OK, I admit it, I’m officially a media fool. I’ve subscribed to Netflix streaming, Hulu+, and HBO-Go, all in the last year or so. Why? Because I have an iPad, and I stream content like there’s no tomorrow. Sure, I’m usually doing something else at the same time, but who said you couldn’t do two things at once? Surely not me.
So yes, I’ve become a media maniac, but mostly because I can. The price point has descended and so have the technical barriers. I don’t live in a city and yet I’ve had broadband access for over a decade (I was an early adopter of DSL). Therefore bandwidth has not been an issue, but it has only been since I got the iPad that I truly succumbed to digital streaming media.
What do I love about it? Let me count the ways:
- The form factor rocks. I can’t begin to describe how many times I have picked up the iPad and walked into the kitchen to a) check on dinner, b) get a glass of water, or c) just about anything else. Since the device is so darn portable, you can take it anywhere — and you do.
- I can watch older shows straight through. Don’t you hate it when you’re left hanging on a story cliff and you must wait an entire week for the resolution? Well, kiss that goodbye for your older shows, where you can blaze through all the episodes that ever existed in one go, should you have more time on your hands than is strictly legal or moral.
- Watching a show doesn’t tie up anything else. I don’t have to use my computer to watch a show — I can watch a show on my iPad while I’m doing something else on my computer. This alone is huge. You can do the same thing with your laptop and a TV, but that means you have to be where the TV is. Now I can be where my computer is — or anywhere, for that matter.
- Watching a show doesn’t impact anyone else. Unlike a blaring TV, after you attach headphones or earbuds to your iPad, you’re not bothering anyone else. You could be meditating for all they know.
Lest you think I’ve been reduced to a drooling media-sucking idiot, I should point out that I’ve probably never been more productive. It’s because this style of media consumption leaves me free to accomplish other things while so doing, which means I can keep my wife’s campaign database updated, or answer my email, or do any of a broad range of tasks while also checking out the next episode of Starhunter or Once Upon a Time.
Yes, I admit it, I’ve become a media fool. But I also kick tail and take names while doing it. Welcome to the 21st Century.
About Roy Tennant
Take off the word “media” off the title and you might have a point.
Aw, Brian, isn’t that a bit harsh? :-)
Wouldn’t it be great if libraries had a means of providing their patrons with the kind of desirable streaming content you’re describing? (Emphasis on the word “desirable” here — I’m not talking about cooking shows and obscure indie films that have little appeal to most of the patron base.)
I’m going to give Brian the benefit of the doubt and assume he is essentially saying that “you might have a point.” You just have to work through his double-negative word play, where he’s actually telling you not to make any alterations to the title.
As a person who has been in IT for almost two decades, my experience tells me these things are a waste of taxpayer money for 90% of the people who convince their managers they need one to “do” their job. Notice how foolish and incompetent it makes management look as well. I will say though, it is rather comical to watch grown adults sit in meetings fondling their gadgets in unison. They “feel” technical and empowered, but it actually turns them into non-productive lemmings. Trust me, I work with a whole group of these types, and we could lay off half the staff and the department wouldn’t miss a beat, and we could then afford the infrastructure that would really benefit those who need it most, our patrons!!! If the state wants to know how it can save some money, I know the perfect place to start.
Brian, you should know that I’m not doing this on the job, but only when I’m off work. I do it as I enter data into my wife’s campaign database, for example. The ways I use it while in the office are to check out web sites mentioned in meetings, check my email and read work-related articles while at lunch, etc. I would never take my laptop to lunch, but the iPad is perfect for that.
So you’re saying the thing keeps you out of trouble. Great.
Leo: I made no such extravagant claim.