Sean Captain writes:
... The popular wisdom used to be that people only watch brief videos on computers because the online attention span is shorter: People are used to quickly absorbing information and then moving on. Some also suggested that watching "TV" on a desktop or laptop computer is just too uncomfortable to do for a long time. ¶ But I don't think that's true. iTunes is showing that people will not only watch long video pieces on a computer or handheld, but even pay good money for it. I'm now one of those people. ...
Link: SeanTech.
And, in a related essay titled Forget YouTube, he writes:
... The next logical step, it seems, would be to stream high-definition video via the Internet. In the long term—10 years or more—perhaps. But for the foreseeable future, that won't happen. That's because the very properties that make the Internet great make it a lousy video-distribution network, especially for the high-def era. ¶ The Net doesn't play favorites. All data packets are handled the same way; none get preferential treatment for faster delivery. That's fine for nearly every type of traffic. A fraction-of-a-second delay due to network congestion has no practical impact on an e-mail or even a 100-megabyte program download. But the same hiccup can mean the difference between premium and intolerable video. The various broadcast systems that handle traditional television distribution, on the other hand, are closed networks designed specifically to ensure smooth video delivery. ...
Link: Slate.
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