Activity 20: Investigate downloading goods and services.

In a small group create a list of the different types of items that you and your families have downloaded from the internet. Create a list of reasons of why you did this rather than buying the physical goods. Compile a list of problems you have had with any aspect of downloading and consuming online files. Write these reflections in your blog.


List of downloads.

1) Dragon Force - Ultrabeatdown (Album) - Downloaded from itunes store.
2) Code Geass R2 - Episode 1-18 (Anime) - Torrent downloaded from Mininova.
3) The Orange Box (Game) - Downloaded from Steam.
4) C-cleaner (Application) - Downloaded from http://www.filehippo.com/
5) Heroes (Video stream) - Downloaded from bbciplayer.

In the last month I have downloaded various things, just some of those things are listed above. I chose to download an album and a game because it saves me from physically getting up and going to the shops. It is much more convenient to download them.

I chose to download "Code Geass R2 - Episode 1-18" not only because it is more convenient than buying it, but mainly because each episode of this anime is not availble in the UK until months after the Japanese realease. Somtimes some episodes of Japanese anime anime aren't actually legally available in the UK, this is extremely frustrating and can force fans into illegal downloads as many of them aren't willing to wait months for a single episode, or willing to stream whole series' of youtube.

Stephen chose to download C-cleaner from FileHippo as it is a very useful application, FileHippo isn't actually available in the shops as it can be legally be downloaded for free. So why would you want to go to the shops?

Simon watched Heros online by streaming it using the bbc iplayer, this service is extremely helpful as it gives people who have missed a certain program the chance to watch it when ever they have the time. I suppose the physical alternative would be to buy the DVD box set, which could be considerd quite an expensive thing to do every time you miss a TV show. Trying to catch the episode the next time it is on, is too much of an inconvenience.

In conclusion, downloading is an extremely useful service as it can save anybody a lot of time, it is often cheaper to buy something online too. One possible problem my friend faced while trying to download a game online is; he experienced a very slow upload/download rate, and it took him several hours to download a certain game of the steam website. Would it have been faster if he bought it in the shops?