say that I tend to side with the argument put forth by the content owners; user should have to pay for the software that they use.

It seems that in the auro and creation of the Internet, we have birthed a society of innovators who are constantly trying to break the codes, to copy and re-use, to download, to distibute for free. Of course, I have done this in the past and I still do but I also would like to be on the business side of the Internet making money and in order to this ther has to be reliable ways established to distribute content without constnatly getting ripped off. I think there should and can be a middle ground where users and content owners can both get what they want. But DRM is and will continue to be increasingly inhibiting to the average user as long as people can find ways around it.

I guess I am at the standpoint of many people who have a scope on the industry right now,;I am not quite sure how DRM issues will work themselves out but I do not that their is a dark cloud looming over this issue and something has got to give.

Class 7 Reading - Video on the Web and Mobile Devices

Head is spinning, head is spinning. No, I actually do understand much of what is going on in these chapters about streaming video on the web and on mobile devices. There seemed to be a lot of discussion about the use of plug-ins and the difference between the EMBED and the OBJECT command and in reference to Windows. I am not entirely clear about how to use/obtain/code plug-ins but these seem to be the solution for playing video on a player that is not installed on the hard drive.

Delivering streaming media to mobile devices such as phones seems like a hard sell to me right now. I am personally not to excited by the prospect of watching video on my cell phone, with the low bit rates required and the tiny screen, I just really do not see the intrigue. I am slightly more interested in ideas like the ESPN phone that connects to nearly all-encompassing, wireless sports service which provides up-to-the-minute scores, news, opinion columns, audio and video. This might be worthwhile to look at every once in awhile, especially since the duration of the content provided would be short.

Class 6 reading Ah-ha - Windows Media Player

Ah, this is home for me. Windows Media Player (with a smile). But wait, does Windows Media Player 9 suck like Wooten says? Well, he doesn't neccessarliy say it sucks but he does challenge the usefulness and capabilities of WM9 about 1,000 times more than the following chapter on Quicktime.

Some of Wooten's criticism's may not just be cynicism for the monopolistic grandeur of the Microsoft software platform. It seems obvious though that the WM9 codec may not perform as well on a Mac OS and is currently not supported in Linux (apparently no one does), but honestly WM9 (and 10 I guess) is a broad market version that will reach the largest audience effectively - that cannot be denied.

The whole battle between H.264 and the VC-1 platform for adopting a codec standard is interesting and could be another battle for Microsoft. In the end, it seems that Microsoft always wins out even if the H.264 came first and has been more well received in the beginning stages. We'll see, my money is always going to be on Microsoft and not just because they have the industry share and dollars, but because I like their products and they serve a broader audience.

Brightcove Content Owners

DLife.com

The first site I explored was dlife, dedicated to living with diabetes. The dlife TV videos were intriguing to me especially the first two with Kendall Simmons of the Pittsburg Steelers and Adam Morrison, first round draft pick in the 2006 NBA draft.

I was intrigued with this site because I am a diabetic and I often feel like diabetes is portrayed in popular media as a disease for fat people or unhealthy people. The main spokespeople that I see on TV for diabetes are old, overweght actors or singers such as Patty Labelle, Wilford Brimely, and BB King - like I want to take advice or inspiration from these people. I like the fact that the dlife site is utilizing the Brightcove technology and server to provide a unique and fresher viewpoint for diabetes and the links within the page provide a plethora of useful and most importantly up to date information about diabetes.

Diabetes technology is rapidly improving so I think it is a natural fit to have an interactive website utilizing streaming media to convey a current message about diabetes. The dlife site is all about communicating a message and the use of Brightcove is a good fit.

KidzBop.com

This site has a much different purpose than the dlife site. Kidzbob is all about entertainment for kids age 5-10. The layout and navigation is simple so that kids can use it, which actually I prefere this style as well. When I started to get in to the content, I was actually kind of interested - I like the fact that you can scroll through so much content quickly and the player loads almost instantly, which for kids with short attention spans is perfect.

I think this site would be a great tool for active young kids who like to mess with the computer and it could also serve as a timely aid for babysitting.

Class 5 Reading - QuickTime, QuickTime, QuickTime....

Wooten has many good things to say about the QuickTime player and promotes its nonlinear playback and capability to support open standards formatting. Is it just me or does it seem like this chapter was ripped from the QuickTime owner's manual?

QuickTime and MPEG-4 wil cooperate well together especially since MPEG-4, as it is described in this chapter, is based on the QuickTime file format. The ability to adjust the layout of the QuickTime player is described as a unique and 'tricky' capability. But, I would really like to see where this can be useful, or I guess better put more functional. I suppose the moto and much of the selling point of Apple formats is tailored to the design savvy user and therefore functionality is not a main concern.

My favorite term from this chapter is definitely "re-skinning a QuickTime player."