Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"The agreement, brokered by Disney-ABC Domestic Television, will add significantly to the growing selection of movies and TV episodes that can be streamed from Netflix. Once made available to Netflix from Disney-ABC - which, for relevant programming, will be no earlier than 15 days after initial telecast - episodes can be streamed instantly with Netflix memberships starting at $7.99 a month."

Since Netflix came to Canada in September, I've heard the same complaint over and over again: poor selection. I don't know if we have less choice in Canada than you US Americans do - I'd guess probably - but I still like Netflix because I've kept my expectations in check. I mean, it's $7.99 per month, which is only slightly more than the cost to rent a Blu-ray disc from Blockerbuster where I live. Unlimited content for that price tag is going to come with some limitations, but the sooner Netflix can beef up their catalogue, the naysayers will have even less to complain about for their $8.

What I want to know is why the heck can't I tag shows to watch later? When I'm browsing the listings looking for stuff, the only way around this is to start watching a show, then stop it, as a "hack" for having a list of stuff I want to watch. That's uber-weak. Still, for $8/month I remain a very happy Netflix customer!

"I'm now 5 weeks into my summer job and being in a job that allows for using an MP3 player I have been searching around for stuff to listen to the last few weeks. Music is all good and well, but when it's 6 hours a day 6 days a week you do get tired of your "favorites" playlist rather quickly. My way of thinking has always been to happily pay for something as long as it's a reasonable fee for something I can actually use. 10 years after the first MP3 players reeked havoc in the music industry one would think that there's been some steps made in the right direction when it comes to legal content for our beloved players, but has it really or are we still more or less left to illegal downloading if we want the good stuff? Read on for a look at what's available in the realms of legal content now in 2008."

I have personally not done audio books (well, except the once to give it a try, and long enough to realize that it wasn't for me) and just don't have time for podcasts but I have a sufficiently diverse library of music that it keeps me entertained. When I really want to listen to something different, I do have a subscription to Rhapsody but since neither my iPhone not my iRiver support Rhapsody to go, it doesn't really help for those times that I am mobile. One site that the article doesn't mention is pandora.com which seems to be getting a lot of buzz. What sites do you use?