CBS video downloads suck
CBS announced earlier this week that they would be making episodes of the new season of Survivor available for download for $1.99. When I first read it, I thought both "Cool" (because more networks getting on board the whole iPod video train is a good thing) and "Who cares?" (because I always TiVo Survivor, so there is no need to download it).

Fast forward to this morning. I realized that I forgot that the new season premiered last night. And, because CBS changes the title of the show each season, my TiVo Season Pass can't find it to record it.

No problem, though. I can just buy it for $1.99. If ever there was a case where I can justify buying a TV show, this is it. Unfortunately, CBS isn't making their video available in an iPod-friendly format. And to make their offering even less compelling, it is $1.99 to "rent" the show! It expires 24 hours after download. Oh, and you can't put it on any portable devices.Here are all of the details on CBS.com.

Talk about missing the boat (wait, I used "train" earlier... unfortunately, there is no cliche about missing the train). Why not just adopt the same model as NBC, ABC, Comedy Central, etc. and use iTunes for your video downloads? Offering a $2 rental that you only have 24 hours to watch and that takes 45 minutes to download is really lame. This offering actually makes iTunes' $1.99 for an episode that you can play forever seem like a bargain.

"CBS - America's most watched (and least downloaded) network."