Bittorrent Support for Video Podcasts
Newteevee posted this weekend about “5 Video Innovations We Would Love to See at Macworld Expo“. Obviously, with DRM on their music and video, I am not a big fan of Apple. But the best set-top device to get Internet video and digital music onto the TV is clearly the mac mini, and many people including myself use one for exactly that. We are waiting for 1) Miro to merge with Songbird 2) a 10-foot media center interface 3) and a nice hardware & remote combo. Until that happens, we will alternate between Miro and Front Row. Bittorrent support for podcasting (RSS) in iTunes would be a great transitional step. Here is how Newteevee explains the importance of merging these two technologies:
BitTorrent support for iTunes podcasts. Video podcasts are eating up more and more bandwidth, and podcasters don’t exactly have much money to spare in times like these. Adding a simple BitTorrent client to iTunes would go a long way towards guaranteeing that great shows will stay online even if corporate giants like AOL stop to sponsor podcasters with terabytes of free bandwidth. Apple could even limit the client to a company-run tracker to make sure that iTunes doesn’t become the latest toy of the Pirate Bay crowd. Likelihood of this going to happen: None. Never. Ever.
One media player already does this. Here is an example of how much money show creators can save when they distribute via torrent rss and encourage viewers to use Miro.