Growing Up in the Digital Age

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or MP3 player. This is Phil Lamar and you are

listening to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hello

and welcome to Geekcast Radio. This is episode

38. This is the digital age that we are living

in today. I am, of course, TFG and Mike. Joining

me is Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello! Oh boy, Steve's

in one of his moods tonight. Lovely. Movie role,

Dan, hello. Hello, how are you? Pretty good,

pretty good. And of course, Booth Ninja 81. Hello.

Hello. Honestly, what started this episode going,

what made us want to do this episode was actually

a suggestion from Dan, but it was because of

a blog I had written up, which will be linked

in the post in the show notes. But I had just

found the Nerdist Podcast with Chris Hardwick,

and I was going back and listening to some of

their older interviews and episodes. They had

talked with JJ Abrams, and part of the conversation

switched to how we live in a digital and instant

gratification age where, you know, you turn to

your iPad, your iPhone, your Android phone, whatever,

and, you know, media is just there. Whereas three

of us growing up... Because Steve is here more

for the 90s boom than anything else because Steve

was born in the mid to late 80s Like for me,

I remember when computers and modems were first

starting up and it's like we've come so far since

then I remember sitting in My aunt's basement

and my cousin Bobby talking to somebody over

in London Just in really really weird I Don't

even know what kind of it wasn't language, but

it was like oh My modem can hook to their modem

and blah blah and it's all this text language

That's all it ever was back then was text language.

There was nothing like Skype back then But like

I remember learning stuff at school like learning

on logo as far as how to create shapes and stuff

like that I always wanted to be able to screen

grab images as a kid I actually had my mom take

pictures of the TV to get images of course they

were photographs at the time which kind of sucked

but of course now that we live in this age what

about you guys Steve what about you I mean you're

more so you saw the growth of the internet pretty

much as you were growing up I grew up with a

486 most people will not know what the hell that

is that's pre -penium for those that yeah so

that was back when they had two XCD -ROMs and

that was a big deal back then yes it was and

you had two different size floppy drives And

you can fit a game on a floppy for 89 kilobytes.

But yeah, I got my first computer around the

age of five. Windows 3 .1. And that's pretty

much what splintered my interest in computers.

And from the get -go, I had been playing a little

8 -bit games 16 -bit games on the PC and playing

around in Funny odd thing is media creation programs.

I was using paint at the time because you know,

that was the only thing around Yes, let you have

money to buy the software which you know, we

didn't so and They didn't have a ton of CDs out.

No. No you went to computer shows and bought

From big walls of floppy drives or floppy disks

and they had everything back in the day of like

shareware and demos and yeah, it was just yeah,

it was Totally totally different world back then

Oh, yeah for me with my first computer, it's

kind of my history with computers is kind of

funny because I had a choice between going with

IBM or Apple and as a kid I chose Apple and I

got an Apple 2gs as my first computer of course

in school we had the Apple IIe and the Apple

IIc's and all that stuff, but as I got older

I would eventually graduate over to Windows.

I think I had 3 .1 at one point and then of course

95 and 98 and all that stuff. But yeah, I started

as an Apple user, went to PC, and while I love

the Apple products of today, for me they are

solely media consumption. I will never use an

Apple machine to do word processing and all that.

I just don't like them for that. They are just

solely for media consumption for me. What about

you, Mike? What's your evolution here? Well,

for me, I don't know, I think I kind of, I was

born in 81, but my family didn't actually have

a computer in the house until like the early

90s. Well, yeah, that's the same with me. I didn't

get my Apple until like 90, 91. Yeah, we went

with a, I think because my dad was working with

GM and stuff at the time, they went with... Packard

I was a nope. It was a Packard Bell And I remember

just playing it was Windows 3 .1. I remember

playing mega race mm -hmm and The Sim City games

and like where in the world is Carmen San Diego

mm -hmm But I You know I was a Like Steve I played

around with the paint, but my favorite thing

to do in paint wasn't really like It was to do

bit images. I liked painting by the squares and

trying to shape something with a high high bit

of detail I did that a lot too. That was just

that was just fun and that actually carried over

to designing snowboards in Cool Borders 2 for

the PlayStation because they had that same kind

of editor So it's actually it's actually really

nice when I got to be able to do that, but I

was a Windows user for my entire life until 2004

when I fell into the Apple ecosystem with iTunes

when they released it for Windows then six months

later Everything was Apple based and I Haven't

I haven't gone I haven't gone back. In fact,

I can't sit down At a Windows computer without

wanting to blow my brains out I and it sucks

because I work My second job as a as a dispatcher.

I actually work in a Windows environment and

They're all Windows 7 PCs and they're all they're

all like nicely specked out for for the job And

what's really funny is they run one app all day

long Mm -hmm. They still suck at it And I can't

figure I I have no idea why they're they're they're

dual core three gigahertz machines With eight

gigs of RAM running one app and it can't handle

shit. And the only reason I can tolerate it as

work is because the one app takes up three monitors.

So I never really have to see the desktop or

deal with any of that crap. But I just can't,

I don't like it. There's too much work that goes

into running a Windows computer for me. Like

pre -2004, I loved that shit. I was, you know,

I would, My Friday and Saturday nights because

I was a geek without a girlfriend my Friday and

Saturday nights were defragmenting my hard drive

running malware spyware scans, you know, just

stupid shit and just Preening the machine for

no reason. I wasn't doing anything intensive

and I have never done any of that stuff on a

Mac and I it's just For me, they just allow you

to do what you want to do See, and you don't

have to worry about anything on the backside.

So I strongly disagree with your only for media

consumption. No, OK. Well, I'm I'm not saying

that for the entire world that the Mac and the

Apple products are only media consumption. I

said for me, OK, if I was going like if I was

going to go out and buy an iMac or a MacBook

Pro or a MacBook Air or whatever else, I would

solely use it to. Watch movies on iTunes and

watch TV shows. I would not use it for like podcasting

right and Anything I'm doing right now on the

PC. I would not use the Mac for that at all.

Absolutely not because for me And again, I don't

know what I've just seen images from like today's

age of max but like back when it was Macintosh

The user controls are so backwards compared to

Windows not to interject too much in here You

got to consider this to though that the older

Macintosh and Windows right Macintosh was and

Still is to some extent a better operating system

than Windows now granted Windows has come a long

way like if you use Windows 7 that's like the

best you're ever going to get because now they're

going back downhill with Windows 8. XP is good

for what it is, but Windows 7 is the most flawless,

easy -to -use, dumbed -down operating system

that Windows has ever made. In that regard, I

think that that's the best one you can get. For

media stuff, I could see the ease of use and

the consumption for using the Mac, opposed to

the PC, because, I mean, let's face it, Windows

does have its issues, but Windows also has its

benefits in the gaming department, too. Whereas,

yes, they are straight into code for Mac, a lot

of it's still PC -based. Yeah. And for me, it's

more so the user controls, the user interface

with the difference between the PC and the Macs.

They're not all that much different anymore,

though. They seem to be to me because it seems

like you haven't used a new Mac though. Have

you not anytime soon? I just want to interject

real quick here before we get way off track the

When Apple did something really smart when they

released iTunes for Windows? The entire Apple

operating system is designed around iTunes as

a flagship if you can run iTunes you can run

a Mac Every app every single app on in in OS

10 that is native, made by Apple, functions identical

to iTunes. And that was a very smart move that

they did. So anyone that can use iTunes can actually

pick up a Mac and use it. But what I'm saying

is, OK, in the olden days of Windows 3 .1 and

Macintosh, you had F10 to get to the file. Whereas

over on Macintosh, you had to hit Control -Alt.

XIA, whatever the hell it was. Okay, I guess

that's where what's different for me is I didn't

come in until the current generation of Apple.

I was never, I never used anything pre -OS time.

Yeah. So for me, I, but I, this isn't what this

show is about. Right. I'm just, and I will say

if you're gonna buy a Mac and you're only gonna

use it to watch videos, you're flushing money

down a toilet. No, that's so true, yeah. Yeah,

that's so true. You're buying an awful lot of

hardware just to watch video on. Oh, right. Well,

yeah. But I mean, like, okay, you know, move

on to a different product as far as that goes.

I would rather buy an iPod or an iPad versus

any other media consumption device because it's

so, like, those are so streamlined. You don't

want to buy a Zune? I mean... Zune? What the

fuck is a Zune? Nobody knows what a Zune is anymore.

You buy a Zune anymore? No, I think it didn't

officially become Xbox Market now. Yeah, it's

a Zune Marketplace on there. Yeah, and then it

got molded into... They're not even calling it

Metro anymore. Well, Windows Phone 7 and Windows

8, so it's just kind of their thing. Yeah, I

actually own a Windows Phone. And it's on there,

but it's just like, it's kind of sad. It's like

a wasteland. It's like there's something on that

thing. I've used a Windows phone for probably

six months total. I like Windows Phone 7. I do,

actually. I like my phone a lot, just the Zoom

market in itself, just trying to use it for like

podcasting or whatnot. Apps, it's fine, but regarding

the podcasting and that type of entertainment,

it's not the greatest. Yeah, so what about you

Dan? How did you start out in? Mr. 1984 Like

you that my my first computer was in the early

90s But before that the first piece of like technology

that we had as a family was actually a word processor

And that's all it was was a word processor back

in the day. That's all it would do You know had

a screen that was basically, you know, the same

type of you know, you have blue screen or blue

right by screens that are better You know suited

now than the old word processors, but we had

that mostly for like school work and things like

that My dad was big in the writing letters and

whatnot and we had a little typewriter and then

that went and you couldn't fix the typewriter

So we bought a word processor and you know, and

then in the early 90s got a computer It was an

IBM, I believe. And I was still young, so I didn't

use it mostly just for games. I think the old

game I used to like was Ski Fall. Oh, yes. Which

is like still to this day, I don't know if you

ever beat that game because you'd always get

to a point and then the Yeti would come eat you

and there was no way to stop it. I just. And

then it would use a toothpick and then jump up

and down. Yeah. But no, no, no. No matter what,

I put a game like. and nauseam, that and Minesweeper,

which I still play today. But yeah, that was

my first, was just IBM, which we didn't have

internet, it was just a computer. I used to be

a teacher, and when I was teaching one day, we

were talking about computers, and I was like

talking in my class about how, you know, when

we had computers, we didn't have the internet,

and telling them that, the looks on their face,

it's like, it just could not compute that computers

existed. Without the internet. It was crazy.

You could see the generational gap right there

because to them computers internet like there's

like what they're like What do you do without

the internet on the computer? What else is there?

Yeah, I'm like back in the day we had this awesome

thing called CD ROM interactive CD ROM that was

you know we had encyclopedias on the computer

that we could look up. And we thought that was

a lot of information because we didn't have to

go to the bookshelves and get letter R to look

up River. We can just type it into the CD -ROM

encyclopedia. But now we have Google and everything.

But that was my first incarnation of computers

in early IBM. I never got into Mac -only school.

That's the only time I ever used it. I tried

to get into it, but... When I went to education,

as I went and became a teacher, a lot of schools

are actually going away from Mac and they're

going to PC. So I ended up staying on PC and

I never really got into it. I always wanted to,

but I've just been a Windows guy my entire life.

What about other mediums outside of computers?

Like I said, I mentioned the software that...

I remember my mom had a Betamax player before

we had a video cassette recorder. I never had

a Betamax. Yes. I never had a Betamax. I just

had a VCR. That's all we ever had. I remember

that one. Go ahead. I think we had a Betamax.

And the only reason I think this is because I've

never found a VCR that was able to do this. When

I was a kid, my mom, we had HBO for cable in

the house, and my mom would record Fraggle Rock

for me. And they had a decent sized TV to watch

TV on, but for some reason, the player that they

recorded on had a smaller TV screen on it. And

I I always found that fascinating like I would

watch frag a rock off of this little tiny screen

on the recorder Instead of on the giant screen

Like over my head. I don't know what it was.

I think it was just fascinating because it was

like so tiny Wow, and I I don't think of VCR

or VHS was ever able to do that I think that

may have been a beta max thing Yeah, I think

it was too because I don't remember VHS ever

doing that. I don't but like I don't have Don't

remember ever handling like a Betamax tape. I

don't believe my parents would ever let me do

that, but I Yeah, by the time we moved I believe

Betamax was either dead or my family had moved

on to a VHS so Yeah, I mean Betamax for me didn't

last very long because we had like I said we

had just gotten a VCR and And that was all the

rage And of course, you know once you get out

of VCR you graduate to DVD players and everything

else I don't think I don't ever think we even

had one I Don't think I don't think I had my

first DVD player until 94 95 maybe DVD player.

Yeah Holy hell our first DVD player is my PlayStation

2 I think yeah, I never saw I never saw a DVD

player until like 98 99 And then it didn't they

didn't really become Like cheap until the PlayStation

2 Yeah, so That's crazy. What Wow Well, like

like Dan said I might be you know, I'm old damn

it, you know it I think I think you know, we're

not that much older than me. I'm still damn it

You know, I think that Could be confusing it

with having the PlayStation 1 and I know that

did play DVDs at one point But it was like one

never played DVDs. It didn't know It's something

like didn't Huh? PlayStation was CD base and

then I'm I don't know I must add one of each

then because I remember having a DVD player 95

96 I'm not even sure was available here. They

weren't yeah, I don't Unless you got it from

Japan. They were like $500 to $800 at the time.

They didn't even have a PlayStation 2 at the

time. Yeah, the PlayStation 2 actually became

the cheapest one and actually there's a lot of

statistics out there that state that if it wasn't

for the PlayStation 2, DVD probably wouldn't

have done what it did. Twister was the first

DVD, I remember. I think that didn't come out

until 95 or 96. I forget the year. I think that

was wasn't I could be wrong. Early is middle

of 96. I'm looking at I don't know Wikipedia

now Yeah, so I don't know. That's Japan though.

Was that worldwide? Some manufacturers really

announced the DVD players will be available as

early as middle 96 These productions woefully

optimistic I don't know. It's on Wikipedia. Anyways.

Anyways Like a lot of I don't know my first DVD

player myself my personal DVD player was was

the ps2 And that actually what's kind of interesting

is Whatever I used to watch a video has kind

of prompted me to upgrade my home theater at

the time when I first my first foray actually

came I Actually bought myself my family had always

had VHS players, but when I started like buying

my own stuff Actually went out and bought a nice

VHS player because it had an s -video output

on it And I bought a nice nice TV to its surround

sound system to go with it and I was like it's

like in 98 and I didn't upgrade again until the

ps2 came out so What about you Steve as far as

what DVD player around the same time I got one

in I believe 98 we only had one for the household

and then of course didn't have any for the PC

yet that we didn't get till early 2000s but I

believe we had one in 98 though yeah I mean it's

just like Whereas today, you know, we can go

on iTunes or Amazon or buy DVDs or Whatever,

you know, you can get like reruns of shows or

you can wait till the networks rerun them back

back in the day Once a show was over that, you

know what like say Say that week's episode of

the Cosby show if you missed it you missed it

You weren't seeing it again unless they reran

it in the summertime. Whereas now you can get

everything digitally or on DVD or hell even I

don't know if Cosby shows on blu -ray yet but

you know everything now it's like we just live

in an age where it's like you know if you if

you look for it you can find it and you can have

it and back then you just couldn't do that kind

of stuff Yeah, I don't think only only if you

get recorded But then I if you grew up with the

family with other people and you guys that you

know competing shows on at the same time You

couldn't see then you get a fight over what show

you're gonna record I grew up I had three sisters

and a brother and that was always a fight You

know somebody wanted to record for me Americans

funny some videos somebody else wanted to record

something else and maybe life goes on or something

but you always had those those little conflicts

that you don't have anymore because it's like

you get each kid their own iPad and they can

go on Netflix and watch their own show didn't

and it's it's kind of crazy what we can do now

like you mentioned if you you weren't there you

missed it that's when you know syndication really

meant a lot it means a lot now but meant a lot

more back then because that was the first you

know that's the time you got to see those shows

that only get to see you know prime time now

you get to see during the day I was seeing primetime,

like the Cosby show, like you mentioned, like

at four o 'clock in the afternoon, or back with

Saturday morning cartoons actually existed. And

then in the 90s, Disney animation and after school,

it really, you saw how programming was really

designed upon when people are going to be home.

Now they kind of have to change that completely

because people kind of absorb content when they

want to. Well, I mean, I mean let's go around

the room how many of us because I know I know

Mike doesn't do this How many of us actually

watch live television anymore? I know I do at

certain point for certain shows but Anybody else

watch it when it first airs depends on what the

show is I Have a select I have a select set of

shows that I watch as they're airing And depending

on the station usually it's usually I have a

show a night For the most part and then I just

I watched those one shows and then that's it.

I probably have a whole probably I can count

to Five the amount of shows I actually watch

as they air throughout the week What about you

Dan? Like Steve there's a few number of shows

I watch I prefer me like marathoning like I kind

of Waiting to a show is kind of over and then

or it's been you know a few seasons and getting

into it I mean, there's a few shows that watch

now that are live like I watched newsroom and

It's about it right now some during the year

like new girl and a couple other shows but even

the ones I watch live I there's many there's

not many times I'm running to the The television

try to watch a show because I'm like if I miss

it, I'm gonna record it So it's not a big deal.

And if anything, I prefer it because I can just

fast forward through commercials. I I think the

only thing I watch live is the Super Bowl Yeah,

that's true. I mean that's really where Only

live event or sports right now I Don't even watch

it for the TV. I don't even watch it for the

game. I watch it for the commercials. Yeah I

find that so funny though that you know as kids

if we were into football we would all watch the

Super Bowl for the game like I remember like

when Dallas was on top like 27 28 Super Bowl

27 28, you know, we would watch it for the game

and the commercials whereas now most people like

I'll just watch it for the commercials I don't

give a shit about the game I don't know if it's

because I have the most time on my hands, but

I Watch tons of crap live Like it's there's so

much Stuff that I find myself getting interested

in like between Storage Wars, Auction Hunters,

Bar Rescue, Flip Men, anything on HGTV. The TNT

shows, Dallas, Resilient Isles, USA Network,

White Collar, Common Law. And there are some

network things that I will watch, but it's very

rare. Like this is the first year that I've actually

actively watched Big Brother in like four years.

Like I haven't watched... the Big Brother reality

show in a long time and this was the first year

that I actively remember to pay attention to

it and yeah there's a lot of stuff that I watch

live and you know and the thing is if I miss

it I can just you know go on Hulu and if it's

there it's there or I can you know go on TV .com

or I can go on the channel's website for the

most part and I can you know catch it there Because

essentially with with television broadcasts the

The TV networks at least the major ones have

essentially done away with piracy because the

next day or two days after something airs the

CBS NBC ABC Fox whatever Will have a full episode

on their website and that's just another way

for like if people missed it, you know, they

can catch it online I know there are a lot of

people out there that don't like watching stuff

on their computer or don't like watching stuff

online, that's fine. For me, I just can't stand

watching things on my computer. That's what it

comes down to for me. But what's weird is I don't

have a problem watching it on my iPad. Actually,

it's not so much I don't mind watching it on

my computer. I hate watching it in a browser.

I hate it. Yeah, I hate having to stream it I

hate I mean I don't have my internet's not bad

at all but I hate having to stream it because

I can't fast forward or rewind it when I won't

like as fast as I want to because it's got a

buffer and It's just it's not it's not quite

there and the convenience isn't isn't there I

mean, yeah, it goes up like a day later, which

doesn't bother me because for me I Watch, you

know all my shows. I watch on Tuesday and Saturday.

That's when I watch all my TV shows. So If the

shows that come out on Sunday and Monday, I watch

those on Tuesday. The Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,

Friday shows, I watch those on Saturday. The

fact that it goes up the next day doesn't bother

me. I hate watching stuff in a browser. They

put it up, but for me, it's still not convenient.

Right, but what I'm saying is versus ... when

we were kids, only being able to, like if you

recorded it on VHS, that's great, but if you

didn't and you missed it, whereas now, it, you

know. Absolutely. You know. Well, now there's

always another medium to find what you're looking

for, whether it be a torrent or on the actual

site or, you know, just whatever. I mean, but

yeah, back in the day, if you missed it, you

were screwed unless they reran it. Yeah. And

I mean, essentially the as far as watching movies,

DVD was the evolution of the VCR, but as far

as watching television shows, DVR is the evolution

of VCR because most cable companies and satellite

companies offer HD DVRs with god knows how much

memory on them. I've been seeing commercials

for Dish Network, oh, we have the hoppa. And

you can record up to six shows in one time or

whatever else. So, I mean, that is good. I mean,

that's a way that we've progressed as far as

that goes. And I don't know, what about you,

Steve? As far, I mean, I know you said you only

have certain shows on certain days, but as far

as your consumption of them, what do you prefer?

I prefer to still catch them on the official

time that they air. but should I miss them or

for instance if I'm trying to capture the series

because I generally don't like to watch them

on the actual site for whatever the station is

because you have to get through three to four

minutes of ads in between each five minute clip

of whatever the show is so I generally prefer

not to watch them that way unless there's no

other method to do so yeah for the most part

if I miss a show I just I try and torrent it

like two three days later download it watch it

on hook the laptop up to the TV through HDMI

watch it and then delete it and then I've seen

the episode yeah for me it's more so like you

know the ads okay Hulu has ads all the websites

have ads the only one that really pissed me off

that had ads was the cw network on their on their

web streaming because they would run like 10

ads whereas hulu has a maximum of three 32nd

ads or The CBS thing has maybe two or three ads,

and they're really short 30 -second ads, now

commercials on television, ads on TV. Those,

to me, last for freaking ever. What I find interesting,

considering the way that I watch TV, which is

commercial -free, I actually find when I do,

if I'm at my parents' house and a show is on

or I'm somewhere where there is TV, I actually

find myself focusing more on the commercials

than the actual TV show that's on, and I've actually

embarrassed myself a couple times because I laugh

at the commercials, and everyone looks at me

like, what are you laughing about? I'm like,

I haven't seen it. I have such a huge problem

with commercials. I just think some things don't

need to be advertised for, but... Yeah, catheters

do not need to be advertised for in the middle

of the freaking day. Okay, I don't... Well...

there is no okay but the you know and that this

what what i'm gonna bring up here this is actually

turn into a whole separate gcr episode but um

commercials they show the weirdest commercials

at the artist of times uh... they'll show catheter

commercials those those show reverse mortgage

commercials in the middle of the day they should

have a million different guy co safe auto uh...

progressive or some of those i can understand

but i don't know i'm not i'm not i'm not complaining

about the car insurance commercials but i'm just

saying like a million times a day those are shown

and then you have uh... not that i am against

the guy but you have freaking montel williams

uh... advertising for money mutual and then you

have some chick who's dressed up as an indian

advertising for uh... one eight six six sky twelve

twenty four or ten thousand dollars in your bank

account tomorrow as long as you sign your life

away and give us your information bullshit loan

uh... you know and then you get into infomercials

late at night where they show the my pillow infomercial

a million times a night for me this is just what

you're telling me is this what t .v. has always

been this is nothing new like especially like

this They've always had crappy commercials. I

mean, it's a target audience Right and I understand

that but and I and I get that but I guess just

in my old age is just like the commercials are

pissing me off now than they did when I was a

kid I guess I don't know But yeah, the the whole

infomercial commercial thing will definitely

be a different GCR episode Let's see, you know

music music has evolved over the years. I mean

from from records to Eight tracks to cassettes

to CDs to now having everything be digital Well

most everything Kid Rock get with the times Anyway,

it's a whole other episode Do you guys still

buy CDs at all unless you can find it online?

Actually, I have a funny story about this. I

was actually going to buy the new Maroon 5 CD.

I went to Best Buy and I was going to actually

buy a physical copy of a CD for the first time

in six years. And I went over and I picked it

up off the shelf and I was like, okay, 12 bucks.

Not bad. I was still pissed though because I

picked it up and they wanted 12 bucks and it

wasn't even in a jewel case. It was a freaking

cardboard sleeve. Yeah, like a single comes in.

Yeah, and I was like, um, I Pick I took out my

phone I went in the iTunes store and I was like,

how much is it on the iTunes store? It was a

dollar less on the iTunes store for all the same

stuff I would just wouldn't have a cardboard

sleeve. I was like, I was like, you know what?

Screw this no jewel case. I'm just gonna go home

and download it off of a torrent site No one

got any money And then I put it then I put it

in iTunes and thanks to iTunes match. I have

a better copy of the one that I downloaded So

I'm just kind of I was like I I was ticked I

was like to me a CD goes in a jewel case Yeah,

it doesn't singles can go on the cardboard sleeves,

but full -blown albums No, thank you. And if

you're gonna put in a cardboard thing, don't

charge me $12 for a cardboard sleeve Yeah, I

was I was it was just it was just irritating.

Um, oh no, I I completely understand that I mean

that's That's the way of packaging nowadays though,

sadly, with a lot of stuff. For me, it's just

whatever. I would say if it's something I really

like, like Maroon 5, I'd buy it. Obviously, I

didn't. I don't have a problem buying things

off of iTunes. Music, I don't have a problem

buying off of iTunes, I should say. Right. What

about you, Steve? I don't even buy music anymore

because I I mean for the most part there's not

very much that I Either like one or two songs

from a group. So I just Any more I don't even

like I can't even tell you the last time I downloaded

music just for the hell of it like I don't and

For the most part I don't even use torrent sites

because usually it's a hit or miss. I like one

or two songs I just go to YouTube Then I use

the mp3 downloader. Yeah, and just find the individuals

and I just find the song because Actually, the

YouTube video is better than half the crap you

find in the torrent stuff anyway if you get from

the official source and then just rip it from

there I It's not that I wouldn't buy a CD. It's

just Half the time. I don't care for half the

stuff that's on it. So I don't even want to really

mess with it Yeah for me music's always been

kind of what kind of like a weird thing like

In 2002, when I got my first personal computer

for myself, I decided that I was going to build

just a collection for like a jukebox, if you

will. Right. So anytime someone would recommend

a song, I would download the entire album, whether

I listen to that album or not. In my iTunes playlist,

I have... Probably 7 ,000 songs. And really quickly

here, I can tell you I have only listened to...

Never played songs. I've only listened to...

I haven't listened to 4 ,861 songs. And I have

7 ,421. So a little over half the songs on my

computer I've never listened to. And that's my

point. I don't have an issue with having them

on there because a lot of the times it's like

I'll be listening to a song and someone will

be like, have you heard this other song? And

I'm like, no, but I have it. I'll go try it out.

I don't have to worry about going and finding

it or anything like that. It's just fun to have

all of it. Before Dan gives his thoughts, I do

want to interject on this because what I find

about iTunes is iTunes is complete choice when

it comes to music. Unless they do something shitty

like what they did with the Revenge of the Fallen

soundtrack and make a song you want album only

so it forces you to buy that album. That's not

iTunes. Okay, I understand that, but that's how

it appears in iTunes. I know it's probably the

record company that wants them to market it that

way. but But that's how it appears in iTunes

and if that's not their fault Well, whatever

they need to put that in, you know, they agreement

that they make you sign. Well, did you read the

agreement? Did you read the agreement? I'm just

The only reason I pointed out is because yeah,

a lot of people probably assume it's iTunes But

you guys have a voice and you can actually set

the record straight. So people aren't so dumb,

right? So it's not I iTunes Apple does not set

the price for anything in the iTunes store Well

or or or or what is available in the album that

is the studio Okay, that is not that iTunes is

just a store. They don't say they don't get they

don't decide What is exclusive and what's not

that's the content owners? Yeah, okay. Well there

you go but Again, my point here is iTunes is

complete choice for the most part if you only

want like if you only like one Kelly Clarkson

song or if you only like one Nickelback song

I'm sure at some point, you know You can go on

there and you can find whatever it is and buy

that one song versus having to spend Nine ten

twelve eleven dollars on an entire album. Yep.

Hey, I did that for a little bit When I had when

I had gift cards I would do that but Yeah, no,

I still can't buy them singly like that It just

depends on the artist and the song for me What

about you Dan? What's your experience between?

The music stuff. Okay. Well, I remember you know

back in the day having having good classics just

cassettes I was you know having good old Walkman

and you know putting the cassettes in the radio

trying to record songs you know that the first

piracy trying to you know count for those you

know because it was you're a kid it's the quickest

way to get music you know you didn't have you

couldn't go online to you know download something

you had a you had to work for it a little bit

more you know wait Try to you know, wait for

the song that you wanted to record try to stop

it before the DJ starts talking and ruining the

song It was you know, it was a process but uh,

but I don't know the last time I think the last

time I bought a CD was probably Jack Johnson's

last CD and it was an impulse buy I think I was

just it was in a movie store and I saw it there

for cheap. So I picked it up But yeah, actually

if I myself I don't buy music or download music

that much anymore I've kind of converted to like

talk radio and Podcasts I tend to listen to that

a lot more than actual music now I don't know

why just kind of I prefer talk radio over over

music just kind of evolved for me over the over

the years But like you mentioned, I think iTunes

has kind of changed music in the way where it's

more single based and you know album based anymore

like it back Way back when it was all about the

album now It's all about you know who has the

most number one hits and I think that's why we

see Every Kelly Clarkson song or every Katy Perry

song is a single now because that's the way they're

gonna sell their music They're not gonna sell

it by an album. They have to release every song,

you know as a single to try to make more money

for it, but uh Yeah, it's music's changed and

you can definitely see it I mentioned this back

in several times back in the music spotlight

where there are only certain bands for me that

I will actively buy every album that they ever

will or have. Nickelback. Yes, that's right.

Damn straight. Nickelback, Theory of a Dead Man,

Shine Down, you know, a lot of stuff like that.

Theory of a dead man specifically is what I love

about them is they will intentionally make and

they've gone back to make Extended plate or not

like bonus track stuff and You know when they

release a new album if there's a deluxe edition

or a bonus track edition or whatever else I will

buy that just to get as much as I can for the

money that I'm gonna pay You know, so that for

me is is is really where where the albums come

in but for the most part It's like, you know,

like you said You know with with Katy Perry and

Kelly Clarkson, it's based off the singles and

let's face it I mean, you know you pull up a

Katy Perry album There might be one good song

out of 12 on there. It sounds halfway decent.

I also think it's a big reason we see all these,

you know the voice and American Idol and all

these Shows because they're getting money from

every time, you know glee has a song on their

show They're selling it on iTunes and yeah glee

is getting money for it, too But whoever they

license that song for is getting money for it.

So I think a big the music industry is kind of

Putting all their stars like Christina Aguilera

Britney Spears on these shows because they know

it's kind of the best way to get them out there

I mean, no one's watching music videos anymore.

It's all about you know reality. Is anyone showing

music videos anymore? Only in secret, I think.

Only in secret. But yeah, I mean, you're right.

I haven't liked American Idol in years. I think

active. I like some of the stars that it is produced

like Daughtry and Carrie Underwood and all that

stuff, but like I have not actively followed

that show since season one. I don't care for

the format of it. I don't care for the popularity

of it. I just started watching The Voice this

past season and any artist that performed a song

that they had performed, if I had liked it, I

bought it on iTunes. I I can't watch reality

television I'm the same I just I mean I can recognize

a lot of those people have talent and I think

that you know I'd rather see shows like that

be popular that people You know are singing and

have something you know to offer rather than

like, you know Real housewives or Jersey or what

-have -you, but yeah, I just can't get into reality

TV I've never watched like a survivor a big brother

any of the singing stuff for first of all, I

can't stand musicals, so I can't watch anything

involving people singing. And you know, I did

the whole cassette recording thing, you know,

making mixed tapes for girlfriends and stuff.

That was a lot of fun. I remember the first time

I ever burned a CD was at a friend's house and

she actually had this nice setup where she could

create the disc art too. It wasn't a light scribe

system. But it was like she had this special

paper that had the it was like a sticker CD stompers.

Yeah, well, it's like a yeah It was like a sticker

that was on a printed sheet and you could like

design it in the computer and print it out That

was always really cool. I only ever did that

once though and I have I don't know for me. I

Like I said, I have you know, I just said I have

a lot of music on my computer But for me music

is always a background thing. I cannot sit there

and like listen to music. I Yeah, I Totally agree.

I just can't I know people that can like they're

watching like they're watching a TV show They'll

like sit down in front of their stereo like stare

at the stereo while the music's playing and I'm

like I know Well, yeah, like if I'm sitting here,

you know, listening to music, most likely I'm,

you know, coding stuff for geekcasterradio .com,

or I'm writing up posts, or I'm writing notes

for a pot, you know. It's not like I'm just sitting

here twiddling my thumbs while the music plays.

I'm doing other things. I didn't say that. I

was just like, that's just the way I indulge

in music, even though I have so much of it. It's

just like in my car. I can't ... I can't do the

talk radio thing in my car because I'm not my

dad. That's probably the only reason I don't.

I mean, the one thing I did kind of inherit from

him was listening to podcasts before I went to

bed. He had Prairie Home Companion on CD, and

he has a nice little stereo system in the bedroom,

and he puts it on while he's going to sleep,

and that's what he goes to sleep listening to,

is Prairie Home Companion. I picked it up, but

I have the same setup, but I listen to podcasts

instead of Prairie Home Companion. I have a set

number of stuff. Besides wanting to make sure

that all the stuff that we produce is good quality

as far as listening back to it, I have maybe

10 different podcasts that I listen to on a weekly

basis. I don't listen to a lot of podcasts because

a lot of them I just don't care for. But I have

the certain ones to support certain people that

I like or certain people that I know and stuff

like that. But yeah, I mean, I find it so funny

that... You know, we grew up not having the internet

and not having all this instant stuff whereas

kids of the current generation anywhere from

I would say 95 to 2011, you know, but you know

those kids are going those kids and future kids

are gonna grow up You know knowing what the internet

is and having that. Oh my god, if I get disconnected

my life is over I get that now Well, you know

Well, yes, because we're all old and we all are

like, oh my god. Because for me, everything is

like, I don't get mail anymore for bills. Everything

is online. My banking is online. I don't get

statements in the mail from the bank anymore.

Our lives are connected on the internet. And

I can understand that. But what I'm saying is

like, you know, Having children being you know

growing up in this age versus growing up in the

age that we grew up whereas like They don't you

know unless their parents teach them. Oh, this

is what a cassette was This is what a CD was

they're only gonna know iTunes and you know illegal

piracy and Thank God lime wire finally died.

Oh my god. Oh That was a while ago, dude. I don't

use any of that stuff in like eight years Yeah.

There's this magical place called Pirate Bay.

Yes, yes. That's my friend sometimes. EasyTV

.it. So yeah, I mean, I think we live in an age

where it's like everything is just so easily

accessible. Whereas when we were growing up,

it wasn't so easily accessible. Well, see, I

don't know. When I was growing up, To be honest,

when I was growing up, I didn't watch a lot of

TV. I didn't watch movies on Friday, Saturday

nights. I was completely oblivious to what was

going on. I was aware of Saturday morning cartoons

from my friends talking about at school and stuff

like that, but the amount of times I was actually

able to partake in Saturday morning cartoons

or after -school cartoons, I could probably...

count on both hands like in all seriousness because

when I got home it was like either come inside

and do your homework or go outside and play until

dinner's ready and you know to and you know that's

that's great I'm glad that my parents did that

you know because I I had a lot of fun just playing

around outside but I we didn't really watch a

whole lot of TV like I said just maybe like a

movie on Friday Saturday night from the video

store if we're lucky so it's This you know, the

internet has actually allowed me to go back and

catch up on all the stuff that my friends were

able to watch While I was outside, you know playing

in the woods and you know accidentally falling

into water Falling into ponds off of a fault

walking off of a dock Yeah, it's sick, but it's

well Actually, it was kind of like a looney tunes

moment actually I was walking backwards on this

dock while I was talking to my friend and I was

Walking backwards towards the end of it and I

took one step too far And I literally like stood

there until I looked down and then I just went

straight down into the water I and I hit the

bottom and I hit the bottom of the lake and I

sprung right back out onto the dock and You know

walked home with my bike soaking wet But yeah,

I was never actually, you know this this stuff

Was kind of It's all still kind of it was like

kind of boring to me. I didn't really get into

anything until like 97 as when I was actually

started able Able to get like a little free time,

you know My parents actually kind of they weren't

strict parents or anything But they kind of loosen

the reins like you can watch TV when you want

as long as your other stuff's done, but You know,

whatever For me it was the complete opposite

I maybe spend an hour hour and a half each each

afternoon outside and the rest of the time I

was indoors I watched anything and everything

I could And as I've said multiple times on this

show and wire and other shows My mom never put

a cap on when I watched so I saw some fucked

up shit when I was a kid I my parents actually

told me that I could not watch the Simpsons My

stepmother and father told me that, but I didn't

live with them. I lived with my mom. My dad let

me watch it, so that was all that mattered. What's

actually interesting about it is they said that

I couldn't watch Simpsons. I've maybe seen maybe

four or five episodes of it. I can't stand that

show. I can't. I like it. I like Futurama better.

I like Futurama. I love Futurama, but like Simpsons?

like there's maybe it's because I wasn't able

to watch it from the beginning so it didn't grow

like with me it's it's it's kind of old though

like i mean i grew up with it and i still don't

really care to watch it all that much anymore

like i mean if it comes on and there's nothing

better i'll watch it but i prefer Futurama yeah

i i love Futurama and like there's it's actually

kind of one other funny story about this is uh

my parents would always do that we're gonna watch

it first then You know, if it's really bad, we'll

watch it with you and tell you what you need

to cover your eyes for or whatever. One movie

that they did that for that is Robocop 2. There

is a scene in that movie that I have not seen

to this day. And whenever I watch the movie by

myself, I know where the scene is and I either

like get up and like go and get like a drink

of water or I just start doing something else

but I've never seen the scene. I just know a

guy is screaming very loudly. It's just weird.

My parents were similar. I couldn't go to the

movies when I was a kid, which I think is why

I love going to them now. So the first movie

I think I saw in theater was Lion King. And then

the second movie I saw, because I had to tag

along with my older sister, was Schindler's List,

which is a very, for a young mind, it was very

confusing. Yeah, you think? You know my eyes

got covered. I think we ended up walking out

of it because I you know, but Regarding what

you guys are saying about you know How long you

how often you watch television? I think I was

kind of a combination of both like often with

like my friends growing up We would watch TV

at certain time points like Disney afternoon

That was like that's when we're playing ourselves

on the couch watching that and we go outside

or you know We would play NBA Jam on the Sega

Genesis and then get bored with it and go outside

and play basketball So it would kind of like

be a combination of both if it was raining out,

but yeah, it was nice outside we were we're outside

but If you know when it got later if it was Saturday

morning, there were certain times where we knew

there are certain shows We didn't want to miss

so because we had you know If we missed them

like we're mentioning we weren't gonna see them

again till who knows when but um I think too

one great thing about the digital age is how

it's kind of gotten rid of the middleman We've

talked about like iTunes and like how you know

the the studios and what they make available

for us, you know album only and whatnot but what

you see a lot now we're content creators kind

of just providing the material straight to the

fans themselves like um louis ck his last album

and video he he just released it for five dollar

download you just go to a site and you know he

made a little bit of profit off of it obviously

but four dollars it was easy download and and

it He didn't have to release it on CD and put

it on Comedy Central. Jim Gaffigan did a similar

thing. I think you're going to see that more

often. We have things like Kickstarter now where

content creators can put their stuff out there

and you can get access to it rather quickly without

having to go through a movie studio or go through

a record studio. I think we're going to see an

evolution with that maybe in the upcoming years

as that becomes more available. Honestly think

Kickstarter is a big fucking joke though because

people will start kickstarters for the dumbest

reasons Yeah, I think for like anything like,

you know, 90 % of YouTube is probably garbage

But you know the 10 % is really good the same

thing with anything I think there's a couple

good things out there But like you mentioned

a lot of it is kind of like help me do a Kickstarter

so I can buy more movies Yeah, we'll see that's

the thing. It's like oh, you know Kickstarter

is supposed to have a you know, get a business

or get get a company or get, you know, something

started or get, you know, charity started. Well,

what if the charity is a fraud or what if the,

you know, it's, there's something I've been trying

to follow because a Kickstarter just in my, in

what I follow Kickstarter blew up when they started,

like when video game companies started getting

involved with it. Yeah. Um, they, there's something

I haven't actually looked into it myself. I've

just been listening to like other podcasts talk

about Kickstarter and stuff, but from what I've

been able to gather is they actually, Supposedly

don't receive money until they release something

or something like it's weird. It's like just

because they people have donated money They don't

just cut them a check for eight million dollars

because that's what people donated to them they

have to actually like produce something before

they Receive anything so your your money isn't

just because you gave up your you know You paid

a hundred dollars for like the collector's edition

or something like that that money can be returned

to you if the company or whoever fails to do

what they said, which is the only reason I'm

skeptical of it and the only reason I haven't

actually donated anything is one, because there

hasn't been anything that really blew my mind,

but two, is because I haven't heard of anything

being produced yet. I hear about people donating

all this money, but I haven't heard of any of

these big things being done. Well, I can actually

speak speak to that because my friend donated

to it was like a few board games It's a big part

of that too. There's been a lot of board games

on there He's gotten a lot of really great board

games that were done. Okay Kickstarter. I didn't

know about video games But I think there are

some smaller ones that have worked out pretty

well My sister does a blog for board games and

she too has gotten a lot of great board games

through Kickstarter Well, I guess I guess like

the bigger stuff like they got one the ones that

are like racking up like millions of dollars

Yeah And I wonder, where is that going? They're

asking for $90 ,000, and suddenly they have $3

million. It's like, where is that extra money

going to go now? Yeah. And I've heard the board

game thing. But for me, that's a small thing.

Something like, OK, say you want to set up a

cafe in your hometown that is a geek -centric

cafe or an internet cafe or whatever else. And

they're like, oh, if you give us $1 ,000, you'll

have this, whatever the reward is. Or if you

give us $100, you can come out and visit or have

your name inscribed in the, some stupid thing.

OK, stupid is relative in any context. So it

just really depends on if it. That's one of the

beauties of Kickstarter is if it doesn't interest

you or you don't like the reward, don't do it.

Well, right, no, I understand that, but it's

like, OK, you know, this also goes towards Facebook

events as well. It's like with Kickstarter is

like, oh, if you donate this much and you're

in the area that we build this place. You know,

you can come out and do this, this, and this.

Well, obviously, what if you don't live in that

area? What if you're not going to be willing

to travel in that area? Same thing with Facebook

events. Facebook events, when I get invited to

those, I block people that invite me to those

because it's like, I am not going to... I just

don't... As far as social networking and technology

and the digital age, I don't understand Facebook

events because it's like, why do I want to say

I'm going to be attending auto assembly in Birmingham,

England when I'm in the fucking United States

and I'm not traveling to friggin' England? Why

do I want to say that I'm attending this on Facebook

when it makes no damn sense when I'm not actually

friggin' there? I'd be trying to figure out why

you're getting those invites. Well, they're from

friends who are in the transformers community

and all that stuff But but that's my point it's

like, you know, I just don't understand those

those types of things Part of the blog was when

I wrote up the blog like my end question was

do we think that Does anyone think that the digital

age is progressing too fast do we need to stop?

you know, take a look around, smell the roses,

whatever, because, I mean, technology is just

going to keep growing and growing and growing.

I mean, there's rumors now of the iPhone 5 being,

like, $800. It's going to be $200 by contract.

Well, it's so different than the existing iPhone.

Right. Well, it's with any of the smartphones.

They're all $600, $700, and then with a contract,

you can get them for $200. Yeah, that counts

as news, then. Wow, okay, I started was a rumor.

I didn't say it was news. I know I'm just saying

maybe I should start a ringer vlog For me there's

a couple things that have come up when I've read

articles about this and I actually posted one

today to Twitter The the digital age is is creating

this Be interested to see what you guys think

about this being that we're in like podcasts

and YouTube stuff like that, but the this generation

that's coming up is basically producing it's

some people are calling it the good enough generation

where the media is whatever the media is whether

it's like a magazine or music or video or pictures

it's just good enough like the video is like

the video on YouTube some of it is just good

enough to get the point across. Some people talk

about the bit rates of the music obviously not

being up to CD quality or even records for that

matter, the record CD, the CD, the mp3. But a

lot of people, and to an entire generation, 128

kbps mp3 is fine. Like it's it's good enough

a lot of the flat a lot of the video on YouTube

Well may look fine on your phone or a smaller

screen May look like garbage on your on your

TV, but it's good enough. I'm just curious like

Is there it basically comes down to in the digital

age? while it's progressing I think it's progressing

rather nicely, but Are you do you think it's

Do you see what I'm talking about with it being

good enough? Or do you think like it just being

good enough? Or do you are you guys still interested

in like the high -end stuff like properly? You

know like blu -ray or like you know stuff like

that for me it comes down to expense especially

with blu -ray For me when I had my a couple of

years ago when I had my HDTV because 2010 it

kind of crapped out on me was four years old

at that time, so I guess the tubes blue or something.

I don't know I can't justify spending 22 23 dollars

on a blu -ray of anything or you know however

much it you know 22 23 20 whatever the pride

or honor I don't keep up with the price of blu

-ray if it's 29 99 whatever I don't know I bought

one blu -ray and I only bought it because there

was feature on a special feature on it that it

wasn't on the other versions of something and

my computer has a blu -ray player on it and I

played the movie and it didn't sound any different

to me it's good blu -ray to me is it's not as

evil as 3d and i don't i don't i i i think blu

-ray is very good i think it's you know i'm not

not saying it's bad but blu -ray to me is this

i have the same stance on it as i have on on

3d i don't see any difference i don't hear any

difference well at all you're watching it on

a computer screen and uh... Remember I remember

when you had this review because we had a conversation

You're probably not using a surround sound system

or and you're not watching it on a TV So blu

-ray doesn't benefit you but like I'm just saying

like the the like Is there is there room in the

digital age for the the high -end stuff versus

iTunes content? I do agree like you have like

you mentioned about to get enough. It's a lot

about Right now, it's about quantity over quality

a lot of ways. You see a teenager talking about

how many Twitter followers they have. Like, oh,

I have 10 ,000 Twitter followers. Yeah, but 90

% of what you're talking about on Twitter is

how many Twitter followers you have. So what

does that even mean? It's great. You basically

are trying to obtain this number. It's a popularity

contest more than it's actually anything of substance.

Exactly, and the good enough thing. It's like,

yeah, I made this video. Did it throw it out

there? It got all these views. But yeah, it's

great. Your cat's falling asleep. But what does

that mean? It's just like it's all about kind

of just getting it popular. Like, you know, just

making it good enough so people can watch it.

But I think there will be I think they'll they're

still Population out there for high quality and

stuff. I think there will always be those people

who will want to buy Criterion blu -ray because

of what it offers I know they're getting a quality

product, you know, they're gonna get good sound

quality get a good picture and extras I think

it's gonna be more, you know a more special item

as streaming increases, but what's interesting

What I didn't realize there is an article published

recently that Netflix right now We think it's

on it's all streaming but still more people use

Netflix mailing than use streaming more The purchase

of Blu -ray has increased at a higher percentage

than over streaming usage. So I think in a lot

of ways, we're not as progressed in the digital

age as we think we are. And I think one bigger

reason for that is kind of how the digital age

is kind of, in a way, it's made our world bigger,

but we kind of know more people that are like

us. So I think it's out there. I think the...

Maybe we're progressing a little too fast. But

it's just the nature of technology. I think the

Industrial Revolution, they probably thought

they were progressing too fast. You kind of just

have to catch up to it. And so I don't know.

Maybe it's just, you know, being old and not

liking police teenagers on my lawn. I don't know.

I mean, I don't like I I don't like. All the

stuff in my house is is is prime for the the

high end, the high end stuff, except, you know,

Before I jumped on the podcast my fiance won

over talking about and I said that we were talking

about the digital age and I was gonna I was gonna

bring this question up and it's funny because

she's watching a TV show right now that I grabbed

off the internet and it's not the HD version

of the show. I mean it was an HD feed but it

was down converted to a much smaller file and

you know I'm playing it on this Crazy ass TV

that I have and it's it's like I was like this

is what I'm talking about. It's like we're What

she's watching it's good enough to watch Yeah,

but I've got this whole shelf here full of blu

-rays, which is obviously like the high -end

stuff. So it's just been interesting to me because

like they they talk about like cameras Like video

cameras, you have the little flip video cameras.

Like that's that's what people a lot of people

think that's like that's good enough to shoot

epic frickin' movies. And people are shooting

movies on their iPhones and their Android phones.

And I'm not trying to, I'm not calling, heck,

I'm doing, right now XRG Live is being done with

the webcam that's in my Mac. Well, and I'm gonna

be doing my video show with my Android phone,

so I mean. But it's kind of like, and then we

turn around and we try and make it as take that

footage and try to make it as best as we can.

For me, I can't... If I get a digital copy of

a movie, I will download it, but I've never actually

watched any of the digital copies. No, I don't

do digital copies, and I prefer... If I want

to see it... Just to see it, and I don't want

to own it I will just you know pay the 317 after

tax on iTunes or something But if I want to have

it in my iTunes collection for a movie or TV

show episode or whatever else I will go ahead

and buy it But I will buy the non HD version

just so I can have it and just so I'd be able

to see it So I kind of do agree with you where

it is it is good enough, but there is room for

for the high -end stuff I think sadly you know

you have to have Enough of an income or enough

of us, you know a savings plan to be able to

afford that stuff over time because like I said

Price of blu -rays is just they range from like

five bucks to 40 bucks Yeah, depending on what

what you want and when you get it Yeah, if you

go on Black Friday, you can clean up like a mother

I don't know it's I also think any device, any

mobile device, actually any electronic device

that doesn't have the internet, I find it to

be absolutely useless. Oh, I agree. Actually,

I have a, my iPad is a 3G iPad. It was one of

the first ones I'm actually grandfathered into

AT &T's unlimited data plan. And I take advantage

of that thing so bad. Well, why wouldn't you?

Well, I run up. Between 10 and 20 gigs a month

watching Netflix on it at work So I cannot I

cannot lose that I happily pay my $30 a month

to be able to watch Netflix when I want But it's

like I know people that have just the the Wi

-Fi iPad I'm like how why why like especially

for like a tablet like I can't imagine Having

a device like that And not having the internet

on it, and I will say that the iPhone Being my

first being my only because it's my first smartphone.

I'm not trying to I'm trying to contain the fanboy

in me Well, it completely it completely changed

My my life really when I worked at the you know,

I work at a movie theater and I work two days

a week. That's it. I work a 15 -hour shift and

a 17 -hour shift So when I go in on Tuesdays

and Saturdays, I just forfeit those days And

I worked at the movie theater for a year with

that schedule and I'd go into work at 9 o 'clock

on a Tuesday morning and I'd get out at midnight

I would have no clue what happened in the outside

world None. I mean I had text on my phone. I

had like a Motorola sliver Yeah, but to go 15

hours without like talking to anybody or like

getting any kind of news update anything You

can kind of go a little crazy. I mean the world

could end and I wouldn't even know it, you know

When they announced the iPhone, I went out and

got it, and it completely changed. I was posting

up forums that I was a part of while I was at

work. I was watching videos. It was the first

device to put the internet in my pocket. Being

able to have it wherever I am, that's just crazy,

and I really can't imagine having a mobile device

that doesn't have the internet. at all times.

In fact, as nice as I like my computer, I take

it to work. If I don't have a project to work

on, it's useless to me at work because it doesn't

have the internet. For me, I know you don't have

to set certain things up on smartphones like

email and all that. It's not required to do so

for some stuff. When I had my my HTC sensation

I mainly wanted it for like Twitter and Facebook

and stuff like that because I'm I'm constantly

home. I'm constantly at my computer so The only

reason why outside of you know having a new phone

through T -Mobile and still having T -Mobile

service at the time Was so I could watch Netflix

On the phone and I have the Wi -Fi because I

had the way, you know I've got a Wi -Fi router

and it was just fine If I ever go back and get

like an iPod touch or something. I'm not gives

no way in hell I'm gonna pay for 3g. There's

just no way when Wi -Fi is just as good and it's

free Oh, I I agree. I'm just saying like and

I wouldn't pay I Wouldn't get a free iPad now.

Yeah. Yeah If I don't have unlimited data on

it, screw it. My iPhone still has unlimited data

and my iPad still has unlimited data. I'm not

giving that stuff up until they tie me in the

ground and keep me in the head. That's the only

reason why I went with Sprint when I got my smartphone

just recently is because I'm not going to pay

for a limited data plan when I know I'm going

to use it. I went with them because they're the

only ones left that do unlimited. Overall, I

kind of agree with Mike where he says the digital

age is going to continually progress and it's

progressing somewhat in a good way, but I don't

know. Sometimes I have to unplug. Sometimes I

just have to step away from my computer and just

not deal with anything. I think that was one

of the main reasons why I hated having T -Mobile

with... with a smartphone and having my email

connected to it and having all this stuff connected

to it because it's like constant notifications

and it's like, oh my god, will this damn thing

ever shut the fuck up? See, I thrive on it. I

like having constant contact. I have all eight

of my email accounts synchronized through my

phone. I'm not kidding you, I do have eight for

different purposes, but... You know, it's nice

having everything at the palm of my hand in case

I need to get to it, which makes it easier for

me to not really want to grab it as much or check

the stuff, because if anything worthwhile is

worth checking, it beeps at me and then I grab

it and use it and then I put it back. And I mean,

granted, most of my job consists of sitting in

front of a computer anyway, so I don't have to

actually use it as much as one would think, but...

It's still whether it be the phone or the internet.

Those are definitely things that Are a part of

our society now, oh, yeah Yeah, I agree with

you Mike having to unplug sometimes because I

think Having that access is great, but you can

get lost in it very easily like you'll be you

see a group of friends You go out with a group

of friends and you realize you're sitting at

the table and you're all looking at your phones

and ten minutes has gone by and no one said a

word yet because everyone's looking at each other's

Facebook statuses when you're like, oh, yeah,

look, it's all checked in and but uh But it also

depends on the generation too because for instance

when I would go to lunch with my friends You

put the phones away Well, yeah, none of us grabbed

our phones. Even if it beeped, we'd glance at

it real quick and just say, meh, whatever, we'll

grab it after lunch. I was thinking more so for

work, because if I go out with work people, you're

leaving work, but you're still at work because,

oh, we just got a work email, oh, no, we just

need to go. No one can kind of disconnect themselves

from work sometimes. Well, even before I had

a smartphone, I was getting called 24 -7 at my

job because... I'm the IT guy as well as in like

several other positions, so they constantly would

call my phone Whereas now it makes it even easier

for them to get a hold of me Because I don't

have to worry about my minutes So yeah, it's

it does make it more annoying in some regards

Because you're constantly connected despite not

wanting to sometimes but It's it's also nice

at the same time because there's there's more

perks to it than there are Issues Yeah, I find

myself I could walk away from my iPad I can walk

away from my computer. I can't like I If I leave

the phone without my if I leave the house without

my phone, I don't freak out Yes, don't lie. No,

I don't lie. No, I don't actually and it's actually

happened quite a few times in the last couple

months The fiance and I will go out to lunch

or something and I'll leave my iPhone sitting

on the couch and I won't realize until we're

like halfway there and I'm not gonna turn around

and go get my phone. I'll just be like, whatever,

I guess I'll just have to talk to her now. But

it's not a big deal. I don't have that much going

on in my life. If I come home, maybe I've got

a text, but I'm in this like, my phone really

is only busy. Because I'm in this group thread

with my family that feels like sharing pictures

of like They're the dinners that they cook from

scratch and it my phone like blows up like after

like five o 'clock my dad's cooking something

on the grill or my sister made some Pizza from

scratch or something. I'm just like my phone

just blows up and I'm just like I actually assigned

them all My family a different text to alert

from everybody else. I know if I need to look

at my phone or not nice and it's And then I put

it on vibrate and I tried. I know some people

will leave their phones like on the kitchen counter

when they go to bed and they won't take any of

that stuff in the bedroom with them when they

go to sleep. I tried that for like two days.

It's not so much that I need it there. It's more

like I listen to my podcasts off of it. So it's

not like I don't lay in bed and like check it

for Hours on and unfortunately tonight. I was

otherwise. I wouldn't have been on this show

I was actually I was actually reading a little

shortcut things and and then your message came

through but if I hadn't been using my phone I

Would not have gotten anything because my phone

stopped sending me alerts after 9 o 'clock if

I'm not if I'm not on it So it's a it's a nice.

It's a nice little feature that they're adding

in the in the new software update It's like a

do not disturb function that you can set to go

like between certain hours Right. I saw the keynote.

Yeah, it's actually really nice. I have it set

from like 9 to 7. Nothing comes through. So sometimes

I'll get up at 6 o 'clock in the morning. When

I get up, my phone will be full of notifications

that I never heard. And it's great. All right.

We are going to take a quick break for commercials.

And then we'll come back with final thoughts.

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Steve, final thoughts on the digital age? Um...

I see many things to come in the future, but

I don't see this slowing down at any point. I

don't think that they're as advanced as they're

going to get by any means, but I think that that's

a long road that they're gonna be on. Yes. Michael?

I think, obviously this is gonna keep steam rolling

ahead, but I wouldn't mind... It's not going

to happen. I just wish that they could just agree

on something and make it work really well. Focus

on something. A lot of stuff has happened in

the last five years now since the smartphone

really took off. it's just a mess in terms of

like what what is offered and like how like pricing

and stuff like that of content and how to get

content and you know like there's there's stupid

lawsuits out there for you know getting digital

media and you know like through other means even

if it's not available legally and all this other

stuff and pricing for for certain services for

technology like internet it's still it's It's

not the internet in this country is not good

enough And it seems like if they make it better

than they just want to gouge you for it, but

we're we As a country we make some really cool

stuff, but our infrastructure sucks And the policy

for everything sucks, and I I just think that

yeah keep advancing But we need to get like some

kind of standard in place and like enforce things

instead of this like hemming and hawing and roadblocking

and just Well, our internet is better than Canada's

internet as far as... Yeah, but the rest of the

world has leaps and bounds. Okay, fine. Let's

go over to Finland. Let's go over to Finland

or let's go over to... They have hundred megabit

download speeds everywhere else but the US. And

you know what? I am a fan of Google right now.

But what I meant was when I said that as far

as pricing goes, I pay... 30 35 bucks a month

for my internet So, you know, I know Canada they

pay probably twice that much for a lower speed

well, but it's not Okay, we're not blast. Okay.

That's not what I was saying, but it's still

it's still for his first Gun ho as we are for

like yeah, we're number one. No, we suck. Yes

I and you know, I applaud companies like I I

like Google I like Apple. I really like what

Google's doing right now in Kansas City with

their Google Fiber. I hope it takes off and I

hope it scares the shit out of AT &T and Comcast.

One gigabit down for 70 bucks a month. That's

fucking crazy. Oh yeah, and I'm very excited

for that. I pay, not on a promotion, I pay $65

a month and I get 24 megs, I get 2 .4 megabits

down. or 24 megabytes and I. For the same price,

I can get one gig of it from Google. I hope it

takes off and I hope it scares the shit out of

them. It's nice when a company like them will

come like they have the money to test this and

and make it work and they can disrupt the industry,

kind of like they can disrupt the telecommunications

industry the way Apple disrupted the smartphone

community. And I it'd be really nice if we could

just catch up. And I wish the FCC could take

a stance on the mobile phone, the data uses for

mobile phones and stuff like that, because there's

no reason we shouldn't have unlimited internet.

There's no reason it needs to be like this. And

I'm all for moving forward and progressing and

making devices smaller, making them faster. I

mean, my phone is twice as fast as my first Apple

computer in 2004. That blows that blows my mind

and I and I just I want more I Just wish it was

Like more regulation. It's just more fair if

you will with you know what I'm paying for Otherwise,

I'm all for it. I just want I just want it better

I don't think any of us are on promotions with

whatever cable company we're with anymore and

that you know what I I Understand no, I I am

Okay, but what I'm saying is like in general

For someone who has been with what like I'm with

insight which is now being taken over by Time

Warner, but Anyway anyway, but you know I'm with

them. I've been with them since 2007 2008 so

I only had that one year Whatever the thing is

and every time I call back each year to argue.

Oh, well, I want this You know better price for

what I'm paying they say we just can't do it

and I'm like, well It would make more sense for

you to offer You know a price reduction each

year on your continued valued customers Then

constantly offering new things to get new customers

in Well, and that's the thing they have no no

decent retention system anymore They used to

all of them used to and now they just are like

yeah, fuck you You either pay the price or you

can cancel and go with somebody else I honestly

I went through this whole retention thing like

a couple months ago I can't I can't say anything

bad about I mean Yeah, I had to jump through

a couple hoops and it ended up being resolved

over Twitter Which I was greatly pleased about

is a wonderful tool Yes, I I mean they knocked

20 bucks off of my internet bill They kept they

gave me the same speed and knocked 20 bucks off

my internet bill for a year In order to not get

me to switch to Comcast Like I said, I had to

jump through a couple hoops to do it, but I got

it and Honestly, don't have anything bad to say

about them and I I even In fact even when I called

to like cancel my service. I still felt bad I

still felt like I was breaking up with a good

girlfriend or something. I was like, oh man I

don't want to have to deal with all this change

and someone coming out to the house and messing

with my stuff It was like I But do you have like

a choice in your community? For me. Yeah Like

is there someone like that offers like a counter

promotion or service? The problem is is that

I could go with Not not for internet no for for

television. Yes, I could go with dish or I could

go with direct TV The problem is is the higher

priced packages like I just get like I'm paying

between with with insight communications with

with 20 meg internet and basic classic cable

channels 2 through 99 I'm paying close to $92,

$93 a month with both services. And if I cancel

the TV and go with somebody else, it might be

a little cheaper in the long run. But then I

would have to, you know, if I went with Dish

Network, I'd have to have them come out. They'd

have to, you know, find a way around putting

the dish on the building and this, that, you

know, the thing or anything else. And I mean,

I'm not complaining about paying what I'm paying.

All is I was saying was that to me, Like if they

want to keep their loyal customers that have

been around for X amount of years It would make

more sense to offer them once a year You know

the same package for a slightly lower price each

year and I'm gonna comment about that because

I've been with Comcast for probably five six

years and Granted their service works. I'd say

good 80 % of the time Which is how I've managed

to get discounts over the years Yes. I've tried

dealing with their bullshit on the phone. It

gets nowhere. It's a waste of time. I find that

dealing with them on Twitter and calling them

asshats tends to get more of a reaction from

them and it's the only way I can get them to

pay attention because one, I have all the Twitter

audience and two, They don't want bad PR, so

they're going to sit there and they're going

to try and figure something out. Now, this year

is the only year I have not gotten a decent deal.

I've managed to get, the last three years anyway,

a decent deal. This year is the only one that

I've gotten kind of screwed. And with how often

my internet goes out and everything else when

I move I'm probably going to look into AT &T

just for the fact that I'm tired of Comcast bullshit.

It's inconsistent. It's I Feel like I'm getting

ripped off for the price I'm paying there are

no specials for people that just have internet

you're paying you either have to pay their internet

special or you can do the double play where you

can have their stupid phone service, which I

already told them I have an unlimited plan. What

the hell do I need a home phone? For two, I'm

not home enough to use a home phone. So there's

no point. Everybody calls me on my cell. That's

my number. That's period. I don't need a home

phone at all. And then they try and sell you

on the triple play and then... I'm like, of course,

I have no use for the home phone. Again, it's

a redundant system. Then they gouge you on the

modems and everything else. The whole system

is kind of screwed up. I'm actually hoping that

the Google thing takes off really well and I

hope it bends over Comcast and makes them have

a taste of their own medicine. If you look at

AT &T, I would only look into their internet

because I've heard from our... I used to have

AT &T internet. The only reason I switched was

because I moved. Right. Well, what I'm saying

is if you're looking to AT &T, only look at the

internet because I know our friend Michael Wilson

and his wife Chrissy constantly complain about

AT &T U -verse, how horrible in their area that

it is. Well, it could be just the area too though

because... I personally, we're not gonna have

cable. We're just gonna have internet because

you can watch everything through the stations

online anyway, so there's not really a point

in having cable. That's true, yeah. I'm canceling

my Netflix too next month because it's all the

same crap that's been on there for the last three

years, so it's not a point in keeping that either.

A lot of this stuff is kind of... winding down

or getting stagnant and there's nothing, no new

innovations that are making it worth spending

the money on it. And then there's, of course,

like you mentioned, Mike, about the Google stuff.

You know, there's these people with more money

and what they know what to do with coming in

there and changing the system. Which is good.

I mean, the other side of that, I mean, I just

talked about the Internet side of what Google's

doing. They're offering TV service, too. to get

their internet and TV is $120 a month. You get

an HD DVR box that can record eight shows at

one time, which is stupid. And then you still

get, you get 130 channels with that in HD, and

then you still get your one gigabit internet

down. So that also eats just the value on the

internet side, because I believe Comcast is charging,

what, $200 for 100 megabits? Yeah, we know what

it is. Yeah. Yeah, so they charge you 60 bucks

or 50 bucks for eight megabytes Yeah, that's

that's what I have and that's and I was getting

I was getting 16 for 37 For three years and then

they were like, oh no, you're cut off. No more

specials for you Yeah, you know and I'm like

I'm like really I've been with you six years

I'm like you guys have been pissed poor service

I have you guys out there all the time working

on it and this is the best I can get See this

is this is what I'm talking about with everything

being there needs to be some kind of control

here It's they need to offer a speed at a fair

price and they need to maintain they need to

be able to maintain that speed one of the things

I always one of the reasons I stay with AT &T

is because Comcast in my experience, especially

with their speed boost crap It's inconsistent

and then you get the speed boost for the first

set of whatever you're doing and there's 10 megs

of whatever you're doing And then it's done.

Yeah, and then it goes down. Then they can throttle

back to whatever they want. Whereas AT &T, both

their DSL and their U -verse service, for me,

has been consistent. Well, it's like when we

were doing the Dark Knight Rises episode. Behind

the scenes! Yeah, everybody that had Comcast

was sequentially getting booted off the internet.

Yep. But that's what I was talking about though

with my with my thing is just there's got to

be a fair It needs to be regulated where there's

a fair price for what you're getting and they

need to give us what we're paying for Yeah, yeah,

no, I agree. What about you Dan final thoughts?

Well, I think you need we need to have some type

of better service But I think a lot of that is

just educating the public I think a lot of people

just they don't know any better. They're just

like, okay This is what my area has and they

don't do much to research it. So they kind of

Kind of just accept what they have but regarding

the overall digital age itself, I think in a

lot of ways We're very spoiled, but i'm happy

to be spoiled i'm happy the fact that I can kind

of watch what I want when I want I don't have

to you know, if I want to watch a movie I have

unlimited options. I can go to redbox. I can

go to netflix I can use hulu plus hbo go. It's

it's it's kind of amazing We're connected more

than ever. Um, you know, if it wasn't for the

digital age, you wouldn't have podcasts You wouldn't

have this discussion. We are now I mean, I think

with anything, I think all technology tends to

progress too fast and you have issues and there's

errors and people try to adjust as they go. And

I think, you know, in a few years we'll see,

maybe we'll iron out all the wrinkles and it'll

be better. Maybe if we have organizations like

Google or Apple stepping up even more, you know,

those like Comcast who kind of just monopolize

certain areas and going to take advantage of

their customers will kind of go by the wayside

when people have more options. And I think that's

the biggest key of making everything better.

It's providing people more options. And right

now, I have Comcast. Because really, it's the

only thing I can get. I don't really have any

other options. I can argue all day, but it's

like, OK, if you don't want to go with us, then

you're just not going to go with anything. I

think that's it. I'm surprised that the satellite

companies don't offer internet They wouldn't

go with a satellite company period though. That's

that's my thing though. I'd rather have I understand

that Most satellite companies offer internet

over DSO lines. Yeah It's not it's not over.

It's not over the dish. Yeah I'm curious to see

where this all progresses. What's the next big

thing? Smartphones kind of completely change

everything and tablets are kind of on the way

there. It's kind of revolutionizing a lot of

different industries. Newspapers are kind of

coming back now because of the iPad. People are

actually reading them again and magazines are

kind of getting a new life again when they were

kind of going by the wayside. So I'm kind of

curious what the next thing will be. Who knows?

What it holds. we can only hope blade sabers

maybe mike you got anything you want to promote

as we close the show well uh... on this week's

uh... we're recording a new xrg uh... extreme

retro gaming on uh... monday uh... we're actually

taking a cue from the uh... in the forums and

we're actually going to cover rare uh... so it's

going to be interesting i should send you tv's

m - tv mr neil's uh... skype info so you can

have him on the episode because he will go off

I think it's better self -contained with the

three of them. It's going to be Joe and I versus

Danner. What's actually kind of funny is I've

been playing some of the games today. Like I

said on Twitter, I almost feel like I'd be better

off not playing these games for the podcast and

just going off of nostalgia. Because part of

it is just who I am today versus who I was then.

And but like I said playing Donkey Kong Country

again. I've never experienced muscle memory in

a video game before ever Until I played Donkey

Kong Country earlier this week. I was doing stuff

and remembering stuff I hadn't done in like 15

years. It's crazy. Yeah So but yeah, we're recording

that and you know, we are we're working really

hard on extreme retro gaming live but we're running

into some quality control issues basically, it's

Dan are not being very happy with what we've

got And I we're both of the same opinion and

we don't want to release something that we wouldn't

want to watch So we're trying to find a way to

to make it work. So cool What about you Dan?

What do you got coming up? Um, you can catch

all my reviews and all my articles like he cast

I think the next thing I'll have up is review

for the born legacy, which I will hopefully be

seeing this weekend So that should be up probably

this weekend or early next week Steve what do

you got going on? Just released an episode of

Future Imperfect Been doing some stuff with the

site Kind of Assisting with Q &A behind the scenes

for whatever they may need for XRG as well as

some stuff that Mike and Art have been working

on for the GCR and YouTube channel and future

of some of the video podcasts that will be on

there. I've been working on my own video podcast,

which I've dubbed Altered Geek, which I have

the promo video on my Twitter account, or promo

image, not video. I haven't made it that far

yet, but still in the planning stages of that.

that should be coming out in the next couple

weeks. Hopefully by the time this episode airs,

which will be soon, we will get confirmation

on the next GCRN interview for all things Transformers.

Tooncast Beyond Season 2 is still going strong.

This weekend we will be pre -recording the first

four episodes of Beyond the Night, the Knight

Rider podcast that premieres next month. Let's

see, what else? From the Command Center, we'll

have a new episode. Toycast is coming to a close.

Just, you know, keep producing the content, I

guess. I'm working on several blogs that are

taking longer than I thought. So, that's that.

And as always, you can find us over at geekcastradio

.com. For now, I am TFJ and Mike with Steve Megatron

Phillips, Movie Revolt Dan, and Boothinja81 Mike

Powers. Make sure you unleash the geek in you,

and we will see you in the next episode when

we talk about this. And I am the goddamn Batman.

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