Google Play Store vs. Apple's iTunes: The Little Things

I have been splitting time between my iOS and Android (iPhone and Samsung Galaxy III; iPad and Google Nexus 7). Having built up years of habits with the iPhone, it is a really fascinating experience to: 1) force myself to learn a new platform: chalk that up to laziness + 'switching costs'

2) uncover the intricacies of the different platforms & brands: very noticable in some cases, very minor in others

3) figure out what I particularly like about each (device and platform). There are absolutely things that each does better than the other

Really small example of an intricate difference between the two platforms and strategies. Within iTunes (iOS and desktop), the focus on movie and television content is purchase. Makes sense as it's a higher price point and promotes cross device usage (phone, tablet, Apple TV, desktop). Finding rentals is much harder - and in some cases available weeks after the release.

Within the Google Play Store, it is the opposite. Everything defaults to rentals ($1.99 - $3.99 usually). Very different approach which seems to focus on lowering cost and sharing strategy with YouTube and other Google properties.

So many of these little things which are seemingly obvious and/or unimportant... but fascinating both individually and when you combine them all. More to come...

Why I Chose Bose Companion 3 Speakers Rather than a 5.1 System

We were planning on wiring our house with in-wall speakers and, after an 'audio specialist' arrived for a consultation / estimate, we weren't in love with the price and amount of necessary work, wiring, etc. So we looked for other options with three considerations in mind: 1. aesthetics: simple and small 3. flexibility: we opted against surround sound because it wouldn't work well for regular audio / entertaining. We wanted an option that was flexible for movie viewing, music, and so on. 3. price: any time you require wiring and professional work, the price mounts very quickly

So we arrived at a bizarre solution: running the television's audio through a set of nice Bose computer speakers... and you know what? It was perfect and 10% the cost of the conservative estimate. It took a few minutes to install everything and we can easily run between our media system, the radio or our iPod. And the sound is terrific - far better than running through our Samsung television.

An aside: we purchased the system from the Bose Store and, after explaining our intended set up, our salesman actually advised against their higher end computer speakers ($399). He explained that they are terrific but intended for a desk and thus optimized for a very limited radius.... His honesty saved us $150 and we ended up with a better system for our needs. I was very impressed.

Bose Companion 3 multimedia speaker system

- Premium stereo performance for those who prefer a three-piece computer sound system - Two small desktop speakers deliver lifelike stereo sound - Hideaway Acoustimass module produces substantial low notes - Handy control pod includes volume, single-touch mute, headphone jack and auxiliary input