Tag: News
0 Disney’s exclusive deal with Netflix
Netflix has returned from another content hunt with massive bounty as the result of a huge bidding war. They have locked in an exclusive streaming contract with Disney for a large catalog of content, including movies from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, and Disneynature, according to CNN Money.
The catch? Netflix users won’t see a lot of this content until 2016, when Disney’s current agreement with Starz (a la Sony) expires.
This reads a lot like the deal between Netflix and Dreamworks to post their computer animated library by 2013. It’s also mirroring that deal, as Disney has already provided Netflix with some recognizable and notable content, including “Alice in Wonderland”, “Pocahontas” and “Dumbo”, to name a few.
The deal also includes many sequel-heavy series, like the “Air Bud” sequels, and the “Brave Little Toaster” sequels, but not their originals.
A big piece of this agreement is that it yanks a lot of future content out of the hands of premium cable TV channels like HBO, Showtime and Starz, as they lose access to new Disney/Marvel/Pixar content released after 2016 that would usually linger on their channels between each film’s exit from the theater, but before they hit DVD/Blu-ray. It also blocks streaming sites like Amazon Prime and Crackle from access to the content as well.
It’s nice to see Netflix experiencing success through this agreement (including a recent rise in the company’s stock), but there will still be the gaggles of nay-sayers uninterested in waiting four years for the overall payoff.
At the same time, there are speculators wondering how this will affect Disney’s recently acquired gold-mine of the Star Wars universe. Although LucasFilm was not listed among the content providers (as far as I have seen), the release of Episode 7 in 2015 may lay the groundwork for future negotiations and deals to continue to feed us desired content.
I am, personally, among those excited now, as two of my childhood Disney favorites, “The Great Mouse Detective” and “The Rescuers Down Under” are among the titles already available on Netflix. The fact that the voice talents of Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, John Candy, and Vincent Price are just a click away makes me wish I wasn’t at work so I could start a Disney binge right now.
Still, there are a number of additional Netflix releases to look forward to this month, as we’ve discussed on the show before, including “ParaNorman”, “Looper” and “The Campaign”. All three of these will be on Netflix around Christmas or New Years, according to movieinsider.com.
Looks like we have at least 1,121 days until we will reap the benefits of this deal, but we’ll keep an eye on things here in the Wheels Brewing Co Studio.
0 Soundtrack your life with Songza
Originally, the article was going to include a sub-title: “Why don’t you have Songza yet?”, because, really, why don’t you have Songza yet?
During a conversation in Episode 62, Matt Walstead mentioned that he was using Songza (www.songza.com) as one of his recent primary streaming services, and based on his description, I decided to investigate.
I had mentioned Songza on the show before, from a news story long past (most likely a launch story, or something of the like), but I had never played around with the iPhone app or the web site.
It’s AMAZING. It’s what a song discovery service SHOULD be. It’s the contextualizing of music into the rest of your life, based on “Playlists by Music Experts”, as the site claims, and, honestly, they are not giving the playlist generators enough credit.
For example, there are SEVEN different ways you access these playlists, including lists based on Genre, Activities, Moods, Decades, and Culture. After messing around with this app, I’ve determined my favorite playlist group is aptly named Record-Store Clerk, as its suggestions of playlist sub-groups include “Dance Music That’s Not Assaultive”, “Indie Music That’s Not Too Weird”, “Mustache Music (Or: Cool In The ’70s)”, and “This Will Piss Your Parents Off”. It really is that organization of music that you expect to find in the hipper realms of metropolitan areas, in the mostly deserted record shop where the staff knows exactly what you’re looking for, based on the two notes stuck in your head.
ON TOP OF THAT, there’s MORE. I know what you’re thinking: “But Dan, there are TOO many features already. This is too good to be true.” And you would be wrong, generic infomercial seeded audience member. For there’s the Concierge service. Based on time of day, with a dash of societal paradigms, the Concierge service will suggest genres FOR you. For example, I am writing this on a Friday night, and the Concierge is offering me the following options: “Bedtime”, “A Sweaty Dance Party”, “Pre-Gaming with Friends”, “Putting on Your Party Dress”, “Creating a Cool Atmosphere”, and “Unwinding”. Seeing as I already have my Party Dress on, in a manner of speaking, I went with the Cool Atmosphere one, and, as a result, it is narrowing down the tunes I should listen to into ANOTHER six categories, this time based on genre.
I spent the work day today bombing through the multitudes of dubstep available, to give it an honest chance, and I was really impressed by the volumes of music available in these playlists. But that’s the catch that I’ve mentioned a number of times: it’s a pre-set collection of playlists. You don’t experience the flexibility of Pandora’s lists, or the “control EXACTLY what you want to hear” of Spotify, but when used properly, it fits comfortably into most situations.
Like most streaming music sites these days, there is a social media aspect included, where everyone on Facebook knows you’re listening to the “Cry Yourself to Sleep” playlist, unless you disable the feature. It isn’t as invasive as Spotify’s “POST EVERY TRACK” setting, but it’s also not a feature I’d actively seek out.
There are also a few extra clock-related features, where you can set a specific playlist to start playing as an alarm at a certain time, and the ability to play music while displaying the app’s built in clock, but they aren’t anything to write home about. I imagine you could go through the Concierge service (which you can also set different days of the weeks, and times of day, kind of like looking at future traffic on Google Maps) and set certain appropriate playlists to pop up when you expect to be commuting to work, or doing housework, or what have you.
Right. So it’s great, right? Now let’s get down to brass tack. It’s available for iPhone, Android, Kindle, and computers for free (with clickable, but not audible, ads). So far, I’ve played with the iPhone app and the web site, and the user interface is nice. Not too complicated to navigate; not to noisy to sift through. “Nice” is really the most appropriate word for it. It also has the Pandora “You’ve Skipped Too Many Tracks For Now, But If You Switch Over To Another Playlist, You Can Keep Skipping” license restrictions, but with the number of playlists available, this shouldn’t hold you back.
I don’t think it’ll replace my iCloud use, or the occasional Spotify use, but I do think this may replace Pandora in my eyes, at least until I exhaust the playlists I am actually interested in hearing. I say it’s worth checking out to see how well the Concierge matches your moods, and to laugh at some of the playlists and categories. It’s not like it’ll cost you anything. I’m with the folks on the Apple App Store: 5 Stars for this one.
0 Episode 62 – 11/27/12 feat. Peter Jurgensen & Matt Walstead
Peter and Matt join Dan and Adam in the studio to chat about what they’re watching, what they’re listening to, and how movies are tougher to watch than TV shows when streaming. That, and they also play a great round of Movie Bluff.
Taped at The Wheels Brewing Co Studio, Minneapolis, MN on November 27, 2012.
Check out photos and this week’s bonus tracks by clicking here.
Click here to listen: Episode 62
0 Episode 61 – 11/21/12 feat. Curtis James & Drew James
Curtis and Drew join Dan and Adam in the Wheels Brewing Co Studio for one of the best rounds of Movie Bluff that’s been played so far. They also talk about what’s coming to Netflix in the next month, and getting caught up in TV shows.
Taped at The Wheels Brewing Co Studio, Minneapolis, MN on November 21, 2012.
Check out photos and this week’s bonus tracks by clicking here.
Click here to listen: Episode 61
0 Episode 60 – 11/13/12 feat. Katie Best & Maianne Preble
Katie and Maianne join Dan and Adam in the Wheels Brewing Co Studio for a goofy, fun, light-hearted episode after surviving election season. There’s talk of streaming services and media, e-books, radio, and more. They also play a round of “Movie Bluff”.
Taped at The Wheels Brewing Co Studio, Minneapolis, MN on November 13, 2012.
Check out photos and this week’s bonus tracks by clicking here.
Click here to listen: Episode 60 – 111312
0 Episode 59 – 11/06/12 feat. Caity Shea Robertson & Dave Wheeler
Dave and Producer Caity join Dan and Adam in the Wheels Brewing Co Studio on ELECTION NIGHT! And it’s also 99% election coverage free! Everyone chats about what they’ve been viewing, or listening to, recently, plus a bit of news. There’s a little bit of everything in this one, as Dave, Caity, Adam and Dan are no strangers to riffing from conversation to conversation. Plus, we play Movie Bluff!
Taped at The Wheels Brewing Co Studio, Minneapolis, MN on November 6, 2012.
Check out photos and this week’s bonus tracks by clicking here.
Click here to listen: Episode 59
0 Episode 3 – 09/27/11 feat. Steve Frankenfield, Alex Johnson & Dave Wheeler
Guests Steve Frankenfield, Alex Johnson and Dave Wheeler join Dan to discuss accessing Streaming Media and news.
Taped at the Frank Oz Memorial Studio, Minneapolis, MN on Sept. 27, 2011. http://bufferingpodcast.com
0 Episode 2 – 09/20/11 feat. Gina Dolski & Emily Dyess
Guests Gina Dolski and Emily Dyess join Dan and Adam to discuss the Netflix/Qwikster debacle and Streaming Media news.
Taped at the Frank Oz Memorial Studio, Minneapolis, MN on Sept. 20, 2011. http://bufferingpodcast.com
0 Episode 1 – 09/13/11 feat. Alex Johnson & Dave Wheeler
Guests Alex Johnson and Dave Wheeler join Dan and Adam in the inaugural episode to discuss which Streaming Media web sites they favor and news.
Taped at the Frank Oz Memorial Studio, Minneapolis, MN on Sept. 13, 2011. http://bufferingpodcast.com
The Buffering Podcast 