- Movies
- TV Shows
- Netflix, Hulu and Amazon
- Movie Trailers and IMDB
- Yes, iPad is a fantastic entertainment device.
The iPad comes integrated with the Apple’s iTunes Store and it is the go-to place to buy digital content on the iPad.
Movies
Michael tries not to buy movies:
‘My wife still buys movies. She’s very sentimental and likes to keep some of the classics. That’s why I got her the 64GB iPad Mini - so that she could buy and preload the iPad with the movies she buys.
I rent movies. This is especially handy when traveling. When I’m at home, I rent movies directly through the Apple TV and stream them there. However, when I need to travel, I rent the movies directly on my iPad and download them there. This way, for longer trips I have a few movies on my iPad ready to be watched during the evening in a hotel room. I don’t have to depend on the hotel’s movie offerings or flaky Internet connection.
Here’s what happens - when you rent a movie on the iPad, it’s downloaded entirely to your device. You have it, it’s ready to be watched. Now, the cool thing is, you have 30 days to watch it. When you’re traveling and you want to watch the movie, you open up iTunes and connect to the Internet to authorize the movie to be played on your iPad. Once authorized, the movie plays offline directly from your device. It’s really cool, even if you’re on a cellular connection, you can authorize the movie to play and you don’t have to worry about your data quota. You can go offline and still watch the movie. You have 24 hours to watch once the movie has been authorized.”
Augusto on Movies:
“We used to have a large movie collection, but now we rent from Apple if the movie is not available on Amazon or Netflix.
Even though the iPad has a great screen to watch movies and videos, I personally don’t have much use for this feature. I tend to consume much more of the written word that anything else, so I don’t spend really much time watching videos. I have seen a movie or two but it isn’t something I really do with any regularity.
Instead, when I sit in front of a TV, I can say that my iPad is the best remote ever for DirectTV, Netflix and Hulu. Nothing beats the iPad applications together with an Apple TV in the ability to interact with these platforms.”
TV Shows
Michael watches TV shows only on Hulu and Netflix:
“Apple really killed that one for my wife and I. We used to rent TV shows for $0.99 on iTunes and it was great. One buck per episode was the best price ever. Now you can only buy TV shows. Three bucks each. Too expensive. Why would we want to buy a TV show? I’d watch it once and that’s it. We very rarely, if ever, would go back to an episode of even our favorite shows. We might understand a reason to buy a movie, but a TV show? Nope, not buying. You’ll find us streaming through Netflix or Hulu.”
Netflix, Hulu and Amazon
We are both subscribers of Hulu Plus, Amazon and Netflix and this is how we watch movies and TV shows. It’s actually funny we’d call them ‘TV shows’ as we never watch them on a cable TV. Yes, when you’re at home I’m watching these on a TV screen through the Apple TV device… but when not at home their respective iPad apps come to the rescue.
We love how Netflix works. They’ve nailed the streaming mechanisms so well that even with traveling and poor Internet speeds, you can still watch Netflix very comfortably. And because Netflix has a fantastic library of TV shows, there is always something interesting to watch.
Michael is a big fan of Netflix but hates their app’s ‘content discovery’ options:
“The only problem with the Netflix app is that they mix TV shows with movies. I mean, if I want to watch a movie (i.e. I have ~ 2 hours of free time) I want to easily see the upcoming movies, the top movies now, the new releases, etc… and for some reason they mix both of them together and I find it hard to search for movies to watch. It’s better done on iTunes.
We also like Hulu Plus. Especially the current episodes of the TV shows - they appear on Hulu the next day, the same as they appeared on the cable TV. The only downside are the number of, ahem, stupid ads. I don’t mind the fact that the ads are there so much - I understand it’s Hulu’s business model… I’d just welcome less stupid ads… but maybe I’m just picky.”
Augusto is also a big fan of Amazon:
“Amazon - the last player in this section is also offering TV shows and movies for rent (or free if you are an Amazon Prime member) - it’s not yet at par with Netflx and HuluPlus but it is catching up quickly”.”
Movie Trailers and IMDB
Michael loves watching movie trailers and he’s doing it mainly on the iPad:
“I love the Apple’s Movie Trailers app as well as the IMDB - Internet Movie Database - both apps are amazing for discovering new movies, getting to know the cast, the stories and user comments. Whenever I want to rent a movie on iTunes or watch something on Netflix, I fire up the IMDB app to check its ratings and see if it’s worth my time.”
Yes, iPad is a fantastic entertainment device.
It’s lightweight; you can hold it on a sofa or couch, watch whatever you want, stream to your TV through your Apple TV and so much more. We’d say you can safely go #iPadOnly as far as entertainment is concerned.