The Top TV Shows on iTunes as of 7/19

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog is the greatest musical recently. Don’t believe me? Check out the screen shot of the iTunes Music Store to the left.

And while I loved the show and was thoroughly entertained with all of the great plot twists and funny songs, what really got me was the marketing scheme. When I say that the market scheme got me, I mean it reeled me in like a free bottle of beer and a beautiful brunette. Why does this series of three fifteen minute movies have me tripping so? Let me explain how I digest media.

1. Come across something cool,  let’s say a new movie. (Discovery)
2. I watch the trailer, listen to music samples, check it out on Wikipedia. (Research)
3. Digest. If the movie is new enough and I’m not totally broke, I’ll go see it. If the album isn’t from a band I have obtained at least two albums from before, or if the movie isn’t available for rent cheaply, then I will probably obtain it in less than legal means.

Now how did Dr. Horrible throw a wrench into this tried and true formula? He abused two simple facts about my life.

1. I had to leave for the train in fifteen minutes, and I still had to eat breakfast.
2. It was less than five dollars.

I clicked subscribe on iTunes and sync’d Act 1 to my iPod. Half an hour later I was watching it in my seat on CalTrain. It was amazing. I wanted more, but I had to wait a day for the next episode, which I had already paid for.

What can wanna-be producers and marketers take out of this? Joss Whedon explicitly said that working with iTunes was painful, but worth the effort, since he was offering it free online. Marketers, if you make something of quality (you need to care about your work, kinda crazy eh?) and let me consume it in whatever way I want, I will. My generation grew up with Napster and Kazaa. We know how to get what you don’t want us to have. So give it to us with an affordable price tag and we’ll buy it.

/Nat

Popularity: 47% [?]

So I’ve been a little slow to write this, mainly due to the fact that I’ve been having trouble catching up on sleep. But two weekends ago, I had an amazing weekend, because I spent the weekend at PAX in Seattle. Now I should have cool and interesting reveiw of PAX, but now two weeks later it doesnt look like it’s gonna happen. Why? because I have NADD.

here are some good reviews though:

PAX at Slashdot

Tycho + Gabe on PAX

Ars Technica’s Post 

I’ll post some pictures eventually too.

Hasta

/Nat

p.s. read the article I linked to on Nerd Attention Deficit Disorder (NADD). It describes me so well it’s scary.

updated 8pm 9/6/07

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You know what I love? Hot Coffee. You know why I love Hot Coffee? Because thanks to the whole lawsuit thing, Hot Coffee doesn’t remind me of the wonderfully delicious drink, instead it reminds me of coding and the nerd culture as a whole.

This weekend I attended SuperHappyDevHouse 19, known affectionately as shdh19. Shdh, is at it’s core a place for geek, nerds, designers, and developers of all kinds to meet, greet, and possibly even get a few personal projects pounded out in code. This time, shdh was located in Los Gatos, which was awesome because it was near my house. I originally went with the goal of programming, but ended up spending more time meeting people, which was better for me, I think, because I really don’t know a ton of people in the area with the same interests as me. This of course is due to the fact that I haven’t attended more of these events, not because they don’t exist. Because in all honesty, finding computer “enthusiasts” in Silicon Valley is like finding people with bad teeth in fifteen century Britain. (more…)

Popularity: 25% [?]