1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,119 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,079 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and I love all things tech and 5 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: ages ago in the Dark Times, our listener Susannah asked 6 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: if I might do an episode about streaming hardware. And 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: I got all excited because I was ready to talk 8 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,600 Speaker 1: about fishing bowls and wading boots and nets and stuff. 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:39,559 Speaker 1: And then then she explained that she meant streaming media hardware, 10 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: and specifically, she wanted to learn more about the various 11 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: devices you can purchase to stream Internet content to a television, 12 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: like a Roku or an Amazon fire stick, that kind 13 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: of stuff. And you know, these days, there are tons 14 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: of different options you could choose from if you wanted 15 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: to do that. Plus there are plenty of televisions that 16 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,080 Speaker 1: have at least some of those capabilities built in to 17 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: them natively. But in this episode, we're going to do 18 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,960 Speaker 1: a rundown on the history of the trend and how 19 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,760 Speaker 1: those various devices work from kind of a high level. Plus, 20 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: what if anything really differentiates one device from another? Well, 21 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: to understand these devices it's actually a good idea for 22 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,319 Speaker 1: us to step back a bit and talk about streaming 23 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: media in general. And that actually means that you guys 24 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: got to step into the elevator with me. So come 25 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: on in, let's playing room, guys, come on, just you know, 26 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:35,320 Speaker 1: cramming here. Okay, Now that we're all in the elevator, 27 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: we know a couple of things. First, that darn closed 28 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: door button is just total garbage, is not connected to anything. 29 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: But we also know that our ears will now be 30 00:01:46,200 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: treated to some lovely instrumental music. Listen. Soothing, isn't it? 31 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,799 Speaker 1: And you've likely heard this symphonic masterpiece referred to as 32 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:14,839 Speaker 1: Musaic mu z a K. Well, that's a trademark name, 33 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: and it's possible because of a guy named George Owen 34 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: Squire way back in the nineteen tents. See, Georgie was 35 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: a heck of a guy. He attained the rank of 36 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: major general in the U. S. Military. He had a 37 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. So this dude was both 38 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: super smart and he believed in serving his country, which, 39 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: you know, Wow, hats off to you, Major General Squire anyway, 40 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: not content with you know, just being a decorated soldier 41 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: and holding a PhD. He was also an inventor. In 42 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: nineteen eleven, Squire was looking into a method of delivering audio, 43 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: both in the form of music and in speech, over 44 00:02:55,560 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: electrical wires, and he called it wired radio, meaning instead 45 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,640 Speaker 1: of broadcasting signals using an antenna, he could deliver audio 46 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: over physical electrical cables. Now, this was before the days 47 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: of consumer radio, and very few people had the equipment 48 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: or know how to use a radio at all, so 49 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: Squire saw this as a way to deliver audio to 50 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: the home without the need for all that equipment and knowledge. 51 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: Now that brief explanation makes it sound a lot like 52 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,519 Speaker 1: the telephone, which had already been invented, but Squire made 53 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: some significant contributions to this technology. In nineteen eleven, he 54 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: patented a way to transmit high frequency signals across wires 55 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: that were intended for lower frequency transmission. The patent has 56 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: the name quote multiplex Telephony and Telegraphy end quote. Now 57 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: what this meant in practical terms is that Squire had 58 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: found a way to transmit quote a plurality of telephonic 59 00:03:55,720 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: and telegraphic messages over a single telephone circuit end quote, 60 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: So one circuit could serve as a conduit for multiple 61 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: transmissions simultaneously, and this was done by encoding the audio 62 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: signals using different frequencies. So for signal one, you would 63 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,040 Speaker 1: have one band of frequencies, for signal two you would 64 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: have a different band of frequencies, and because you had 65 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: these different bands, you could easily differentiate between different signals. 66 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: You would need an encoding device on one end and 67 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: a decoding device on the other end in order to 68 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: send and receive the proper signals, but the circuits wouldn't 69 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: have to do anything special at all. The circuits would 70 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: just be the pathway. You didn't have to do anything 71 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,600 Speaker 1: special to them, so in many ways this wasn't that 72 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: different from actual radio broadcasts. A receiver is capable of 73 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:53,920 Speaker 1: picking up a wide range of radio frequencies. Using a tuner, 74 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,479 Speaker 1: you can select one frequency, or in actuality, it's a 75 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: narrow band of frequencies around a key frequency. Then you 76 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: can pick up a single radio signal, and really it's 77 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: more like you're tuning out all the signals that are 78 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: not the one you are interested in, right. It's like 79 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: it's like making sure that you're ignoring all the noise 80 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: so that you get the signal. So, to use an analogy, 81 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: it's like if you went to a party where there 82 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,359 Speaker 1: are a lot of people talking all at once, but 83 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: you're focusing on one specific person to hear what they're saying, 84 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: and as a result, you're focusing on them and you're 85 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: ignoring everyone else. Well, Squire did the same thing for 86 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: transmissions across an electrical wire. He was just using it 87 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:40,839 Speaker 1: with technology as opposed to your focus. Squire donated his 88 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 1: patents to the American public because I mean, come on, 89 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: this guy, folks, this guy anyway, by the nineteen twenties, 90 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: he was looking to use his technology to send music 91 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: to speakers directly. He was taken by the name Kodak. 92 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: He thought that sounded really good and thought something similar 93 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,039 Speaker 1: would serve as a good name for this service that 94 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:07,159 Speaker 1: would deliver music to customers, and thus he chose Muzak. Now, 95 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: it took several years for the Musaic company to get 96 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: to the point where it could actually deliver music to 97 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: customers over electrical wires. Sadly, Major General Squire would pass 98 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: away before that day came. Meanwhile, radio had matured and 99 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: companies like our Cia had created consumer radio sets, which 100 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,479 Speaker 1: meant there wasn't much point targeting the general public with 101 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: this service because radio was already doing it, but it 102 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,599 Speaker 1: did still make sense to offer it to businesses and restaurants, 103 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: you know, places that might not be able to pick 104 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,279 Speaker 1: up a radio signal easily, but these are places that 105 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: still maybe wanted to make use of music to improve 106 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:50,120 Speaker 1: the ambiance of the environment. And thus we got elevator 107 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: music and an early concept in streaming media. Now we're 108 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: gonna skip ahead to nineteen seventy two, so several dec 109 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:01,360 Speaker 1: aids at this point. We can all get out of 110 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,600 Speaker 1: the elevator now, by the way, So in nineteen seventy two, 111 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 1: there was a computer scientist an electrical engineer named Nasir 112 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: Ahmed who invented a process called discrete cosign transform or 113 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: d c T. Now that probably sounds really technical, and 114 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,240 Speaker 1: it is, but if we want to be super general 115 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: about it to kind of understand what was going on, 116 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: we can say that this is a method of representing something, 117 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: representing an image, for example, or an audio file, and 118 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: you represent it as the sum of various waves that 119 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: represent different magnitudes and frequencies, so you're mathematically describing something. 120 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: Now that representation has the benefit of taking up much 121 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: less data than the thing itself would if you were 122 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,640 Speaker 1: to encode it directly. Now, if I were to use 123 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: a very general analogy, I would say that we would 124 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: imagine there's an artist who has created a painting on 125 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:03,560 Speaker 1: an a norm canvas, and it would be difficult, would 126 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: be a hassle, and it would be expensive to ship 127 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 1: this painted canvas because it's just big and bulky, and 128 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 1: it would be delicate, so it'd be hard to do. 129 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: So Instead, a messenger of some artistic ability shows up 130 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: and studies this painting and writes down a careful description 131 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: of that painting, everything from what the painting is, of 132 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: the types of materials used in the painting, the colors, everything. 133 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: They bring that description then to a destination. At the destination, 134 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: another artist takes that description to recreate the original painting, 135 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,679 Speaker 1: and it probably won't be a perfect representation of the original. 136 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 1: And in fact, compression technologies that rely on d c 137 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: T tend to be lossy formats. That means you lose 138 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: some data in the process of compression and decompression. So 139 00:08:55,440 --> 00:09:00,080 Speaker 1: I think this tracks anyway. D c T was an 140 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,559 Speaker 1: important factor in finding a way to compress a file 141 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 1: down to a more manageable size, and that's the underlying 142 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 1: technology that would make streaming possible in the early days 143 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: of the Internet. Okay, well skip ahead again another twenty 144 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: years or so. It's time to talk about a former 145 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:22,480 Speaker 1: Microsoft executive named Rob Glazer who formed a new company 146 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: in nine called Progressive Networks. Glazier had made a fortune 147 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: over at Microsoft. He was part of Microsoft as it 148 00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: experienced explosive growth, and he rose in the ranks while 149 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: he was there, and he became a wealthy man because 150 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:43,840 Speaker 1: of it. He also possesses very strong liberal views. He 151 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: grew up with a very strong liberal point of view. 152 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: So his original intent with Progressive Networks was to create 153 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:54,359 Speaker 1: a media company that could spread progressive messaging and advocate 154 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: for progressive political policies. His team began developing technologies that 155 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: would allow of this mission, and that included a downloadable 156 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: media player that could act as a sort of plug 157 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:07,679 Speaker 1: in for a web browser. And as it turned out, 158 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 1: when they would talk to investors, the investors were way 159 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: more interested in the underlying technology of the company than 160 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 1: the message that Glasier was hoping to spread. Now, keep 161 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: in mind that in n the web itself was a 162 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:25,880 Speaker 1: pretty new thing. The very first web page was created 163 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: in August nine, so the Web had not been around 164 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,559 Speaker 1: for very long at all. The World Wide Web was growing, 165 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 1: but it was extremely primitive compared to what we have today. 166 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: It also wasn't able to support rich dynamic material natively. 167 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,200 Speaker 1: This is why a plug in would be needed, because 168 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:51,680 Speaker 1: the HTTP protocol couldn't support streaming on its own. Those 169 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:54,520 Speaker 1: were the days when browsing the Internet meant you had 170 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:57,440 Speaker 1: to download half a dozen different plugins if you wanted 171 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: to experience everything that was being created, and simultaneously, you 172 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:05,080 Speaker 1: would be opening up potential security vulnerabilities on your computer 173 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 1: because you had to download all these other things to 174 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: make that connectivity possible and that that dynamic material possible. Anyway, 175 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: back to streaming, Progressive Networks created a suite of technologies 176 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 1: that collectively we're called real Audio all one word big 177 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:27,840 Speaker 1: are big A. This included a proprietary streaming format and 178 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: a plug in player, and the concept was great because 179 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 1: it would allow you to listen to an audio file 180 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,680 Speaker 1: while you were in the process of downloading that file, 181 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:38,800 Speaker 1: so you didn't have to wait for the full file 182 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: to download before you could start to listen. Sort of 183 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,560 Speaker 1: similar to how images used to load in browsers, because 184 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,319 Speaker 1: in the good old days, downloading an image meant you 185 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:50,680 Speaker 1: would watch as line by line of pixels appeared on 186 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:53,440 Speaker 1: your screen until you got the finished picture. Well, this 187 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,920 Speaker 1: was similar, except you were hearing audio that was recorded 188 00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: at a low bit rate, so it wasn't super high 189 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: quality do that was a limitation of the technology at 190 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:04,920 Speaker 1: the time, and you could listen to it while that 191 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 1: audio file was downloading to your machine. It was sort 192 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:11,560 Speaker 1: of like laying down railroad tracks while there's a train 193 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 1: slowly catching up to you from behind. Blazer's team recognized 194 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: that this approach would let you do more than just 195 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: listen to, say, a music file as you downloaded it. 196 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: It would also let you stream audio from a broadcast 197 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: source across the Internet so that people could listen in live. 198 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: It was like a live radio broadcast, but using the 199 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: Internet to carry the signal rather than the airwaves. So 200 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: really you could think of this as the next step 201 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: after using those electrical wires to carry multiple audio signals 202 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 1: like music did so. On September five, Progressive Networks partnered 203 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: with ESPN Sports Zone and they transmitted a baseball game. 204 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: It was the Seattle Mariners versus the New York Yankees, 205 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: and for the first time, anyone interested in the game 206 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 1: who happened to be subscriber to ESPN Sports Zone and 207 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: have a computer enabled with sound and an Internet connection, 208 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: and this player could listen in on this audio transmission 209 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: on this real audio platform. It was a good game 210 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,400 Speaker 1: to the Mariners led six to one at the top 211 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 1: of the sixth and then the Yankees managed to score 212 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 1: four more runs, so the final game score was six 213 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:25,559 Speaker 1: five Mariners, which is not a bad debut for streaming audio, 214 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:28,560 Speaker 1: might have been a tough blow to Yankees fans. It 215 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: was a big pr success for Glazier's company, not to 216 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: mention for Glazier himself, since he was part owner of 217 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:39,000 Speaker 1: the Mariners. However, the actual reach of this broadcast was 218 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,079 Speaker 1: pretty modest. Only a few hundred people had the ability 219 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: to receive the streaming audio because they met all the 220 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:48,240 Speaker 1: criteria that were required in order to do so. But 221 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: it marked the beginning of an era. That being said, 222 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:55,640 Speaker 1: it wasn't exactly off to the races for streaming media. 223 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: Glazier's team had created the first platform capable of play 224 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,920 Speaker 1: being live streamed audio on the Internet, but there wasn't 225 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: exactly an overabundance of opportunities to use that capability. The 226 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 1: Internet in general and the Web in particular, we're still 227 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:16,080 Speaker 1: pretty young, at least for the public use of those utilities. Moreover, 228 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: connectivity speeds weren't exactly at broadband levels. The vast majority 229 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: of Internet users in the United States were relying on 230 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: dial up modems that had hefty limitations on download speeds, 231 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: so it would take time for communications companies to develop 232 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: and roll out broadband connectivity. Heck, you know, we're still 233 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: seeing pretty slow rollout in some communities in the United States, 234 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:42,640 Speaker 1: but that's a discussion for another day. Progressive Networks struck 235 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 1: up a deal in with Microsoft, and this agreement meant 236 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 1: that Microsoft would include a distribution of the Real Audio 237 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:54,840 Speaker 1: player with Internet Explorer, and that gave Progressive Networks a 238 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:59,280 Speaker 1: huge boost in adoption. Meanwhile, the company was hard at 239 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,720 Speaker 1: work to create Real Video, which was essentially for streaming 240 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 1: video what Real Audio was for streaming audio. Real Video 241 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 1: would debut in around that same time. Bill Gates over 242 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: at Microsoft was beginning to think he made an error 243 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:17,680 Speaker 1: in helping out Progressive Networks. Gates saw that streaming media 244 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:21,000 Speaker 1: had the potential to be much bigger than it had 245 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: been in it was mostly viewed as a curiosity then, 246 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: and he felt that Microsoft really needed to own a 247 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:31,560 Speaker 1: piece of that business, or being Microsoft, he probably felt 248 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: that it needed to own all of it. Initially, Microsoft 249 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: entered the industry by purchasing a competing streaming media company, 250 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 1: but then Glazer met with Gates and the two hashed 251 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 1: out a licensing deal that would embed real audio and 252 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 1: real video technology in Microsoft's Windows Media Player platform. Progressive 253 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,880 Speaker 1: Networks would then change its name to Real Networks and 254 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: it would continue to butt heads against Microsoft, but that's 255 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: outside the realm of our focus for this episode. Now, 256 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: before I go on, let's take a quick break to 257 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 1: thank our sponsor. Hiring the right person takes time, time 258 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: that you often don't have. Urgency can be your enemy 259 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,680 Speaker 1: when it comes to finding candidates that are truly meant 260 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,880 Speaker 1: for your business. That's why LinkedIn is the best place 261 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: to post your job. With LinkedIn, you can find the 262 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: right person quickly and easily. 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That's 269 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: how linked In make sure your job post is seen 270 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 1: by the people you want to hire, people with the skills, qualifications, 271 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: and other interests that will help your business grow. It's 272 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: no wonder a person is hired every eight seconds with LinkedIn, 273 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: and why companies rated LinkedIn jobs the number one hiring 274 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,159 Speaker 1: platform for delivering quality hires. Find the right person for 275 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,840 Speaker 1: your business today. With LinkedIn jobs, you can pay what 276 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:14,959 Speaker 1: you want and get the first fifty dollars off. Just 277 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:20,160 Speaker 1: visit LinkedIn dot com slash tech pod again, that's LinkedIn 278 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: dot com slash tech pod to get fifty dollars off 279 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 1: your first job post. Terms and conditions apply. All right, 280 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,359 Speaker 1: let's get back to streaming media. Back in the nineteen nineties, 281 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:35,160 Speaker 1: no one was really sure how the streaming media thing 282 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:37,600 Speaker 1: was going to play out. There was a real sense 283 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: that there would be some big battles brewing between the 284 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,680 Speaker 1: entrenched old media, that being radio and television and this 285 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 1: upstart new media enabled by the Internet. There's a piece 286 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 1: and Wired titled Real Revolution, which obviously is largely about 287 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: progressive network slash real networks Rise, and it has a 288 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 1: very prescient vision of what would eventually turn into reality 289 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: in the form of sites like YouTube. Now I'm gonna 290 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:09,719 Speaker 1: quote Robert Ride's article because it's really interesting how on 291 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,919 Speaker 1: target he was, though it was about a decade early. 292 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 1: Ryan was talking about the possibilities that open up once 293 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: technology allows for the transmission of video so that you 294 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: can view it in a full sized window on a 295 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: computer screen. And here's what he says him quote all 296 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,919 Speaker 1: this could wreak havoc with the competitive dynamics of the 297 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,959 Speaker 1: TV industry, opening millions of living rooms to any hyperactive 298 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:40,480 Speaker 1: kid with a video camera, a computer and a phone line, 299 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 1: which may soon mean most kids in America. Or it 300 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: could give the likes of Murdoch and Ted Turner and 301 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: eight Lane Highway into the heartland of the traditionally democratized, 302 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 1: decentralized net or maybe do both end quote and you 303 00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: know what, bingo, he hit the nail on the head there, 304 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 1: because that's exactly what we've seen. YouTube created the opportunity 305 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:07,639 Speaker 1: for regular folks to upload videos for the world to 306 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 1: see and later to stream live video to the world 307 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:14,879 Speaker 1: as well. Bigger media companies, the traditional ones, would also 308 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,920 Speaker 1: take advantage of tech to offer streaming services from established 309 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:23,359 Speaker 1: traditional media companies. And we've seen content made for cinemas 310 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,240 Speaker 1: and broadcast or cable television repackaged for the Internet. But 311 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: we've also seen a lot of projects made specifically for 312 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:34,640 Speaker 1: those streaming services themselves. So yeah, that was a great prediction. 313 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: Now let's shift gears a bit. So while real video 314 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:44,960 Speaker 1: was launching in another company was just getting started. That 315 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,560 Speaker 1: company was Netflix, which when it started was all about 316 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:52,160 Speaker 1: renting out DVDs to customers who would pay a monthly 317 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: fee to watch as many DVDs as they liked, or 318 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,840 Speaker 1: really as many as they could, depending on how much 319 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: time it took to ship a new DVD to the 320 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,160 Speaker 1: customer and return old DVDs back to Netflix through the mail. 321 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:09,480 Speaker 1: By two thousand, Netflix founder Read Hastings saw the potential 322 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,159 Speaker 1: for streaming media to act as a new way to 323 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: deliver this type of service to customers. He was also 324 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 1: in fierce competition with Blockbuster, which was still a thing 325 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: back then. Initially, Hastings approached Blockbuster with the opportunity of 326 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: a partnership in which Netflix would become the streaming component 327 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:34,520 Speaker 1: for the company Blockbuster, but that deal didn't go anywhere. 328 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:38,120 Speaker 1: And that makes sense because back in two thousand when 329 00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:42,360 Speaker 1: Hastings was meeting with Blockbuster, broadband connectivity wasn't really a 330 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:46,160 Speaker 1: thing yet. Most customers wouldn't be able to take advantage 331 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: of a streaming service, or if they did, it would 332 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: have to be at such a compression rate that the 333 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: image and sound would be awful, or the size of 334 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:58,359 Speaker 1: a postage stamp, so it didn't make sense at the time. 335 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:01,400 Speaker 1: It would be like watching everything on a super crappy 336 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: bootleg VHS tape, and it would take several years for 337 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: the technology to evolve to the point that it would 338 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:10,520 Speaker 1: work for the average customer, which is why Netflix wouldn't 339 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:14,199 Speaker 1: introduce its streaming service or even announce it until two 340 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: thousand seven. I'll get to that in a little bit, 341 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:21,240 Speaker 1: But in the fall of two thousand six, Steve Jobs 342 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,399 Speaker 1: revealed at an Apple event that the company was making 343 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:28,119 Speaker 1: an Apple product that would bring content offered through the 344 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:33,399 Speaker 1: Apple iTunes store to consumer televisions. The original concept was 345 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 1: a box that would sink with an iTunes customers computer 346 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,440 Speaker 1: so that the customer could send content that they had 347 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:44,080 Speaker 1: rented or purchased on the iTunes store on their computer 348 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 1: to this box via standard eight oh two eleven WiFi, 349 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: So you would send it via WiFi to this box, 350 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,639 Speaker 1: and the box would then push this content to a 351 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: television through an h d M I cable or through 352 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: component video cables d IS remember component video, and then 353 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:06,439 Speaker 1: it also supported both analog and digital audio outputs, so 354 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,680 Speaker 1: this box was sort of a middleman between a computer 355 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,960 Speaker 1: and the television, and Jobs called it i t V 356 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: in the demo, but when it launched the following year, 357 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:19,600 Speaker 1: the company would simply call it Apple TV, and its 358 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 1: initial form, the Apple TV required a networked computer to 359 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,439 Speaker 1: supply the content, so this was not a box that 360 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,679 Speaker 1: you could just hook up to the Internet at large 361 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:31,200 Speaker 1: and pull down video or music using a user interface 362 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: with the box itself. There was this intermediary step with 363 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,359 Speaker 1: the networked computer, but this was to try and solve 364 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: a problem that a lot of people had, which was 365 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: that for a lot of folks, they weren't sure how 366 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,439 Speaker 1: to connect their computers to their televisions so that they 367 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:52,479 Speaker 1: could watch Internet streaming content on their TVs. There were 368 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 1: ways to do it, but it wasn't exactly easy for 369 00:22:55,880 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: the average consumer. There involved a lot of different uh hardware, cables, 370 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 1: and different software packages that you needed to do. You 371 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,160 Speaker 1: have to worry about different resolutions. It ended up being 372 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: something that the average person just wasn't comfortable handling. So 373 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:18,440 Speaker 1: this was Apple's solution to that problem. But in addition 374 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: to this intermediary step, the media services that Apple supported 375 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:27,120 Speaker 1: did not include stuff like Netflix or other online media, 376 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,480 Speaker 1: and most of the content on iTunes had been optimized 377 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:34,159 Speaker 1: for much smaller screens than your average television, so the 378 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:38,000 Speaker 1: resulting video in those early days of Apple TV wasn't 379 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:41,159 Speaker 1: super high quality. Apple would make adjustments to how it 380 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,000 Speaker 1: approached the Apple TV over the following years, and it 381 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:47,920 Speaker 1: includes some online media connectivity and remove the requirement to 382 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 1: sync with a networked computer, which made it more of 383 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:54,520 Speaker 1: a true streaming box over time. But in that early 384 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:58,639 Speaker 1: incarnation you probably wouldn't call it a streaming box. It 385 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:02,639 Speaker 1: was more like a sinking slash downloading box. Also in 386 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:07,320 Speaker 1: two thousand and six, Amazon announced a service called Amazon Unboxed. Now. 387 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:11,159 Speaker 1: This was Amazon's digital video download service, and again This 388 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,919 Speaker 1: was all about downloading video content, not streaming it, but 389 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,840 Speaker 1: it would serve as the foothold for Amazon to evolve 390 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,200 Speaker 1: this service later and to what we now call Prime Video. 391 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,439 Speaker 1: I'll get back to that later in this episode. So 392 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:28,600 Speaker 1: while Netflix was emerging from struggling business into a successful 393 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,480 Speaker 1: competitor with Blockbuster, there was another guy named Anthony Wood 394 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,920 Speaker 1: who was the founder of a DVR company called Replay TV, 395 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:41,120 Speaker 1: who created his sixth company. He named it Roku, which 396 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,119 Speaker 1: is Japanese for six. Roku was in the business of 397 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 1: making streaming media products like digital radios and digital signage. 398 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,280 Speaker 1: He got into some early discussions with Read Hastings about 399 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: developing a streaming video set top box for the company, 400 00:24:56,520 --> 00:25:00,959 Speaker 1: but Hastings wasn't really sure about it. Eventually, Anthony would 401 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 1: joined the Netflix team to head up their Internet TV 402 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: division while also still running things back at Roku. So 403 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,760 Speaker 1: we get close to when Netflix is getting ready to 404 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,879 Speaker 1: launch its streaming service, It's web based streaming service in 405 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,199 Speaker 1: two thousand seven, and originally Hastings was on board with 406 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 1: actually making a piece of hardware, a set top box 407 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,679 Speaker 1: that would be like a VCR or a DVD player, 408 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: or more recently a DVR, but this device would pull 409 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,719 Speaker 1: content down over the Internet and send it to the television, 410 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: so Netflix would have a selection of its titles available 411 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:43,920 Speaker 1: to stream to this box. Internally at Netflix, this device 412 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: project was called Griffin. It was named after a character 413 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,040 Speaker 1: in the film The Player. Netflix launched a beta of 414 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: its streaming service, which again that was just purely web based, 415 00:25:55,680 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: so people were watching these streaming programs on their computers, 416 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,880 Speaker 1: and things were headed toward a manufacturing run of the 417 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,400 Speaker 1: hardware box that would bring that capability to the living 418 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 1: room television set. But then Hastings began to reconsider this strategy, 419 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 1: and his fear was that if Netflix produced and shipped 420 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:20,919 Speaker 1: its own hardware, its own branded box, it would be 421 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,400 Speaker 1: seen as a competitive move against some of the company's 422 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: Netflix was partnering with in licensing agreements. So in addition 423 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,879 Speaker 1: to the set top box, Woods team was creating a 424 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,240 Speaker 1: technology that could be used by other types of manufacturers, 425 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:40,359 Speaker 1: including television manufacturers, video game console manufacturers, and more. The 426 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:45,159 Speaker 1: whole idea was get Netflix on everything, to add that 427 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 1: Netflix connectivity to any device. Hastings reportedly said to someone 428 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: in Netflix his worry was if he produced the hardware, 429 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,440 Speaker 1: then a company like Apple would never agree to include 430 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,719 Speaker 1: Netflix as an option on its own hardware are and 431 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,040 Speaker 1: one thing Hastings really wanted to make certain happen was 432 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:06,840 Speaker 1: that Netflix would be available pretty much on any platform 433 00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:09,680 Speaker 1: that had an Internet connection. I mean, you even find 434 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,679 Speaker 1: refrigerators that have Netflix apps on them. So after some debate, 435 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:18,840 Speaker 1: he scrapped this project. Now that was a big hard 436 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: decision to make, because you have to remember that Netflix 437 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:26,439 Speaker 1: had spent a huge amount of money, not to mention 438 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,919 Speaker 1: time and effort to develop the technologies for this player. 439 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,680 Speaker 1: The company had worked on video buffering techniques to help 440 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:35,679 Speaker 1: make sure that the end user could actually watch a 441 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 1: video without too many interruptions or sudden dips and image 442 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: and audio quality. Keeping in mind that even in two 443 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:43,479 Speaker 1: thousand and seven and two thousand and eight when this 444 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: was launching, broadband internet speeds still were not you know, 445 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:50,440 Speaker 1: universal by any stretch of the imagination. They had also 446 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: gone through all the different phases of design, prototyping, building 447 00:27:56,040 --> 00:28:00,720 Speaker 1: out various production early production models, and testing them. It 448 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 1: really had gone pretty darn far. I mean they were 449 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,440 Speaker 1: almost at the stage where they could go into full 450 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,000 Speaker 1: on production when Hastings decided to pull the plug on 451 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:14,160 Speaker 1: the project, but that work would not go to waste. Instead, 452 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 1: Hastings chose to spin off this development back to Woods company. 453 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:24,800 Speaker 1: Roku now would had been an integral part of developing 454 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,680 Speaker 1: this technology, so this wasn't exactly a gift. He had 455 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,080 Speaker 1: played an important role in making it happen, so this 456 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: was a savvy move to save all of that work 457 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,560 Speaker 1: and to leverage it in a different way. Netflix would 458 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: be one of many services that the Roku player would 459 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: be able to access. It gave Netflix a prominent way 460 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,160 Speaker 1: to be a part of a new type of hardware 461 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: without the company appearing to horn in on hardware partners. 462 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 1: It also meant Netflix was free to license tech out 463 00:28:56,120 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 1: to other hardware companies and not create a possible conflicked 464 00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:03,000 Speaker 1: as would put it. Ad meant that the company wasn't 465 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 1: faced with questions like should we make decisions based on 466 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,680 Speaker 1: what's best for licensing or what's best for our own hardware. 467 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,520 Speaker 1: The Roku player would launch in two thousand and eight. 468 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: I'll talk about that more in just a second, but 469 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:26,080 Speaker 1: first let's take another quick break. All right back to 470 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: late two thousand seven. That's the same year that A 471 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 1: O L Comcast MSN Yahoo, MySpace, remember when my Space 472 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: was a thing and Facebook created a joint venture called 473 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:44,680 Speaker 1: Hulu dot Com. The rise of Netflix was making some 474 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:49,480 Speaker 1: media companies a little nervous. No One, and by no one, 475 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:52,920 Speaker 1: I mean none of these media companies really liked the 476 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 1: idea of Netflix becoming the dominant provider of online streaming media, 477 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,080 Speaker 1: because then it would be able to dictate terms to 478 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 1: everyone else. Customers might love being able to get everything 479 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,280 Speaker 1: on one service, but for the media companies, that wasn't 480 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: necessarily the most advantageous arrangement. So Fox and NBC quickly 481 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,800 Speaker 1: signed on with Hulu to provide content to the service. 482 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 1: Hulu dot Com would launch on March twelve, two thousand eight. 483 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:22,880 Speaker 1: Back in two thousand and seven, again, there was a 484 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:27,360 Speaker 1: company that was called Voo Doo vu Du that released 485 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,480 Speaker 1: its own media player. The media player had the sexy 486 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 1: name of b X one hundred. Now, according to c net, 487 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 1: it was the quote first real internet video on demand 488 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: box worthy of the name end quote. Now. To use 489 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 1: the box, you would purchase or rent video. Using the 490 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:51,480 Speaker 1: Voodoo service, you could order programs on screen, which differentiated 491 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 1: it from the early Apple TV. Remember you had to 492 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:58,200 Speaker 1: have a sinc computer to send stuff to the first 493 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 1: generation Apple TV, and it had to be on the 494 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: same network as the Apple TV was. The Voodoo b 495 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:08,720 Speaker 1: X one hundred sported a two hundred fifty gigabyte hard drive, 496 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:11,480 Speaker 1: which should be a dead giveaway that this was not 497 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:15,080 Speaker 1: a streaming box. Now, this was a device that was 498 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 1: meant to store videos on an internal hard drive for 499 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: you to watch later, so you were effectively downloading movies 500 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:24,719 Speaker 1: to the box. To watch, users would have to connect 501 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,840 Speaker 1: an Ethernet cable to the Voodoo box. There was no 502 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:31,200 Speaker 1: built in WiFi support, though you could get an add 503 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:35,040 Speaker 1: on kit that would kind of create a WiFi bridge. 504 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:37,920 Speaker 1: The player had several options when it came to connecting 505 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 1: to a television, though the preferred one was with an 506 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 1: HDMI cable because that would serve as a conduit for 507 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:48,080 Speaker 1: both high definition video and digital audio signals. Still, while 508 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,800 Speaker 1: this wasn't early Internet TV box, it wasn't really for 509 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 1: streaming media in the strictest sense. In May two eight, 510 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 1: Roku would launch its Media player, and at that point 511 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:04,520 Speaker 1: it was essentially a Netflix set top box. It retailed 512 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:08,240 Speaker 1: for nine and it had no monthly fee, so you 513 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:10,720 Speaker 1: didn't have to have a subscription to use the Roku. 514 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 1: So a Netflix customer could buy this box for one dollars, 515 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:17,840 Speaker 1: then they bring it home connected to their home network, 516 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 1: connected to their television, and then after a brief set 517 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:25,000 Speaker 1: up process, they could link it with their existing Netflix 518 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:29,040 Speaker 1: account and as long as they maintained that Netflix subscription, 519 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:32,640 Speaker 1: the service would work. Netflix boasted a library of about 520 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:36,720 Speaker 1: one hundred thousand DVD titles at that time, but only 521 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: about ten of that library was available for streaming. That 522 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,960 Speaker 1: was due to the complicated licensing issues that media companies 523 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: always have in place, but that early version of the 524 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: Roku was essentially limited to just Netflix. Later updates to 525 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:55,240 Speaker 1: the service and to the hardware would open up compatibility 526 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 1: with numerous services, including stuff like YouTube and Amazon Video, 527 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:04,080 Speaker 1: among others. Speaking of Amazon Video, two thousand eight was 528 00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:09,840 Speaker 1: when Amazon renamed Unboxed as Amazon Video on Demand. They 529 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 1: would stick with that name until two thousand eleven, when 530 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:15,680 Speaker 1: they'd rename it again. This time they called it Amazon 531 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:18,640 Speaker 1: Instant Video. This would be about the time when they 532 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: started to allow streaming, not just downloads. In two thousand fifteen, 533 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:27,400 Speaker 1: it would get renamed again and would become Amazon Video, 534 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 1: and in two thousand eighteen, it would become Prime Video. 535 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,960 Speaker 1: Amazon likes to thumb it's knows that the common wisdom 536 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:36,719 Speaker 1: that changing the name of a product too many times 537 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,800 Speaker 1: creates confusion. I guess now. It really wasn't until eleven, 538 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:44,200 Speaker 1: with the rebranding of Amazon Instant Video, that the company 539 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:48,000 Speaker 1: began to push streaming along with the concept of downloading videos, 540 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:52,720 Speaker 1: and eventually they moved away from downloading entirely. They focused 541 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 1: solely on delivering digital video via streaming, so you had 542 00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 1: to have a persistent Internet connection to watch these movies. 543 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 1: Now there are a couple of ways you can still 544 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: download a digital video, but you have to do it 545 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,799 Speaker 1: onto something like a fire tablet or an Android or 546 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:14,080 Speaker 1: iOS device. The big streaming services now included Netflix, Hulu, 547 00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:18,640 Speaker 1: and Amazon, but lots of others would follow, like HBO now, 548 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 1: CBS All Access, brit Box for British shows, ESPN Plus, 549 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:27,239 Speaker 1: Disney Plus which is just about the debut as I 550 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:29,680 Speaker 1: record this episode and will be live by the time 551 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:33,400 Speaker 1: this episode goes live, I believe YouTube tv also launched, 552 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:36,560 Speaker 1: and services for video game consoles like Xbox One and 553 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:42,279 Speaker 1: the PlayStation consoles also had online streaming options, but that's 554 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:45,040 Speaker 1: just the services and we're really here to talk also 555 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,200 Speaker 1: about the hardware, like the Roku. So what are the 556 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:50,759 Speaker 1: options if you want to hook up a set top 557 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 1: box to your television in order to watch online content, 558 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,279 Speaker 1: You've got a whole bunch of them. There are the 559 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:01,320 Speaker 1: video game consoles. That's a great option. The latest versions 560 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,600 Speaker 1: can support ultra high definition video content, which is great 561 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,120 Speaker 1: if you have a four K television. They also tend 562 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 1: to have support for just about all streaming services. Netflix 563 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:13,319 Speaker 1: led the way on that front because they made sure 564 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,520 Speaker 1: that they could be included on all types of hardware, 565 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,759 Speaker 1: and a lot of other services followed suit. It's not 566 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,920 Speaker 1: the universal truth, however. You might find that some services 567 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: are only on one but not the other, particularly the 568 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:29,960 Speaker 1: ones that were made specifically for that console. Obviously, you're 569 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,799 Speaker 1: not going to find the PlayStation View Network on the 570 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,080 Speaker 1: Xbox console, for example, But on top of the consoles, 571 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: you've got lots of other options. For one thing, Most 572 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: Blu ray players these days have at least some support 573 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,920 Speaker 1: for online streaming services. The very first Blu ray player 574 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:48,319 Speaker 1: launched in the United States did not do that. It 575 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,279 Speaker 1: lacked internet connectivity. There was no Ethernet port, and there 576 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,360 Speaker 1: was no WiFi, but lots of the Blu ray players 577 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:59,040 Speaker 1: that followed could connect either via WiFi or Ethernet, and 578 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,879 Speaker 1: the original intent for that was to create the opportunity 579 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:05,360 Speaker 1: for media companies to enhance the features of a physical 580 00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:08,919 Speaker 1: disc with additional online content. So let's say you bought 581 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,440 Speaker 1: a Blu Ray version of Oh I don't know, um 582 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:16,319 Speaker 1: Berry Gordon's the Last Dragon, Well, you might discover that 583 00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,920 Speaker 1: because of internet connectivity, you also have access to additional 584 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:22,880 Speaker 1: features that are not actually found on the disc itself. 585 00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:25,759 Speaker 1: But beyond this use case, a lot of companies began 586 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:29,759 Speaker 1: to include support for various online streaming services into Blu 587 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:32,560 Speaker 1: ray players, which turned the Blu ray players into more 588 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:36,040 Speaker 1: of a general media center, not just a disc player. 589 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 1: Then there are the dedicated devices that you connect to 590 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:43,799 Speaker 1: your TV and are all about delivering streaming content. There's 591 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:47,040 Speaker 1: the various versions of Roku, like the Roku Express, the 592 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:50,839 Speaker 1: Roku Premier, plus the Roku Ultra devices. All of those 593 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:55,400 Speaker 1: plug into support on a modern television. There's Google's Chrome Cast, 594 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,000 Speaker 1: which lets you stream from a network to computer to 595 00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:01,320 Speaker 1: the television, very much like the Apple TV product did. 596 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:05,000 Speaker 1: There's the Video Shield TV with built in support for 597 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:09,800 Speaker 1: Google Assistant. Amazon has the Fire family of streaming devices, 598 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:13,200 Speaker 1: so these are the really big contenders in that space. 599 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:17,480 Speaker 1: From a technological standpoint, they're fairly similar. Most of the 600 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:21,520 Speaker 1: options today can not only push out ultra high definition video, 601 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 1: assuming you have an Internet connection that can accommodate that, 602 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,919 Speaker 1: most of them are also compatible with HDR, or high 603 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:32,160 Speaker 1: dynamic range that describes the range of color in a 604 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:36,279 Speaker 1: video feed. So that's both sharpness with the resolution and 605 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:41,279 Speaker 1: color representation with HDR. The differences mostly boiled down to 606 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:45,920 Speaker 1: two really big things, how you interface with the underlying 607 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:47,960 Speaker 1: system so that you can get to the stuff you 608 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,920 Speaker 1: want to see, and which streaming services are supported on 609 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:56,279 Speaker 1: each device. But otherwise they're really not that different. There 610 00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:00,080 Speaker 1: are proprietary elements to each one, but ultimately all of 611 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,360 Speaker 1: them are geared toward pulling data down from the Internet 612 00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:06,040 Speaker 1: and feeding it to your television and a signal that 613 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,880 Speaker 1: the TV quote unquote understands. Now, in my personal experience, 614 00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:12,880 Speaker 1: the thing that matters the most to me is the 615 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:17,440 Speaker 1: UI for the device itself doesn't make sense. Can you 616 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:19,920 Speaker 1: find the stuff you want to look for if you 617 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,680 Speaker 1: have to type in a title? Is that easy to do? 618 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:27,000 Speaker 1: Is it responsive. Is there a delay between when I 619 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:30,080 Speaker 1: hit a command and when something actually happens, because if 620 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:33,719 Speaker 1: there is, I hate that. Delays make it really hard 621 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,480 Speaker 1: to tell if a device has registered a command. I 622 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:39,120 Speaker 1: can't tell you how many times I've sent back to 623 00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:42,960 Speaker 1: back commands to play and then pause because I didn't 624 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,600 Speaker 1: realize the device had already registered the play command, so 625 00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:51,600 Speaker 1: I pushed it again and then everything just starts, stops, 626 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:54,640 Speaker 1: and jutters, and I hate it. It really gets my 627 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:58,400 Speaker 1: biscuits and burning. And of course, a lot of television 628 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:02,359 Speaker 1: manufacturers are build again a native capability to access these 629 00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:05,440 Speaker 1: sorts of services. Many of you out there probably have 630 00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:09,040 Speaker 1: televisions that already supports some or all of the streaming 631 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,440 Speaker 1: services that I've mentioned on here. The television connects to 632 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,279 Speaker 1: your in home network, either hardlined by the net or 633 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:18,680 Speaker 1: through WiFi, and there's no need for any additional hardware 634 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:21,640 Speaker 1: to get access to stuff like Netflix or Amazon Video. 635 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:23,800 Speaker 1: You just have to link it to your existing account. 636 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:27,600 Speaker 1: You're dependent upon the UI designed for that particular television, 637 00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:31,680 Speaker 1: which sometimes can be a bit lacking. You might be 638 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:35,120 Speaker 1: surprised to hear that, despite the fact that I host 639 00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:38,280 Speaker 1: a technology podcast, I do not have the most cutting 640 00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 1: edge versions of these technologies in my own home. For 641 00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,799 Speaker 1: one thing, I don't own a four K television, so 642 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:50,279 Speaker 1: stuff like Ultra high definition and HDR support would be 643 00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:53,200 Speaker 1: wasted on me because my television isn't capable of taking 644 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,440 Speaker 1: advantage of those features. So before I did that, I 645 00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:59,040 Speaker 1: would need to go out and buy a brand new television, 646 00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:02,359 Speaker 1: and believe me, I'm tempted to do it. But at 647 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:05,560 Speaker 1: the same time, my current television still works just fine. 648 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,440 Speaker 1: It just can't support anything beyond good old ten A 649 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:13,200 Speaker 1: D resolution, so it's not the best TV, but it works. 650 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:15,319 Speaker 1: So it's hard for me to justify going out and 651 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:18,480 Speaker 1: buying a new one, especially since I'm married to a 652 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,640 Speaker 1: woman who's extremely practical. Because trust me, there have been 653 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:24,200 Speaker 1: moments of weakness where I've almost ordered a new four 654 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:28,759 Speaker 1: K TV, but fear for my own personal safety has 655 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:32,399 Speaker 1: outweighed my desire to have the new shiny thing now. 656 00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: I have owned a Roku Player in the past. I 657 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:37,640 Speaker 1: very much liked it, though it was pretty bare bones 658 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:39,960 Speaker 1: on features and it was a little bit of a 659 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:43,080 Speaker 1: chore to navigate using the stubby little remote control that 660 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:46,440 Speaker 1: came with it. But finally I could watch online content 661 00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:49,759 Speaker 1: on my television without much trouble, which was awesome. Now 662 00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:52,320 Speaker 1: these days, I have a Chrome Cast, but it's a 663 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:56,600 Speaker 1: first generation Chrome Cast, so it's the one that originally 664 00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,560 Speaker 1: came out from Google and has just those features. I 665 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,359 Speaker 1: also have a first generation Xbox one and a first 666 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:05,880 Speaker 1: generation PlayStation four, so these are all capable of streaming 667 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 1: media to my television, but they lack the more recent 668 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:13,360 Speaker 1: capabilities of Ultra high definition and HDR. In fact, these days, 669 00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:16,520 Speaker 1: it's the only way I do watch television is through 670 00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:20,640 Speaker 1: these streaming services and these devices. I haven't turned on 671 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:25,439 Speaker 1: cable or even broadcast television in a couple of years now. 672 00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:28,239 Speaker 1: Maybe in a future episode, I'll do a full rundown 673 00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,560 Speaker 1: on the various streaming services that are out there, where 674 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:34,080 Speaker 1: they came from, and how they're competing with each other. 675 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:36,880 Speaker 1: I think there's also a very valuable conversation to have 676 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:40,959 Speaker 1: about consumer frustration. One of the big attractive things about 677 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:45,200 Speaker 1: streaming was this idea of cutting the cord for cable companies. 678 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:47,279 Speaker 1: You'd be able to get what you wanted and you 679 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:50,319 Speaker 1: could ignore the rest of the junk. But we now 680 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 1: have a very fractured online media landscape out there, with 681 00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:58,799 Speaker 1: some shows and films that are exclusive to certain platforms, 682 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:02,920 Speaker 1: which means unless you subscribe to multiple services, you're probably 683 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:06,000 Speaker 1: missing out on something you really want to see. The 684 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:09,759 Speaker 1: headaches of streaming are rapidly approaching the same levels of 685 00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:13,480 Speaker 1: frustration that you had when you subscribe to an enormous 686 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,200 Speaker 1: cable package in which you might only care about a 687 00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:20,000 Speaker 1: half dozen channels. But that's a topic for another time. 688 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:23,160 Speaker 1: If you guys have suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, 689 00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,359 Speaker 1: send me a message the email addresses tech Stuff at 690 00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:28,839 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, or drop me a line 691 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:30,879 Speaker 1: on Facebook or Twitter. The handle for both of those 692 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:34,520 Speaker 1: is text Stuff hs W. Don't forget to visit our 693 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:37,920 Speaker 1: website that's tech stuff podcast dot com. You'll find a 694 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:40,840 Speaker 1: link to the archive of every tech stuff episode that 695 00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:43,520 Speaker 1: has ever been recorded. You also find a link to 696 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:46,920 Speaker 1: our online store where you can make a purchase and 697 00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:49,640 Speaker 1: it goes to help our show, and we greatly appreciate it, 698 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:58,000 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff 699 00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:00,360 Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 700 00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:03,360 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i 701 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:06,680 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 702 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:12,200 Speaker 1: your favorite shows, h