“Starting next week, football fans will have a new way to listen to games: on their iPods. The National Football League on Tuesday announced an agreement with Audible Inc., an online distributor of audiobooks and other spoken-word programming, to make recordings of this year’s remaining playoff games available for portable audio players, including Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod,” The Associated Press reports.
“The recordings will be available for purchase through Apple’s iTunes Music Store, which has an existing relationship with Audible, and other sites that sell audio over the Internet, according to the NFL and Audible. The first recordings of football games for sale under the agreement will be this Sunday’s NFL conference championships,” AP reports.
Full article here.
woop dee do
That is really cool. I don’t like football but I know that this is another HUGE reason people will love their iPods.
There are A LOT of sport fans out there.
I still want an iPod XFM
Who cares if the game is over?
Yeah, I don’t see this being that big if a deal. Very few people want to listen to an entire game broadcast after it’s already been played.
We’re talking football. Football is a visual game. I can’t stand to listen to football on the radio. I would much rather have the ability to purchase old Baseball games on iTunes. I asked for this a long time ago. You can buy old baseball games on cassette. I think it would be great to hear hall of fame announcers calling a World Series game from the 50’s or something.
you can do that yourself now with real audio and audio hijack.
Now I can listen to the STEELERS go all the way any time I want to!!!!
Magic word is “radio”, ironic, huh?
If you are unable to watch the game and have to listen to a radio/internet broadcast, this is actually a good alternative: you can advance it whenever you want to create your own abridged version of the game. If you’ve ever Tivo’d a game, you can understand the appeal of this. Sure, you have to wait until the game is over, but if it’s available immediately after, it’s not that big of a deal.
For certain, it’s a niche service, but that’s the beauty of downloads – vendors can accomodate niche markets because shelf space & inventory aren’t prohibitive.
As soon as I read it I thought “AWESOME.” I think you’re underestimating sports fans interest in something like this.
yeah…but if the game is over…. they for sure the NFL will charge you $$ to download the game….
Whats the point ??
Watch SportsCenter and SEE the highlights !!
loki…. congrats on a great year for your Steelers !!
My Team ??
Well, lets just say, the best thing about our season is the fact that we’ll get the first pick in the draft next year !!
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And we’ll probably trade it away for 7th pick or something !!
mac dood,
are you a Chiefs fan?
it sounds like you’ve seen Carl Petersen’s draft strategy already!!
What I am wondering is how much they are gonna charge for a game. I don’t think it will be a buck.
Definitely a niche market. Some people might want a keepsake of their teams big win, others may want to listen to the game from the home team announcers. Go Steelers!!
$10 per complete game:
Chris Russo, senior vice president of new media and publishing for the NFL, said complete recordings of games, including versions that feature local sportscasters, are expected to cost around $10 each, while highlights of games are expected to cost between 95 cents and $4.95.
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0118nfl-ipod18-ON.html
Y’know, I keep hearing about all the advantages of “time shifting” and, yet, people still say, “Why would I want to listen to the game after the broadcast?”
Personally, I’ve stopped watching football “real-time”. I usually tune in about 30 minutes late with my PVR/TiVo. This way I can fast-forward through all the stuff between plays until half-time. Then I hit pause and wander off and do something else. Come back in about 45 minutes and zip through the rest. And as long as I don’t go looking for the score, it’s a surprise to me who wins.
Oh, and by the way, GO PATS! It’s gonna be a great game…
Can it be that Apple ITMS is dipping its toes into the idea of podcasting? Please please — to get the jump on anything MS may try.
Magic word: hear – psychic or what?
I think most of you are missing the point. It isn’t to take the place of a tv or radio broadcast. It is a memento of a special game. If they were to offer past superbowls or championship games, I would buy 1 or 2.
rogozhin..
Chiefs ??? …. no….. even the Chiefs won more games than my team !!
Give you a couple hints….
1. My team won only two games this year…both against the Ariz Cards
2. They have already fired the head coach !!
3. Believe it or not… my fav team was the first team to win 5 Super Bowls !!
Ahhhh… but those were the good old days !!
Yeah, this is kinda stupid. Why not just offer it for free? Sporting events lose all value when they’re done. Oh well, keep experimenting Apple, it’s good for all of us.
Go Philly!
I really don’t care whether anyone uses this service, but the fact that the NFL, almost a definition of “mainstream”, has chosen Apple and iTMS over Micro$oft and Worthless Media is a major, major coup!
I would pay upto $20 to hear that last game of the last world series, even though it is over, even though it ended, if though we all know what happened….
Some things are just that great.
DanK…
You must be a Red Sox fan …
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i saw this something ago on iTunes there only 95 cents each
C’mon, don’t knock the Chiefs. Their training camp is in my neighborhood. Wonder if they just spend too much time keeping the cows off the field.
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As for broadcasts, audio coverage is good for baseball, and acceptable for football only if it’s live and you’re watching along on TV. I can’t see why anyone would want to pay for audio-only replay coverage of a game, but that’s IMO. If there are any sales it’s only good for Apple.