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ABC's "Lost" on iPod

I rarely turn on the TV to watch my favorite TV shows. Instead, I plug my iPod into my laptop, then carry my shows with me. Most of ABC’s “Lost” episodes are stored in my iTunes folder. Sometimes I watch them on the laptop, but more often I watch them on iPod. To me, it’s as if “Lost” was never aired on TV.

A recent report shows that I’m not alone. According to the website macnn.com, in the first month after Apple began offering downloads of ABC shows, ABC sold more than a million copies of its shows, and the “Lost” series topped the list. (http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/11/17/lost.the.top.itunes.pick/)

To watch “Lost” episodes on iPod gives me an experience that is different in several ways from watching them on TV. First of all, when I watch on iPod, I am not bothered by advertisements, which may have kept me from being immersed in the story on TV. Though it takes time and money to buy episodes from the iTunes store and to transfer them onto iPod, I think it is a favorable trade-off. I do not have to zap channels with a remote control to avoid commercial messages.

Another advantage of having episodes on iPod or other portable media is encapsulated in the catchphrase “anytime, anywhere.” This applies to my behavior in consuming episodes of “Lost”: I buy the episodes anytime I want upon their availability and watch them any place. I don’t even remember or care when the show is aired on TV. There are drawbacks, however, in watching “Lost” on iPod. The 2.5-inch display does not faithfully deliver elaborate effects or creative camera angles. Dramatic explosions are diminished, and sometimes thrilling or horrifying scenes even look funny to me on such a small screen.

Another disadvantage of watching in iPod is that I may not be able to share my experience of a specific episode with other viewers. Since the iPod user watches the show at a different day or time from other viewers, it is difficult to talk with friends about an episode the day after it airs. When I used to watch soap dramas on the living room TV, I enjoyed chatting with classmates about the episode the next day at school. But with iPod viewing, people watch the same show at different times.

From the producers’ perspective, distributing shows through iPod is another chance to get their content disseminated to the audience. However, they must also consider what the audience’s viewing experience will be like on iPod.

For example, when all the TV ads are removed and replaced with short blank pauses on iPod, viewers will feel differently from when they watch the show on TV. The episode’s pacing is structured in a way that is strategically devised to accommodate the commercials. A scene just before a commercial may end on a cliffhanger or moment of suspense, so viewers are eagerly waiting to see what happens after the commercial. When viewers on iPod see a blank pause at the time that was slotted for advertisement slots, they get a different feel and a different experience.

The point is that when content providers distribute their TV shows through different platforms, such as iPod, they should consider reediting their original TV versions to maximize the viewing experience on the new platform. Considering the vast volume of iPod viewers, simply taking out commercials will not satisfy the emerging viewers’ community of “iPoders”.