skip to main |
skip to sidebar
[ The iPod Website www.apple.com/itunes ]
iPod is a brand of very popular portable media players launched by Apple in 2001. iPods are prim
arily digital audio players but have evolved to encompass many other different and useful everyday functions. iPods have essentially replaced Sony Walkmans and other portable CD/cassette players.
[ In Detail ]The iPods are aimed at the younger generation since that demographic is more likely 
to have a large digital music collection and is more active and mobile. The introduction of the iPod in 2001 had paved the way for portable digital media players and by the 9th April 2007, Apple announced that 1 million units had been sold worldwide. Apple is utilising the ever decreasing size of motherboards, hard drives, LCD screens, batteries and associated wiring that make up the insides of an iPod, and this allows them to make increasingly smaller units, letting the audience pick the size that fits their lifestyle best and as we know, smaller is better. iPods allow consumers to listen to music via the MP3, WAV, AAC, Apple Lossless and Audible 2,3 and 4 formats. H.264, MPEG-4 and MOV files are also supported for video, to watch TV shows, DVDs and home videos encoded with Quicktime Pro [ Quicktime ]. One can view photos in the formats JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG and PSD. One can create calendar dates, contacts sync, carry any other type of file on their iPod like an external hard drive, play games and integrate their player to their car stereo. This massive miniaturisation and portability is a great example of convergence and vertical integration, with a huge reach, it is flexible and allows the consumer to personalise their unit.
[ The Scrubs Podcast www.nbc.com/Scrubs/commentary ] Scrubs is an American sitcom set in teaching hospital Sacred Heart Hospital, created by Bill
Laurence and starring Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke and John McGinley. Each episode is around 23 minutes long, plus advert breaks making a half-hour show. Scrubs is shot with a single camera setup and is strange in terms of the fact that it doesn’t use a laughter track, although in a few episodes the directors have themed the premise of the episode, and sometimes changing the setup of the show, eg. one episode was featured in the style of a traditional sitcom in front of a live audience, and other few were in the style of musicals, featuring multiple camera setups. The podcast is available on iTunes and directly from the NBC website with near instant distribution, enabling a wide reach from the internet, and globalised distribution and proliferation due to the global broadcasting of the Scrubs series.
[ In Detail 
]
The podcast is narrowcasted at all Scrubs fans, and generally people who are interested in Scrubs and the production techniques involved behind the scenes. In essence it is replacing possibly an article, and possibly replaces, though does not derive from or outdate a special feature on a DVD. The podcast is set to run alongside the TV episodes, intended to be listened to in parallel, and the commentators, usually the directors and the actors, eg. Sarah Chalke [ Sarah Chalke ] or John McGinley [ John McGinley ] comment on the scenes and jokes as they progress on the episode and say how it was shot or what they thought, allowing a non-linear, interactive and personalised viewing experience. Most of the podcasts are of the main characters’ favourite episode, or just episodes that are out of the norm. The main reason why these podcasts are popular is because firstly that they are easy to use and obtain and can be used at the same time as the TV show, giving a well-illustrated set of accounts by the commentators as they can directly refer to the actions on the screen. It also allows the fans to get closer to the show and the production process, making them feel integrated. It is unstructured and completely improvised. These are possible because of good quality recording equipment and high-speed broadband. Due to the proliferation of TVs and internet enabled computers/portable media devices in the home, watching the episode and listening to the podcast at the same time is made easy and flexible.
The Scrubs podcast is a good example of nearly all of the key terms, from quality to reach to convenience and portability. .
Dave Lehre has been a true internet phenomenon. A college dropout who still lives wit
h his parents, he began his fledgling career with some highly entertaining and extremely popular videos, one of which is called “MySpace: The Movie” which parodied the social networking site, posted primarily onto his website and have made their way swiftly onto YouTube and various other similar sites. He and his self-founded production company Vendetta Studios now have a deal with Fox to produce his own untitled as of yet, late night half-hour show with a $300,000 budget for the pilot episode, self described as “an open-format sketch-variety show with music videos, short videos and comedy skits”. He has also made an appearance in recent parody “Epic Movie” as a look-alike for Ashton Kutcher. His main audience is anyone who is up for a good laugh and mostly, these tend to be the younger generation to late-20’s who are his main fans. He has built up quite a cult following, especially amongst the more technically minded audience, as his career was born from the internet.
[ In Detail ]
Straight from whence his career was born, he still utilises the internet to great extent, and especially both his own site and his MySpace page. They are used to raise awareness for his work and himself and also advertise subscriptions to his work, with plenty of direct hyperlinks [ hyperlink ] to iTunes, his Blog, his YouTube account and his own site. He embeds many of his videos and trailers on his page, and website, which makes it easier for new audience members to find 
his videos faster and more effortlessly.
Dave uses his blog to inform the fans of what he is doing and what he has scheduled in the coming weeks. He also posts up videos and pictures of things that may be interesting about him, such as his front-page appearance on MySpace or his TV appearances, or even his budding Vendetta Branded Clothing. Unfortunately, he isn’t able to post up the footage he has been filming, as the studio owns the rights, not himself, though he does try to post up as much as he can. This allows his fans to feel integrated and informed in what he is doing, increasing their loyalty and ‘fanship’. The fans can post their comments underneath the main post for him to read and he does read these and replies often. His blog contains an RSS feed to automatically inform his fans when he updates his blog.
His website and blog are good examples of a wide reach, good quality movies, democratisation and vertical integration.
arily digital audio players but have evolved to encompass many other different and useful everyday functions. iPods have essentially replaced Sony Walkmans and other portable CD/cassette players.
to have a large digital music collection and is more active and mobile. The introduction of the iPod in 2001 had paved the way for portable digital media players and by the 9th April 2007, Apple announced that 1 million units had been sold worldwide. Apple is utilising the ever decreasing size of motherboards, hard drives, LCD screens, batteries and associated wiring that make up the insides of an iPod, and this allows them to make increasingly smaller units, letting the audience pick the size that fits their lifestyle best and as we know, smaller is better. iPods allow consumers to listen to music via the MP3, WAV, AAC, Apple Lossless and Audible 2,3 and 4 formats. H.264, MPEG-4 and MOV files are also supported for video, to watch TV shows, DVDs and home videos encoded with Quicktime Pro [ Quicktime ]. One can view photos in the formats JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG and PSD. One can create calendar dates, contacts sync, carry any other type of file on their iPod like an external hard drive, play games and integrate their player to their car stereo. This massive miniaturisation and portability is a great example of convergence and vertical integration, with a huge reach, it is flexible and allows the consumer to personalise their unit.
