A Nice Hard Slap – iTunes Fucked Up.
Though I already was sold on the show, with the episode The Pull I became a fan of Sons of Anarchy
forever. It’s rare that a show evolves and ingratiates itself into
one’s brain pan during the first season. Many open the door and make it
obvious something special is afoot [Lost, The West Wing, The Sopranos,
etc.] but really find new ways to deliver brilliance with each new
season, making that first one a little difficult to revisit as anything
but a glimpse at how the foundation was laid.
I don’t think Sons of Anarchy
will evolve into a masterpiece of television drama, but it should be a
nice muscular piece of entertainment and for as long as the show’s
supporting cast of phenomenal character actors [Coates, Boone Junior,
Lucking, Hurst, Flanagan, Sagal, Sheridan, and Pileggi] is around it’s
at least worth peeping at for the meaty work being done by this
ensemble.
But this blog is called iTunes fucked up. And fuck up they did.
As
someone who ingests 90% of his serialized television through iTunes I
know that they post the new episodes either late at night the night
they air or promptly the next day. Only once or twice have they taken
more than the customary day to post it.
Except now. With the Sons of Anarchy season finale.
It
has been a week and two days and it still is not available. There is
simply no excuse for this, a service where the shows are provided
digitally and paid for handsomely. Especially since FX offers the shows
free on their site, though the episode hasn’t aired there either.
Seriously,
iTunes took a long time to win me over and this is a major fuck up. For
people who are willing to pay for free television in a format that
isn’t packaged and tangible like DVD, the studios and networks should
be bending over backwards to accommodating those customers.
iTunes
of late has really dropped the ball, whether with their clunky
interface and questionable search feature (my bands are in there but
even when you type their names out it doesn’t fill in the rest to aid
in finding them) and the impossible task of seeing what the latest
additions are.
To
abandon their own schedule and prohibit fans of a show from seeing the
finale for at the time of this writing a full week, showcases just how
they are spoiling what was once a near-monopoly [for legit users, not
you illegal downloaders]. Now, as XBOX Live improves iTunes just coasts
on their brand and offers very little opportunity to offer feedback and
showcase just where they’re lacking.
I guess we’ll just see what happens. Until then I’ll wonder what becomes of the boys of Samcrow.
–
Nick
Nunziata is one more occasion like this away from abandoning iTunes as
a viable soure of digital entertainment forever [aside from iPhone
apps, because I am a glutton].
Adorable photo of miniature cow and bison by Nick Nunziata.