“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.