Itunes Cloud Purchases aren't all cracked up to be

As an avid media watcher I have begun to move my life away from the physical mediums to the digital. This has been for two reasons, the first I have no room in my flat, the second being future proof.

Now being an Apple fanboy I started getting a few video's via apples great 12 days of christmas. Then I brought an Apple TV and it changed my life, less and less I use my DVD player for TV shows and even Movies.

So to start with I replaced Video's for an SD download copy, I occasionally buy HD versions but just don't want to pay the extra money when I can get two films for the same price. So my collection has been building slowly occasionally I've invested in bundles, again great ways to get lots of films on the cheap.

They all play better than DVD's, though I do miss the extras of DVD's that AppleTv can't emulate.  That's fine though, as my collection is growing brilliantly and my VHS collection is slowly decreasing,  my flat space is increasing.

Now my computer is creaking under the amount of video's on my hard drive. I was going to get an expensive hard drive but I thought why bother when iCloud backs up these purchases. It means I could delete a large part of my library and only keep personal videos/DVD rips that apple don't back up (unfortunately). I could continue accessing them via Apple TV right?

Wrong as I was going  through some of the videos when I noticed some had disappeared. Speaking with Apple support they said the content owners can remove these at any time. After much discussion with apple and content owners. Turns out little that can be doen if they get removed you won't get them back.

So currently I discovered I have lost from the cloud: Bourne Identity (though this has returned), Bourne Supremacy, ICe Age 2: The Meltdown, ER Pilot episode. That's a lot of media to loose, so I'm now backing up and saving for that server.

Luckily for me I'd backed these up but iCloud has a long way to go before I can fully trust it with my Media and Data which is a shame as the concept is great but execution is mediocre.

Though I can't fully blame Apple I have to blame the Media Studio's, they are build on a very poor business model, the media rights are all over the place.

I believe the Movie/TV industry need an PRS like the music industry does, to allow them to release videos quickly and globally. Too many rights over territories means a film can be brought in US but not in UK as the rights holders can't release it.  It means things can be released from archive quicker and piracy is lessened as people more likely download what they can't get.

It's time for Apple and the Content owners sit around a table together and push towards iTunes Match for Video. UltraViolet is the Movies Studio answer but Apple have a more reliable system. I want to go to my online locker to get my backup not pay for a expensive backup server.
 

Uk politics in the Media

I'm normally immersed in a world of news and tech, and surprisingly sometimes despite this I do miss the big stories of the day but the one I can't miss is the upcoming UK election. I make my political views known. I say things like, "if you don't vote you have no right to complain about anything you don't agree with the govenment is involved in".

So why am I writing politics now and why is it a big deal? The truth is the biggest shake up in political history is happening right now and the media is at the center of it all.

In the past the papers would decide which party they were backing, the sun for example supported conservative for years until it decided Tony Blair and Labor was the horse to back and supported them, and now they are trying to back conservative once again, with the hopes of persuading the voters once again.

Now for the first time ever, the three main parties have done three live TV debates, a surprise when you consider this is the norm in America. The main reason is a loss of voters, the UK has seen voters, especially the young deserting the polls.  Another reason is it's the first time that no party was clearly going to win from the beginning.The reason it hasn't happened before the party in power was certain to win  and those out of power knew it.

So with these debates now all over what can we learn? The media has really opened up democracy in the uk. The debates have given platforms for the parties and we have seen big changes in the way people want to vote. The press coverage has increased in a way I've not known and the reaction from the debates has started bringing politics into daily conversation like an Eastenders storyline.

These debates and politics in the media still need to be improved, as you can tell there's lots that has gone wrong over this debate. That could actually be a good thing, with little spin just the person laid bare has it's advantages, but on the other hand we like things to run smoothly. I'm hoping that this is the start of an ever evolving politics in the UK, too long we have stuck with the safe but flawed system. Democracy should develop with its citizens and for the first time in a while we are seeing another shake up to bring democracy into relevance of today.

I guess the only way we will tell if these changes are going to work is by the results on election night. I for one hope it's just the first step on the long road and step they'll step away from.

Media and Employment

So it's been a while since my first post, mostly as I've been swamped but also that I've been on a little vacation with some old school chums. 

Before I even went away I started thinking about what I wanted to blogg about and I've got a little list of things to write about but today I've sat reading a newspaper, I know its old fashioned but there is something still compelling about a good written article.

Within the first few pages there were the UK's current unemployment figures, tallies on types of unemployment and benefits. This got thinking back to my time unemployed straight out of Uni and my struggle finding work, fast forward and though employed I still have the same problems looking for work as I did back then.

Let's look at the problems:

1. You need training for well paid jobs.
2. If you have qualifications the job centre would rather put you in any job short term than find you a viable long term job. 
3. You don't get proper help with job hunting unless your unemployed for three months, by which point those employing see you as unemployable.
4. You can loose benefits within six weeks if you don't work the system, yet you can't look for jobs without spending money.
5. Too many places to look as no employer can target more than one employment database.
6. Every one wants CV information but not necessary in CV form.
7. Fill out an electronic application form or a site for applying that doesn't work in the way its supposed to. Making it even more difficult to fill out professionally unless you have an IT degree.
8. Showing your skills on paper for a job you could easily do doesn't work as well as you doing a trial for the job. I know so may people who lost out due to interviews where the ones who got the job we're crap actually doing the job.
9. Your told to apply for ten jobs a day as for every ten jobs you apply for you get one interview, for every ten interviews you get a job offer, but it takes at least a day, possibly more to fill out a good job application.

All of this is even before you get a interview.

I myself have a website, CV, online profiles on site like LinkedIn, many subscriptions to job site, logins to company job site. In fact so many I can't keep track and i always rediscover ones I've signed up to in the past.

So in a world where media and online can get you any information is it so dam hard to apply for a job.

My very first job I walked into the shop in a tracksuit and got the job, the next one I was recommended by a neighbor, the one after that I covered sick leave and they created a job for me.

Is it me or is it crazy that the Job Center doesn't list jobs from every site or at least help those with the skills find the jobs, even crazier there isn't a computer standard, like there is for creating calendars, for job applications that will fill in all the CV info and just leave you to the important questions about the job.

Media should be making job hunting easier but its the opposite as employers spy via facebook and put up pdf applications that you have to print off, but still put an email address on the application. The employers should be finding me not the other way round.

I don't care if someone had an affair it doesn't stop them doing their job unless they are a marriage councilor, so why spy on people via facebook, it doesn't show how professional they are. If you give me an email address for a job application I expect it to be easy to fill out that application, not take me a couple of days to fill it out, just for you to throw it away without giving me an interview. Come on job descriptions are crap anyway, no one does what's in their job description. They always do more or they have had it so long they do a different job completely. 

I know I'm moaning but I want to pose one last question before my next blogg.

How is it I can travel away with friends, half way round the would, and I'm able to get some paperwork emailed to me and printed off for my friends from one sixty second phone call, but it takes me days to fill out job applications with the same information that's on my CV and a dozen other job sites?