Amazon's got a real shot at dethroning iTunes when it comes to selling major-label music online. They just announced they'll be selling Warner Music too without any kind of DRM, and they're doing it cheaper than iTunes. The ability to purchase music cheaply, legally, without strings and to play it on any player, including iPod and iPhone, is the only way ANYONE could compete with Apple in this market and it's taken Amazon's clout to make it happen. And it's not just music. They're also selling e-books with the Kindle which was pretty well-reviewed and movies that can be downloaded directly to the TiVo. We've done the movies a few times and have been moderately happy with the results. Once they work out a few kinks, it'll be great. They'll often have deals on relatively new rentals. We paid only a buck each to rent The Lives of Others, Hot Fuzz, Zodiac, and Ocean's Thirteen. Four movies for what it would cost us to rent one movie from Blockbuster and no trip to the store.
The DRM is a real pain though. If I start watching a movie at 8pm on tuesday night and my son wakes up and I can't finish the film that night, there's a 24 hour countdown 'til it disappears from the TiVo. It'll take a few years of competition before the restrictions are loosened for film rentals and books, but it's a trend, and I'm sure we'll get there eventually. Just don't expect to get there without some kicking and screaming.

Hulu Testing

This is a test of Hulu's embed capabilities. This SHOULD be a Kings of Leon performance from The Tonight Show. If it is, enjoy.

Consumed

Great conversation last night on Bill Moyers Journal with Benjamin Barber about consumerism and democracy. The best part? There's no commercials. Enjoy. You can watch video or read the transcript here.

I saw this on Boing Boing.
You'll see it eventually. Might as well be here.

"Extras", like "The Office", gone too soon

I just watched the Extras series finale that I recorded the other night. It played like a feature film. More serious than the regular episodes, I thought, and rightfully so. It's an odd series that way. Definitely a comedy, but comfortable being more. The show at times felt a diatribe about our fascination with celebrities. And yet Gervais himself seems to have an obsession with the idea of fame. Take a look at his most recent stand-up DVD. I love his talent and his integrity and can't wait to see what he does next. Apparently a film called Ghost Town will be released this summer also starring the very funny Kristen Wiig and Cameron Frye himself, Alan Ruck.

One More Drifter...

Aimee Mann released One More Drifter in the Snow last year.
It's a great Christmas album. If you're looking for new tunes to stir that holiday spirit in the coming weeks, you could do a lot worse.

New "Lost" content online

I didn't hear about these 'til today so I assume others may have missed them as well. Go to http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/missingpieces to watch. Here's the official description:

Lost: Missing Pieces are 13 two- to three-minute stories of compelling, new, never-before-seen moments from the hit television show LOST. These newly-created scenes (not deleted scenes from previous episodes) reveal answers and new details about your favorite characters. For each story, we leave it up to the fans to figure out where these pieces fit into the overall mythology. The new stories are from the same creative team responsible for the series and feature the show's main actors in stories that have all the compelling values that make LOST one of the most popular dramas on television around the world.