The Ricky Gervais Show

..has sold out! New episodes of RGW is no longer free download, as of tuesday all new episodes are avaiable for purchase. Ok, so not surprising, and to be honest I'm willing to pay a small fee to be able to listen to it, I think this is the best comedy I have heard since the glory days of The Simpsons. What annoys me tho is how it is distributed.

Option 1) Audible.com This is confusing, I have a bachelor's degree in computer science but I spent a while figuring how to actually start listening to it if I don't have an iPod. After about 15 click, advice from equally confused mates I found out you have to define some "device" or other just to get on to the downloading part. You can choose to listen streaming, this requires that you download a 500 KB codec (spyware-alert rising) to play it with Windows Media Player. Ok, well if I have to pay for this I would at least like to have the stuff downloaded on my machine. Option 2, download it; this requires you to download and install Audible's own proprietary "Music Manager". For starters, why would I want to have another media player, in addition to the 100 I already have to use just to be able to listen to the stuff I want to? I can barely stand having to use iTunes, which I think is the biggest piece of crap-software ever written on the face of the planet (I don't know what kind of software they make beneath earth, so therefore the precaution), let alone have to switch between Windows Media Player and Winamp for different formats. And now I need this shit? I downloaded it, went thru green-hell as I installed it, and loaded it up only to find the episode was not yet available.

2) iTunes: I thought I'd try this today, just to get a message "Purchase of this item is not currently available" eventhough the show is aledgebly "number one in the UK iTunes download chart"..

So they have some issues, that's not my greatest concern - I listen to RGS almost everyday as I walk to work, the shop etc on my phone. There is no legal way I can do this with any of the solutions available, eventhough I have payed for it! If I use iTunes I will have to manually copy the files with me to be able to listen to it on any of the 3 computers I use on a daily basis.

On a more general note it is interesting how the old drug-marketing strategy has been successfull here - the show would never been remotely as successfull if it had been a pay and DRM'd option only from the start, good on them!