Hulu: almost as good as iTunes

I finally got into the Hulu Beta.

For those of you lucky enough NOT to know what Hulu is, it's NBCs attempt to show how they can do the TV thing better than Apple. Without a doubt it's different, but not better. Nor is this the first time competition has tried to side step apple's market. 99¢ a song is pretty tasty if you want a few songs. If you're going to download album after album it gets expensive very quickly. Alternatives showed up shortly after; subscriptions. 15 dollars a month for an ∞ number of songs is good enough for some people. It's worked for music, but what works for television?

Instead of $1.99 an episode, or even $15-30/month subscriptions, Hulu allows you to watch everything for free. By pointing your preferred browser [yes, can even use Safari or Firefox!] to www.hulu.com you can watch various television shows. Such freedom has a cost. Un-skippable ads, no downloading for later viewing. Nor can they played on any portable player.

Instead of bitching about why it sucks and will never work, I'm going to say I'm enjoying being able to watch shows whenever I want. Podcasts and Tivo have shown me a better way of consuming media. That NBC et al finally figured out how to please us is a good sign. Free is also a great price for shows you've never seen or paid much interest in before. Since getting my invite today I've began watching 30 Rock, back episodes of Family Guy and American Dad. With a zero cost of entrance, watching unknown shows is less intimidating than in iTunes at 2 bucks an episode.

Something better will come, undoubtedly. As good as watching on your computer may get it doesn't beat the real thing in the living room. Will the next step be taken by the television execs? Probably not. A simple to use hardware solution as seamless as turning on your TV, that costs less than current subscriptions might be able to break the TV barrier. What else it might take, I personally don't know. Will Apple release some new box? Maybe.

At least, I hope so.