Back Again . . .

So, It's been a little while since I've blogged, but now I'm back! I guess we'll go light on the first new post, and save the deep thoughts for a little later. Just a simple observation for now. Apple is a company of geniuses. The Ipod and Itunes are cool. The Ipod Nano is absolutely amazing, and the new Video Ipod that has just been made avaialable for order seems like it will be a winner too. But, just how far is Apple going to position itself as the premier media company of the future?

For any of you that have Itunes, check out the two new sections of the music store: Pixar and TV Shows. The first is cool enough, offering downloads of several Pixar short films for only $1.99 a piece. This section is definitely a work in progress; and, when it has more than a half dozen short films available, I am sure Apple will see some money from people wanting to have Pixar content. But, the TV show section is truly inspired.

For a $1.99, you can download the latest episodes of 3 adult shows and 2 kids shows currently (Lost, Desperate Housewives, Night Stalker, The Suite Life, and That's So Raven), with I'm sure many more on the way. For those who don't have a TiVo or the know-how to get shows off the internet, apple is stepping in with a great service. I am sure many people would pay $2 per episode to download and rewatch the new season of Lost at their leisure. Also, the store offers the complete first seasons of Lost or Housewives for only $34.99, which is much less than the retail price of the DVD box sets. I can very easily see this as the wave of the future, or a great precursor to IPTV.

I will not be at all surprised if the TV Show section of the Itunes store grows exponentially over the next few months. With the Video Ipod coming out soon people could buy shows, and download them directly to their pods for on-the-go tv. But, even more importantly the studios will jump onboard if they're smart. They can use this as a way to make an immediate monetary return on their shows. Lots of people would pay on a weekly basis to download their favorite shows. And, people would still buy the DVD box sets after the season is over, provided the studios offer enough extra content to compete with Apple's immediate availability. This could be very win-win monetarily, if done right.

Well, like I said, that's it for today. More new stuff tomorrow!