Your TV is killing your Time and wasting your money.

One of the most time consuming pieces of equipment that is in just about everyone’s home is the television (TV). TVs are just massive wastes of time. Here’s why.

TVs require you to be in the same place to watch them. Even with the advent of the VCR and DVR you still have to be in front of your TV to watch the recorded show/video/movie. You should get an iPod or at least log on to iTunes and check out the offerings. iTunes currently offers about 70% of cable TV shows and it’s cheaper. Well, it can be cheaper. Let’s assume that you have the extended cable or DirecTV Package that costs about $65.00 a month with tax. I pick this number because is about what I pay, a little less than my DirecTV package. $65.00 per month, multiplied by 12 months is $780 dollars a year. If I divide 780 dollars by 2.08 which is what a single TV show on iTunes costs on a per episode basis plus tax, I get 375 shows. Most TV shows have 20 to 23 episodes per year, 375 divided by 22 is about 17. That’s 17 entire seasons. The better news is that you get a discount if you buy the entire season. For example, my favorite show is Battlestar Galatica, there were 19 episodes in Season 3, 2.08 multipled by 19 is 39.52. However, its 34.99 to buy the season pass, 37.88 with Tax. So I save the equivlant of 1 episode. That’s not a big savings but some shows are more. For example Numb3rs is only 29.99 per season. This is also much cheaper than buying the seasons on DVD which usually run about 45 to 50 dollars per season.

Now that I have you convinced to save the money, let’s explain to you how you can save time. When you download a show on iTunes, the episodes are usually available the morning after the show airs on network television. If you have purchased the season pass, you can set iTunes to automatically download the episodes when they become available. So the shows arrive in a timely fashion and you are not more than a day or so away from watching.

Here’s the bonus. Unlike a VCR or DVR you can watch the shows where ever you want, whenever you want, as many times as you want. With the addition of an iPod, a dock and a set of cables you can play your Shows on your TV. With the addition of the new AppleTV you can stream your shows from your computer to your TV as well. Let’s be honest, watching TV shows on the iPod is not the most enjoyable experience, unless you have children who like to interrupt your TV shows. With the iPod you can take your TV Shows with you anywhere, waiting to get your oil changed in your car? Have public transportation commute? Just watch a TV Show.

By the way, they take less time to watch. Yup, no kidding, the shows are shorter. The reason they are shorter is because they don’t have commercials, so you don’t have to fast forward, rewind or what have you. Just play and go. The movies on iTunes are even better, because they have no trailers at the beginning of the movie so you push play, and they play. I don’t know how many times I’ve been annoyed by a DVD that I put in for the kids and have to wait 15 minutes to start it because of the advertisements and trailers that play before you can get to the play menu.

One last thing is that you can manage your TV shows just like you can manage your music. You can create smart playlists and playlists that will allow you to manage your shows just about anyway you want. I don’t have an AppleTV yet, I have a Mac Mini however, and I use it to manage and store all my TV and Movies. I can then watch the shows on the Mac Mini, which is hooked up to the TV in the living room, or watch them on any of the computers in the house as well. This makes it very easy to go off into another room and watch Battlestar Galatica while my son watches the latest addition to The Backyardigans.

Oh, and if you like the nightly news, CBS and NBC post their nightly news on iTunes as free video podcasts. They do have a few commercials, but not enough to be annoying.

Just remember, it’s your time, take control of it and do what you want with it.

Why should you worry about legal software.

I’m sure that most everyone who might read this might have a program or two which could be from dubious origin. It’s very important that you pay for software that requires it. There are plenty of free software options to do just about anything you might want to do, however, this is an article about paying for the software that you use. Especially shareware software.

Legal software is a two way street. The first responsibility lies with the vendor. If the vendor wants to stay in business they should really work on pricing their software better. Some software is worth the price you pay. Adobe Acrobat Professional is one that I use which is worth every penny. On the other hand, Microsoft Office 2003 isn’t worth the 300 bucks that they charge for it, at least not for me. For the Mac there is NeoOffice and iWork that are both inexpensive, free and $80.00 respectively. For Windows you can look at OpenOffice.org

Microsoft used to give Microsoft Office away when you purchased a new computer. Some may remember purchasing their computer and it having office already installed. Now days, this doesn’t happen, Microsoft makes a lot of money off Microsoft Office and can’t dilute the market by giving away copies essentially for free. When Microsoft was trying to beat Lotus 1-2-3 and Wordperfect they gave the software way to just about anyone who would take it. Now that they own the market, they are charging for it, and charging more than they should. Economics dictates that in a free market the market decides what something is worth. However, with software, that’s just not the case. Because it can be copied at little or not cost, unlike say an automobile, the value is inflated to what software companies thing that will get the most people to pay the most for the software.

Point being, if you need Microsoft Office you should pay for it. If you like a program, and use a program regularly to perform important functions, you would be well served to pay for it. The first reason is that the developer will be more likely to continue to develop the software if they have monetary motivation to do so. Secondly, they will be willing to answer your questions if you have them if you have paid for and registered your software.

Another reason is that you can ensure that you are getting what you are paying for. If you buy Microsoft Office instead of downloading it from Kazaa, you can be sure that the software on the CD/DVD is what it says it is. This is important because you have a backup copy if you ever need to reinstall the software, and because you can be “fairly” sure that you haven’t installed something that has been riddled with a virus, or malware, or some other exploit that causes your system to be insecure and unstable. When someone downloads a program illegally, it makes it hard on the developer, user and person supporting the software.

I am not one that views pirating software as stealing, in my opinion it’s not stealing, it’s a copyright violation. However, if I write a book, and my livelihood depends on the book selling, I would be both excited and disappointed if my book was copied and distributed without my knowledge and compensation. Excited to know that people want to read my book, disappointed that they weren’t paying for it. Software is no different. As a software developer friend of mine is fond of saying, “programming is hard.” These people should be rewarded for their skill, ingenuity and dedication.

The latest incarnation of the MacHeist has got live. This was a great bundle of software last time. There were packages in the first MacHeist that I still use on a regular basis if not daily.