“Steve Jobs has given little indication that he regards Canada as more than an extension of the U.S. market for Apple — I can’t even recall when he last set foot on Canadian soil, if ever — but still it’s hard to understand his strategy of releasing the Apple TV here,” Jack Kapica writes for The Globe and Mail.
“Apple TV’s most important features — the ability to buy and download television programs and movies — are simply not available in Canada. Apple has cut deals with Hollywood and Tellywood for content, but these deals are made only for the U.S. market,” Kapica writes.
Kapica writes, “You cannot stream your MP3 files or your YouTube clips to Apple TV without organizing them first through iTunes. It’s not that big a deal on the surface, because iTunes and the QuickTime player are free products. But because it’s bundled with iTunes, Apple TV becomes a closed system. Put another way, you can’t stream much through Apple TV unless iTunes declares it to be legal, whatever that means in the context of the Canadian legislative jurisdiction.”
“Now the lack of content for Canadians might be the fault of an insufficiently internationalized copyright system, but it still amounts to coercing people to use iTunes to buy all their entertainment products,” Kapica writes.
Kapica writes, “You can’t buy iTunes content through the TV; you have to do that through the computer where the iTunes program resides. And even if you could buy iTunes video, there’s no HD content for sale — Apple sells stuff it calls “near-DVD quality,” which runs a maximum of 640 by 480 pixels, a resolution even lower than analog TV.”
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s iTunes Store content is not “a resolution even lower than analog TV.” It matches ATSC’s 640×480 resolution for 4:3 Standard Definition square pixel aspect ratio specs.
Kapica continues, “Still, there are things to admire in Apple TV. It is, as usual, a gorgeously designed box, all white and brushed titanium (or whatever metal it is), and about the size of a small box of bonbons, a concept I’m sure its designers entertained. It is operated by a remote control reminiscent of a prepubescent iPod, and perhaps as easily lost as a toddler at a summer picnic. (If you have a recent iMac machine, you’d recognize it right away; it’s the same remote.)”
Kapica writes, “The actual Apple TV unit does, however, turn hot when it runs for a short while. Very hot — it’s wise to find a well-ventilated place for it. And it’s designed to be left on all the time: There is no off switch.”
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV does have an “off button.” Apple TV is basically an iPod for your living room. How does iPod turn off? Press and hold the Play/Pause button. How does Apple TV turn off? The same way: just press and hold your Apple TV remote’s Play/Pause button (click any button to turn it back on). Logical, huh?
Kapica continues, “So, Apple TV is technologically a lovely little machine, and it offers the ability to stream content to your TV, including MP3 music files, rock videos and movie trailers. But if it will not play content protected by copyright purchased on another system, if it will not sell you TV shows and if it will not sell you movies, as it is designed to do, is it really worth considering? Apple TV remains quite overpriced for what Canadians can use it for.”
Full article here.
Well, as long as….
nah, I got nuthin.
Take off, hoser!
Canada isn’t part of the US? Other than not knowing what day to celebrate Thanksgiving on, what exactly differentiates the two?
There was a time, but other than Quebec, I don’t see much.
Is that where the Tellytubies live?
Sounds like Kapica received his talking points from Micro$oft the same time as his check arrived.
A very good and true article. It is pricey for canadians for what you can get out of it. If there is a reason why we can’t get programming at least apple should tell us why and if ever we will be able to purchase programming. Oh, and Thorin, your an idiot.
People probably have about the same small percentage of drm’d movies on their computers as they have drm’d songs. Canadians will use this for the same reasons that Americans do – to watch all those evil, illicit non-drm’d movies…
AppleTV is just no good. Period
“I can’t even recall when he last set foot on Canadian soil, if ever”
Do all Canadians have this sort inferiority complex? I mean c’mon, when is it necessary for the CEO of a company to visit a country where their products are sold? What good would it do? oh hey, here I am in Canada. There’s a mountain and some streams…. ooh a moose….. hey is Neil Young here? Bryan Adams? Rush?….
Ohh another moose….
Since when does America in general not consider Canada an extension of the US?
“it still amounts to coercing people to use iTunes to buy all their entertainment products,” Kapica writes.”
Um.. what?
Since when is anyone being forced at gunpoint to buy ANYTHING from Apple. Or ANYTHING at all for that matter. You have choices.
At the rate the CBC here has been pushing it’s radio content out as podcasts. Maybe it won’t be that long till they start putting out their television shows as podcasts for Free!
The differences between Canadians and Americans:
We won’t throw someone in prison for having a small amount of marijuana, because we can differentiate that and say, heroin.
We support our neighbours after they have been attacked on home soil, but the corollary does not mean we support your preemptive invading of another country under false pretenses.
Tim Hortons Donuts are better than Krispy Kreme any day of the week.
We export more influential talent to the US in terms of actors, musicians, scientists, than the other way around.
Americans are more charitable to the Third World than Canadians, and generally give more by personal donation.
We are not locked into a two party system. We have at least 4-5 parties, including a separatist party.
Public, universal healthcare.
And so on….
Kapica is right. AppleTV sucks here in Canada. It is almost useless. It is nothing more than an oversized, overpriced docking station.
MW: “charge” and they charge so much for it.
How do I shut my Airport Express every night?
@You mean
We have gun control, July 1 and we put vinegar on our fries….among other things
The TV is reportedly flying off the shelves in Canada, even though no content is available through the iTunes Store!
Go figure.
MDN Takes more often then not give me an image of a little snot nosed kid w/ freckles and big glasses sticking out his tongue and saying “NU UH! NU UH!”.
MDN is a little confused about TV resolution. NTSC is analog TV, not ATSC. The ATSC created a digital TV resolution for the US. NTSC analog is a 720 X 486 resolution (that’s visual resolution). The actual “real resolution” is 720 X 525, but anything above 486 is used for vertical blanking information, etc.
And while I agree with MDN, that 720 is more of theoretical limit (Its the max amount of lines you can discern on a non digital SDTV before they turn to mush), and most mediums don’t use it all, it is still the resolution. AppleTV is less than that (ex. VHS only uses 240). So, if we’re splitting hairs or not, the guy in the article is TECHNICALLY right. Understand the standards before you rip.
Oh dear lord, we’re not going to start with the, “…I’m being forced into buying Apple products…” crap again are we?
As one poster has already said, don’t buy TV if you don’t want to. How much more freedom do you want?
@Moo
you are too much of a twit for me to even comment on other than your lack of intelligence. Even americans are embarrassed by you
Oh…and Canada produces the best hockey players in the world
How about giving it to th UK. We are a bigger market than Canada anyway.
If FUDers like Kapica could at least show some objectivity in what they write, readers might nod in approval at some point. But when it is the same old leftovers heated the thousandth time, it becomes a little tiresome.
There almost seems to be a Little Reference Book of Anti-Apple Talking Points that seems to be going around. When a writer/analyst has a dry day and the editor is on his/her back to get some work done, they probably go opnline to wherever FUDers congregate, pick up the leftovers and then recook them.
The points these FUDers make usually accentuate the negative, ignore the positive, and don’t bother explaining the explainable:
These are some of the regular complaints:
1) Apple TV “forces” you to use iTunes – Well, every time you use your computer for anything, you are being “forced” to use some software or other, starting with the OS. So all PC users are being “forced” to use Windows etc. And then Kapica goes into intricate verbal gymnastics to justify one of his points. He says “you can’t stream much through Apple TV unless iTunes declares it to be legal, whatever that means in the context of the Canadian legislative jurisdiction.” Man, and here I was thinking all you had to do was to convert any video content you have on your computer to the right format, and you could stream it over Apple TV. Jeez, I never did take into account the need to have it declared legal in the context of Canadian legislation! Next time, I will issue a declaration in a timely manner!
2) “Apple TV’s most important features — the ability to buy and download television programs and movies — are simply not available in Canada.” No sir, Apple TV’s most important feature is being able stream the audio/video content on your computer to your TV.
3)”… it still amounts to coercing people to use iTunes to buy all their entertainment products.” – He makes it sound like somebody is holding a whip every time you want to buy an “entertainment product.” And horror of horrors – you can’t buy it through the TV, you can only do it from your computer. These Apple folk should be charged for forcing people to actually walk to their computers to do the shopping!
4) Then there are the little indirect shots designed to paint a negative image – “prepubescent” iPod, “as easily lost as a toddler,” a lovely “little” machine.
5) What has Steve Jobs not visiting Canada to do with the quality of Apple TV? I’m sure Steve Jobs and the CEOs of all companies that make products Canadians and others use have not visited every country where their products are sold.
As pointed out, there is a way to turn Apple TV off. Pity there is no OFF button when you come across FUDers.
The Globe & Mail Tech writer Jack Kapica has written a very bad and biased article.
His comment regarding protected WMA files are particularily disingenuous. He has drunk (or is drunk) from the fountain of Bill G. and can not see other solutions. Windows media player (esp. for protected media) is your only option on the PC and IS NOT available for any other platform – talk about closed system…. Oh, and last I looked the xBox 360 and Zune are both very closed systems – if you don’t buy from Microsoft (using M$ currency and let M$ determine storage) then you don’t get commercial media.
Content is VERY easy to put onto the Apple TV and there is really no limit obn what you do put on if using Handbrake or a TV tuner card. The quality of the output is dependent on how high you want to encode the media.
Uninformed tech writers in both the US and Canada should turn in their DOS machines.
I live in Canada and we do not have moose everywhere. We are actually very passive Americans. What we do have is a government organization called CANCON (Canadian Content) that has a lot of ridiculous rules on how American Media can be distributed here.
It’s a “no brainer”, easy money making move for Apple to offer these services to Canadians. It’s up to Canadians to eliminate this old, antiqued, aged, out of touch organization. Don’t blame Apple for our mistakes.
“I can’t even recall when he last set foot on Canadian soil”
Jobs isn’t a politician. There’s no need for him to personally visit every ass-backward country that Apple does business with.
Sorry that Apple TV doesn’t do everything you want it to Jack-ass, but that’s too bad.
If some dumb ass buys a product without doing the necessary research then whines about it, well I’m not going to feel sorry for them.
Caveat Emptor bitch.
Jack’s just another whiney ass uncle f*cker.
What folks aren’t seeing is the industrial design genius of the Apple TV. The reason it is so hot (and so small) is that the case (the thick metal band) IS the heatsink. That’s why it’s so heavy, that’s why you don’t see vent holes, that’s why it’s hot.
Small note. A long, long time ago ( approx 15 years ) I was bargaining over the price of a Honda which was about to be bought in Ottawa, Canada. And the sales person was so very kind, but he said something that has stayed with me to this day ( at that time ) ” All of Canada put together, sells less Honda’s then a state in the US ” , and I am sure the CBC is not easy to work with either. Those two factors may help clarify this picture. Thanks.
OK, enough is enough. I’ve been a loyal and patient customer and evangelist for Apple for over twenty years and I have to take action and I suggest that others like me in Canada do the same.
The lady who runs Apple Canada (Wendy Hayes) isn’t doing her job. Get someone in here who can get things done.
What the hell is taking her and Apple so long? Is anybody at Apple Canada looking out for loyal Apple (Canadian) customers?
If its taken this long (and longer) and we don’t have a respectable iTunes Canada, imagine how long it will be before we see an iPhone in Canada. I estimate we should see the iPhone sometime in 2010 or 2011, there is nothing that leads me to believe it will happen sooner.
Any Apple device (Mac, iPod, TV or iPhone) without content is half a product and should be put aside or ignored until its whole.
If you want to get some results out of Apple Canada, complain, call for a management change and stop buying Apple products, including iTunes Canada content.
Stand up and shout: “We arn’t going to take this second class treatment anymore”
If we do it here the rest of the world will follow – because we are not the only country with a half-baked iTunes Store.
@Steev
I assume you mean that Canada is an ass-backward country?
Being Canadian, I’m still waiting for the Canadian iTunes store to offer TV and movie content, however, that doesn’t preclude me from considering an AppleTV. As noted, they’re still “flying off the shelves”. Unless someone states otherwise, I can download all my torrent HD files of popular TV shows, record my own with my PVR, then import to iTunes and watch through AppleTV, no? I can rip DVDs and do the same thing, can’t I? I’ll wait for the 2G version, though, when they increase the size of the hard drive and figure out a use for the USB port.
If Jack Kapica is a Canadian, it doesn’t represent our country very well at all. He’s sorrily misinformed (ie. titanium casing?) Don’t go judging 44 million people based on what this guy has to say. And Canada is not an extension of the US… we are very different in our own ways.
The reason for not having movie and tv content has nothing to do with Apple or the Canadian government. ABC, for example, licenses its shows for broadcast in Canada to a Canadian network like CTV. The licence does not allow CTV to put the program online or to give it to Apple Canada for iTunes. At the same time the deal with ABC does not allow ABC to give the show to Apple Canada otherwise CTV is getting burned. ABC and CTV are the culprits. Until they work out something we get nothing.
With music Universal Music owns the same tunes as Universal Music Canada. Hence music is available in Canada.
“You can’t buy iTunes content through the TV; you have to do that through the computer where the iTunes program resides.”
Can you buy anything “through the TV”? I do not believe so. PPV and On Demand are via a separate box, which is often a computer as well as a cable tuner. For any kind of download, that requires a computer, whether it be a PC or a box that is essentially a computer. Somehow “the TV” would magically be not constrained by the DRM fixation of content providers? Why?
There’s TONS of content available via podcasts.
Nothing but FUD in that article.
A waste of time and a disservice to their readers.
As it comes from Apple, Apple TV is pretty fscking useless–unless you like watching files intended for a 2 inch screen on your 42 inch HDTV. I don’t know why most people buy the bloody thing–for $100, maybe, for $300 it is crap.
As it comes from Apple.
Add a Mac and third party apps, such as VisualHub or Mediafork, and it becomes a useful machine, if kind of a pain in the ass what with having to run around entering codes if you want it to stream from a Mac the next floor up.
Where the Apple TV becomes worthwhile is when you add the hacking you can do with it–to access drives directly on other Macs, to play DiVX and other than mp4 video files, etc. I have an Mac Mini hooked up to one TV and the Apple TV hooked to another, and the Apple TV can do the same viewing stuff that the mini can do, at less than half the price, but doing that required opening the case, removing the hard drive, putting the drive in an external enclosure, putting ssh on the drive, putting the drive back, and then transferring more software over to the drive, and then hacking in mount_afp points to link to other machines. Oh, and the networking linking with other machines is necessary partly because you can’t just plug a USB drive into the Apple TV.
So that Apple TV has some serious, serious limitations, but they are limitations of the software rather than the hardware. The gap between what the machine can do with what it does out of the box is so wide that you almost wonder if Apple outsourced the software to Sony to put together…
Well this story overwhelmingly contradicts Jacks theorys. Read the story from Electronista about the huge success Apple TV is having in Canada even without iTunes downloads.
http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/04/26/apple.tv.canadian.success/
@Frustrated and Disappointed
I agree with what you are saying… Apple Canada really needs to be at the same level with the US – so many markets are being lost. Without a strong marketing backing from Apple Canada, they are losing out big time. Very frustrating from my standpoint as a huge apple supporter in the business arena – but the effort is always lost since decisions are not based on what one or a few people say, it needs to be promoted in the media (positively), business journals, and more QT content on our Canadian media streaming services. Anyway enough ranting, a few experiences over the past year have demonstrated so many holes in Apple Canada’s ability to do the pre-sale effort with business. Escalations have to be handled by Apple US. Sad really, but until there is a serious push to get Apple on par – we will always be behind.
BTW I thing CBC is doing a fab job with their promotion of podcasts!
@CoolFactor
44 Million? Did we have a baby boom or something?
44 Million population- I think that is what is projected for year 2050??
@CoolFactor
Canada Population
– 2007 estimate 32,891,400
– 2006 census 31,612,897
The difference between Canadians and Americans.
You are Americans, we aren’t. That is how we define ourselves. In Europe we have Maple Leaf Flags on our backpacks so everyone knows, not that we are Canadians but that we are not Americans.
The only place in the world where apple tv is worth it is in the USA, No other Itune store in the world offers download of tv and films. Until they do you have to consider apple tv as a US only gizmo.
Here comes the real jingoistic arguments in 4…. 3….. 2…. 1….
MDN word is “took” as in, “it took (fill in the blank) about 1 nanosecond to respond to Big Al’s post.”
Kapica writes for the The Globe and Mail, which is owned by the CTV television network, which is owned by Bell Canada.
Bell Canada is in bed with Microsoft and Dell. The millions of dollars worth of MS and Dell equipment, from the lowliest laptop to the biggest building jam-packed with MS and Dell software and hardware defines its existence.
Since Bell is in bed with Microsoft, so is CTV — check its site. Since CTV/Bell owns most of The Globe and Mail — some of it is owned by a so-called competitor — MS and Dell define The Globe’s existence.
The best that can be expected by The Globe is the damning of Apple with faint praise. MS calls the shots.
Bell will never offer the iPhone in a million years.
As an aside, the CBC resembles the BBC in that regard. It yanked everything not Windows Media Player from it’s websites — there may still be token Ogg streaming, of all things. So the rot inside the CBC is as obvious as it is with the BBC.
Canada’s population, market size and GDP is roughly the same as California’s. There are roughly the same number of idiots here as in California well.
Our first war was against the USA.
Next time you’re in DC ask them why The White House is painted white. Ha Ha Ha.
“Bell will never offer the iPhone in a million years”
That’s because Apple is doing a deal with Rogers Wireless for the iPhone.
@Jim-TIV
Big Al pretty well hit the nail on the head. Canadians like Americans but detest being likened to them. All of us have had many experiences around the world where we were mistaken to be American only to see the hostility subside when it was discovered that we were Canadian.
Ever been to Holland….that is where it is felt the most.
Canada isn’t part of the US?
No more than Iraq is, as much as you’ve heard and read otherwise.
Wow. What is it they say…Mac users are more highly educated. You wouldn’t think more highly educated people would be such rude, vulgar jerks, like some of the folks that comment on here.
It’s like just because someone can say stuff anonymously allows them to lose any sense of common decency….sheesh…I hate you all some days.
I AM CANADIAN
Dont hate — its a destructive emotion —
Every Canadian I’ve ever come in contact with (for the most part) have been regular people, no different from anyone else !
Yeah, there are butt heads from every stripe, but its silly to lump everyone together just to prove a biased point !
Cheers !
(btw – What ever happened to Owen Nolan ?)
The two things that really separate Canadians from USAnians are the Robertson screw and the Metric system
I mean, come on, people. You fought tooth and nail against a standardized systems of weights and measures that is purely base 10, and has a temperature scale where the 0 denotes the point at which water freezes?
THAT’S Stupid with a capital S.
I just want Candians to know what Americans really think of Canada. And that is that…
Americans don’t really think of Canada.
Remember the girl from high school that was kinda okay without being really hot, that no one every mentioned until like 20th or 30th on the list, and then you’d say, “Oh, she’s nice.” And then forgot who you were talking about.
For most of the US, that’s Canada. We don’t know if Vancouver is north, south, east or west of Toronto, and we don’t care.
We don’t dislike Canada, and generally our feelings are positive. Kinda like most of the US feels about Wisconsin. “Wisconsin? Well, the Packers fans get a little nuts at times. And Wisconsin has cheese. What state were we talking about?”
That’s what Canada is to most people in the US.
A few of us are aware that Candians have some animosity to the US. Its kind of like finding out that Packers fans are not just waiving cheese around, but also saying nasty things about the towns where the visiting teams are from.
So a few of us say some nasty stuff back. But we don’t really mean it–we still want to drink your beer just like we’ll still eat the cheesehead’s cheese. And we still couldn’t give a crap whether Vancouver is north, south, east or west of Toronto. Stop getting so worked up.
I think Ontario is right. The lack of content probably has to do with the Canadian rules regarding the amount of non-Canadian content that is allowed to be available. You’re government only allows a small percentage of American media to be broadcast on your airwaves (radio & tv). According to Wikipedia: “A major motivation is the fear that without a regulatory system, independent Canadian popular culture would be swallowed up by that of the neighboring United States.” Kind of silly to blame Apple for not making content available when it’s the Canadian government who decides what American pop-culture is allowed in.
@ OBill-Wan Kenobi:
Wrong.
It was already previously explained that the licensing is done differently here in Canada than it is in the US.
The networks that play the show here have all licensing control for each potential medium, so Apple would need to negotiate with the networks already owning the license in order to provide these shows through iTunes. I don’t see that happening anytime soon, but I hope it does.
Also, this has nothing to do with the Canadian government, and everything to do with Apple and the television networks. Canadian content is to protect Canadian artists from a broadcast standpoint, which iTunes is not affected by.
As for whether these additional sales are important enough to Apple or not is up to them and their team. They obviously don’t see the value at this point, and the marketing of this item was clearly based “more” on TV Shows and Movie content, so offering it here, (even with a miniature disclaimer on the Apple site about content not being available in Canada), is, or was dubious at best.
I bought one anyway, and am enjoying it immensely just as others are. It’s a fantastic device – TV Shows or not. Great engineering as usual.
As for America, I freaking love your country and you guys. I might not agree with everything that happens there – no gun control for instance – but I have yet to meet an American I didn’t like and get along with, so thanks for being such a good neighbor.
You really do have the best of everything when it comes to retail, and people wiling to take a risk and try anything. I love it.
Cheers!
… universal healthcare and marriage equality …
/globe and mail tech writers have a well-established record of being error prone and old
@OpJ
I lived in LA for 2 years (postdoc at UCLA) and that indeed was the general idea of Canada…yeah we heard of it. I guess that is why a number of nationalities think that americans are not particularly bright…they can only speak one language and think that Amsterdam is a way of piling up Amsters. It leads to amusing questions like…Do you have zoo’s up there in Canada? (remember this is from educated people at UCLA). It is interesting that the people along the northern borders are different from the rest of the US…they have a better understanding of the world around them (and they know Canada quite well).
If people retort on here it is not because they dislike americans, both countries like and respect each other (unless we talk about the IRAQ war), it is because we want to kick the ass of those extremely few morons that shit on us.
If I crapped on the US here, the amount of flaming I would get would be tremendous. Shouldn’t surprise anyone that the reverse can be true although to a lesser extent.
How do you get a bunch of Canadians to get out of the pool.
You say…Could you please leave the pool.
@ makemineamac
Duly noted. I just remember the tv and radio content that was available when I was in Banff (late 80’s). It was explained to me then about the content limits.
As far as gun control goes, and this is just my opinion, no law is going to prevent an evil person from doing something evil. I can drive just outside of town and by a midnight special for $20 right now. What would gun control laws do to prevent that? Gun control would make sitting ducks out of the general law abiding population. The police aren’t capable of protecting us from something bad happening, they’re here for after something bad has already happened. That’s reality. Besides, if the government ever tried to take our guns, well, lets just say it wouldn’t go well and no politician is really willing to touch that can of worms with a ten foot pole.
Buster…one misconception foreigners get is to think that Americans don’t care about other countries. It isn’t that we don’t care about other countries. It is rather that don’t care about anywhere that isn’t within easy driving distance, foreign or otherwise.
People in Florida don’t know any less about Canada than they do about, say, South Carolina. Hell, people in north Florida think that South Florida is another country, and people in south Florida think that everything north of West Palm Beach is Alabama. (It is, by the way.)
I work in Philadelphia and live in the suburbs, about an 18 minute train ride, and you can stand with one foot in my township and the other in Philly. Despite that, most of the people I talk to from Philadelphia don’t know where my town is, and many of my neighbors would rather go to the moon than into Philadelphia.
The sales expansion of Apple TV will take time. The problems with making Apple TV useful in all countries — even the US — are difficult. The introduction of Apple TV into the wild, so to speak, is partly to get reactions in all markets in order to iron out the problems — protocols, codecs, formats, politics, contracts and so on. Apple has nurtured a loyal user base and needs their help in getting the problems sorted out so that Apple TV can become a fantastic value for the consumer. Stop whining and blaming Apple and determine what really needs to be fixed.
Does anyone think that Apple really wants to stick it to Canadians or any other demographic group of consumers? That is paranoid.
IMHO, Apple has found a reasonable approach to kicking off the process of solving the problem of integrating home consumer electronics to give its customers the best experience possible. As I said in the opening sentence, this will take time.
As a pround Canadian owner of an Apple TV I can attest to the lack of content available through the ITunes Website. However i don;t see this as a failing in Apple, it is a failing with the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (our sort of equivalent to the FCC, at least as far as I understand it).
The CRTC is what mandates Canadian Content, and also imparts decisions as far as movie ratings and such.
As well the actual distribution rights for programming cause massive problems up here, with certain Canadian television stations having broadcast rights to certain programs, but not all of one American network’s programmes being the sole property of one Canadian station.
I may be incorrect on ome points above, but it at least may give some Americans an idea of just what we have to go through up here in the Great White North (well the Great Green North at the moment).
Wow! Lots of comments here. First off, let me say to “Frusterated & Disappointed”:
Try masturbation. Relieves the tension.
To all Americans, you may be fatter, er….I mean more horizontally challenged than us, but we still love you like brothers and sisters. Well, except for Steve Balmer. He’s just fatter.
As for Apple TV, for those of us that have EYE TV and record shows as well as have kids and make movies, Apple TV is stellar. And that isn’t taking into account listening to music on my home theatre stereo. Just brilliant. And it works. Too many dumb arse whiners are making stupid, inane, assinine comments and they don’t know what they are talking about. My friend tried to stream stuff from his PC to his tv wirelessly. Cost him $400. Couldn’t get it setup properly for 2 days. Doesn’t work with his WMP. Can’y play his MP3’s. Not compatible with his Windows Vista Media Centre Edition. Do you know what he did? Seriously. I was there. Picked up his PC and threw it out his apartment window 3 stories to the back alley. Almost hit an American sailor and two toothless hookers. We went out, he bought a MacBook Pro and an Apple TV. He was on the NET in less than 10 minutes out of the box. He had AppleTV running in the next 10 minutes. In the 21st minute I left when he started streaming his iPod porn onto his TV.
As for iTunes content, it simply is a major FU in Canada. Canadian broadcasters have bought exclusive distribution rights to distribute US tv shows in Canada. This means that until those rights expire, the US Networks and their Canadian offices cannot negotiate on the distribution of US tv shows in Canada. As for CBC, they are a government run outfit that moves slower than Steve Ballmer after an all you can eat doggie poo buffet.
As for Steve Jobs, he loves Canada. Been here many times. Loves the multiculturalism.
My only beef right now is the lack of an Apple Store in Vancouver.
Cheers, thank you, and goodnight.
(Canadians thank people more than Americans do.)
((We are also much cleaner.)
(((Our beer is real beer. Much stronger. Not like pee.)))
((((Our fast food supersized meals = small size in the US))))
33million plus 11million terrorists
Ahh…the intelligent comment. It was only a matter of time before someone made a terrorist remark. Sad to see how ignorant some people continue to be about their own national security problems.
Fact: all the killers of 9/11 entered the US through US customs and border checkpoints, some multiple times, before their final flight. Few (if any) entered from Canada, so don’t even think of blaming that one on us……
Not sure what this has to do with AppleTV, but anyways…..
Who cares if its available in Canada. Its a tiny market. Get this stuff available in Europe and more specifically the UK. We are the second goddamn biggest media market. Not to mention we have better broadband than anyone in the world. I pay bugger all for a 10 Mb connection.
Where is the European iTunes movie content?
33million plus 11million terrorists
You don’t have to worry. The Minutemen move north from the Mexican border to guard the Canada/U.S. border against the millions of illegals trying to get into the States to pay a million dollars each for hangnail surgery. The Minutemen leave as soon as it gets chilly in the fall, then return in the spring for coverage on Fox.
Gun control
Fifty percent of the illegal guns in Canada, and nearly all those used by inner-city gangs, are smuggled in from the U.S.
I just remember the tv and radio content that was available when I was in Banff (late 80’s). It was explained to me then about the content limits.
It has an effect on radio’s so-called Top 40, and was brought in years ago to prevent the labels doing to Canada what they are doing now with DRM to Americans. Payola and the throttling of Canadian talent to keep it.
In addition to the CBC, CTV, Global and all the independents, I watch CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, CNN and Fox.
TV reception in Banff during the 1980s had nothing to do with content limits and everything to do with getting paying to get the signals through the mountains.
“We export more influential talent to the US in terms of actors, musicians, scientists, than the other way around.”
Martin Short, is that you?
Marty, you old dog, you had me goin there for a minute.
Then I realized you meant that our talent has no desire to go to Canada, except for a vacation, or to end their careers.
How are things at home in California? Good? And the kids?
Give my love to Nancy(and roughly, like I used to!) Hah!
Holler next time you’re in Texas.
TWT
@TowerTone
“Martin Short, is that you?
Marty, you old dog, you had me goin there for a minute.”
LOL!
Man I am really starting to look forward to reading your posts! That was great. Still chuckling. Exactly what I was thinking.
As for the Canadians I have met, lovely people, laid back, and generally a kind of self-deprecating humor about their country. Was freakin’ cold when I was there, but otherwise I loved it.
AppleGuy
all in good fun.
I have no issues with our northern neighbors
and look forward to moving there as global warming warrants…….
For what it’s worth ther was a recent survery of Australian broadband users by ISPs that found that a whopping 40 percent used broadband to download xvid relevision shows. Illegal yes, commonplace, you bet. I do it my friends do it, my fellow teachers do it, my students do and everyone I know who knows a little bit about computers downloads these files.
Until Apple allows AppleTV to do this out of the box I’m sorry, it’s just useless for me. I might have to re-encode xvid files and then burn them onto to dvd but at least it works.
Similarly, I don’t think using downloaded xvid files is limited to Australia, it’s happening all over the world. Until Apple allows this option a lot of people won’t be interested in AppleTV. Yes, it’ll still sell alright but it won’t sell to it’s full potential.
It’s not Just Canada you idoits, what about the rest of the world?
AppleTV is only for the US market. Who need it outside? We have lot of boxes doing more than AppleTV can do!
So the problem here is apple is slow to give us Canadians video content on itunes. So how did this turn into morons crapping on each others country?
This is nobody’s fault but Apple. If they have a good reason why they can’t give us content then at least come out and say why or if ever we will get it, then I can make an informed decision on purchasing an AppleTV unit.
I like my imac, i’d rather it than a PC hands down, but Apple is still an evil company like all others. Apples main goal is profit.
It seems to me Job’s is only concerned if his wonderful services work in his back yard. Soon they’ll have to change their units to say “Works in California”.
In order to be able to use an TV, I would _have_ to purchase a new TV set. Apple does not manufacture TV sets. Is Apple in bed with Sony, or Samsung, or Philips, etc., or any of the other TV vendors? How about the FCC, which will _require_ me to purchase a new TV set, or a digital tuner accessory, by ’09?
Well, okay, right- I’m not _forced_ to watch TV….
“but Apple is still an evil company like all others. Apples main goal is profit. “
Oh now come on, Troy. Do you go to work for free? What you bring home is your “profit”.
Troy: “Apple is still an evil company like all others. Apples main goal is profit.”
ROTFLMAO!
Wow, looks like someone passed economics 101 – Apple, like most businesses main goal is profit. You know what, I have a problem with big businesses getting too big etc. But it all depends on what they do with that good profit. If it means we common folk get great innovative products that work, well that is just great. And hey, they made some money for themselves good for them! If you really want to talk about something that is evil, look at the banking/credit industry!
1) I hope to retire to Canada living and own a couple of acres on the North Channel.
2) The don’t celebrate the 4th of July, they have Dominion Day on the 1st if I remember. Together we have a big combined fireworks show in Detroit each year.
3) They do have universal health care, but thousands come here for care they cannot get in a timely fashion. And thousands of US go there to by drugs (the legal kind) because their court system doesn’t grant stupid awards to no reason and the prices are inflated.
4) The RCMP usually get their man and puts them in jail.
This is too funny! People really get upset don’t they?
Friends don’t let you smoke. Real friends smoke pot. Go Canada.
And the problem isn’t Apples you dufusses. It is CRTC/US Studios. Quit whining.
If I sleep with my Mac does that make me in bed with Apple too?
Networks license to Canadian stations because of Cancon. For them to broadcast in Canada (not just border crossover signals) they would have to follow CANCON rules which not only dictate how much Canadian content is played but the amount of Canadian ownership is in the network. Look at the partnerships Satellite radio had to set up to come into Canada. We make it too difficult for US Networks, it’s just easier for them to license them to Canadian stations.
Dictate Canadian content? That might mean something if “they” outlawed cable and satellite TV. As it is, I’ve yet to see Floyd Robertson and Earl Camembert broadcasting from Iraq on CNN.
“Canadian content” on CBS, NBC, ABC and PBS? Pul . . . eeeze.
Who Cares About Canada!
@ andrew:
I care. A lot of us care. Just as I would care if something wasn’t available in your country that was available elsewhere. You see we’re all partners, or we should be.
I also want to point out again, that some of us Canadians are wrong about what has been said in this thread….
Here is the problem:
The US networks sell the rights – ALL RIGHTS TO ALL MEDIUMS – to distribution – to the Canadian TV networks. That means that CBS, ABC, or any of the other networks CANNOT do side deals like the networks do in the US – say directly with Apple or another distributor.
So that gives the networks exclusive rights to distribute said content however they like, and if Apple wants a piece of that pie they will need to negotiate with the Canadian networks to do so.
That, my friends, would be far less profitable than selling the content directly. Herein lies the problem.
It has nothing, and I mean NOTHING to do with Canadian Content rules, and in the future, we’ll likely see such deals negotiated more wisely by the US networks, so that they can provide an additional revenue stream like they have in the US through iTunes.
If it’s not possible for Apple to come to terms on television shows, (which is really what I would love to have), surely they can negotiate some sort of movie deals so my Apple TV can play some “purchased” content for a change besides my music.
But, even without it, this device is so well thought out, so well designed, I just can’t say enough about it.
The thing that surprised, no, astonished me the most, was the resolution of photos. Hey, I only have a 6 megapixel camera, but the images revealed in HD are truly amazing.
A great device at any price. I love it.
Vive la America & Apple! Hope you’re all having a great weekend….
The world will be a much better place when all this Nationalist type behavior ends. Let’s just live and let live.
MW=human. as in the human race.
Vive la America & Apple!
Je pense que je vais vomir.
can you say RTFM…..
Clueless reporter.
“We export more influential talent to the US in terms of actors, musicians, scientists, than the other way around.”
Translation: Nobody with any talent or intelligence wants to stay in Canada.
It’s true what he says about AppleTV being expensive for what it is, anywhere but in the US. Here in the UK, we don’t have any movie or tv show downloads from iTunes, just short pixar movies. I’ll only buy an AppleTV when they bring those movies and shows to the UK iTunes store. I’m sure people in other countries other than the USA (Canada for example) will feel the same way I do.
Just my 2p.