Crackle from Sony: Free TV and Movies for iOS

I learned of something really cool today. Sony had an app approved by Apple called Crackle, which provides ad supported TV and movies to iOS devices.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog says it works on both Wi-fi and 3G.

After I got home and had dinner, I downloaded the app and installed it on my iPad. I think I’m going to like it. I haven’t watched anything yet, but I scrolled through the content. It has classic shows like Seinfeld, and classic movies like The Toy, Ghostbusters, and more modern movies like The DaVinci Code. It has all three Spiderman movies (I haven’t seen the 3rd). It has both Starship Troopers. I haven’t seen the second yet and I enjoy the first one for some strange reason.

Looks like this will keep me occupied on weekends when I can’t make it home.

This is something I’m really happy to see. I can’t completely understand various content providers’ philosophy of how you can or should watch their content. Every show is different. You can go to Fox.com and watch every single Kitchen Nightmares ever aired right there on the website. Episodes are available almost immediately after airing, and don’t seem to expire. Hell’s Kitchen is available shortly after airing, but those episodes expire after 60 days. Fox can’t stream new episodes of House for 8 days after airing.

I was a little ticked off this past year when I found the producers of V wouldn’t allow ABC streaming rights. I’m trying to figure out why. I searched online and could not find a reason, so I was forced to invent one: they’re jerks.

Some providers seem proud to let you watch their content. Others are almost psychotically afraid of letting you see it anywhere BUT the brief window of space-time when it airs on TV.

I don’t get it.

I’ve gotten spoiled the last few years. Thanks to YouTube, Hulu, South Park Studios, and the DVR, my TV watching has become untethered from time and space. I like the fact that I can come home from work and watch a show at 6 PM, rather than having to stay up until 11 to watch it. I like that I can watch 2 or 3 episodes in a row if I want to.

I applaud Sony for releasing Crackle. I hope other content producers follow. I don’t mind advertising. I know TV shows and movies don’t make themselves, and I don’t mind advertising so much, although it needs to be targeted better. You’re wasting both your time and mine by forcing me to sit through a feminine hygiene commercial or a skin cream commercial. I’ve called Geico; I can’t save anything if I switch. It would cost me more. Geico commercials are a waste of my time. Political commercials are definitely a waste of my time. They’re retarded anyway.