Yeah, yeah, yeah, I said I was going to watch an ABC program online and I will. I promise. But I’m kind of in the mood for something different tonight, and Kirk promised me that CBS’s “Innertube” was going to work just fine. I’m trying to remember if he’s ever lied to me before.
Okay, step one. Go to CBS site. Luckily, I remember two days ago and recall the name of the feature. Because things are rotating and I got distracted, the front page has changed (Innertube was the featured item when I started, now it’s something else that seems like it’s what I want but is really something called “CBS On Demand”, which is not what I want). So I click on the menu item for “Innertube”.
Nothing happens.
Hmm, is that really the plan? Oh yes it is. When I click on the link, I remain, sigh, on the home page. There’s a little link at the bottom that will take me to Innertube. Because I guess clicking on the link wasn’t a clear signal of my intentions. Okay, now I’m there. A flashy, movey thing happens. Oh, look, little program descriptions; I like that. And a choice: Windows Media Player or RealPlayer. Neither of which happen to live on my iBook (but, as we’ll all recall, I am très current with Flash).
[Now is the time to note that I am trying to review these services as if I were your mother, meaning not necessarily up-to-date on software versions and not necessarily the most tech savvy creature on the planet. Sometimes cool bells and whistles work just fine for the developers, but stump ordinary souls.]
So I’m downloading RealPlayer because I vaguely recall that Microsoft isn’t supporting Windows Media for Macs anymore. Or maybe I’m misremembering. I don’t know. Besides, right now I am busy trying to figure which server I want to download from. Do I go closest to my geographical location or not? How do real people make these decisions? I settle on one of the three Seattle choice, though Brazil seems nice this time of year.
Done. Man, it’s time to deal with laundry. Okay, I’ll sneak one quick peak in before I deal with the never-ending towels. Except, sigh, my browser must be closed. Which I did, and was treated to the joy of watching some woman take a shower — it’s a commercial. Yeah, love being hit with that first thing.
There appear to be only three options here: “Beyond Survivor”, “From Greek to Chic”, and an extended Pearl Jam concert from when they were on Letterman this week. Which makes me wonder if all the bands do extended sets after the cameras stop rolling. The longer concert is really cool, and I think it’s the sort of thing that will make the overall difference in various network services.
But the lack of variety is bothersome. For such a major product launch, it’s sparse. This really feels like someone rushed things; the press release didn’t promise more variety, but suggested it would exist.
I am starting to think that I’m going to have to install a new media player every time I try to access a new service. I’m also, again, wondering if real people test these services before they’re unleashed on an unsuspecting public. There’s a lot to be said for consistency.
By the way, CBS, I hate to be the difficult one, but probably you should have leaped on the Innertube domain name really fast. Innertube.tv would have been really cool to grab; it’s gone (looks like it was nabbed in early March).
- Innertube (the direct link)
For the record, I think it’s “inntertube.”