Wednesday, July 3, 2013

XBMC and Amazon Prime: A match made in digital heaven, until recently!

Here is the issue:

   Up to approximately April of last year, I did not realize it had been that long, I had downloaded a file called BlueCop, which allowed me to watch my Amazon Prime titles, standard and HD, perfectly through XBMC (a wonderful program to use in Xubuntu for viewing media). Then, all of a sudden, I could not watch the movies and programs and received this error message: script failed!: plugin.video.amazon. Now, I must confess , at approximately the same time, watching Amazon titles on Firefox became acceptable, so I did not investigate further.
   However, today I did investigate, and this is what I found. First, Amazon implemented Flash DRM to their videos as copy right protection. Second, the developer of BlueCop, according to discussion threads, has no interest in trying to create a "work around" for this issue. The ultimate conclusion being, if you are using XBMC in Xubuntu for Amazon Prime, you and everyone else are out of luck, and hopefully you can watch Amazon Prime on Firefox. See the following discussion page on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/forum/amazon%20prime/Tx19HPH8H35E889.
   Unfortunately, my Xubuntunites, this decision has created great despair among those who made XBMC as their main source to view Amazon Prime. I, for one, feel for them. Yet, such is the issue of changing technology.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Why You Should Use Xubuntu

The following are reasons why you should use, at least try, Xubuntu:

  1. The program is virtually free. And when I say virtually, I mean that you have to take into account the time/effort it may take you to download the operating system, and install it.
  2. It will bring an older computer back to life. The machine that I am currently using is a hyper-threaded Dell computer (at least five years old), and it is really fast with two gigabytes of RAM and a decent video card.
  3. Since there are some hurdles for installation for certain programs, installing Windows Office applications for example, you have to search for the answer. Fortunately, because of youtube and google, someone else out there has done what you are trying to do, and, mostlikely, they have made a video or created instructions for it.
  4. Reason number three creates curiosity and persistence within a person, and this is great for anyone, especially for a young person. Give them an old computer and a Xubuntu CD, and have them figure out how to install and use the operating system. What do you have to lose? What might you gain?
  5. You will help the world not have to depend on companies who might ask a lot of money for a sub-par product. Xubuntu and other open source operating systems have programmers who are committed to make their product better all of the time, and may only ask for a donation.
  6. Look at my desktop. It looks pretty nice: