Siracusa’s Spec for Streaming
John Siracusa, the TV connoisseur, in his annual (by average) blog post:
People don’t feel like they are in control of their “data,” such as it is. The app makes bad guesses or forgets things it should remember, and the user has no way to correct it. Some people told me they have simply given up. They now treat their streaming app as a glorified search box, hunting anew each time for the content they want to watch, and keeping track of what they’ve already watched using other means, sometimes even using other apps. (I imagine this flailing on each app launch may read as “increased engagement.”)
This is me, for sure. I use TV Forecast to track shows I’m watching and want to watch, and Letterboxd for movies. Since I can’t rely on the Apple TV app for all content (looking at you, Netflix), it doesn’t make sense to keep separate lists in apps, each with a different UI and capability. I delve into streaming apps as little as possible, choosing to search with Siri or Universal Search (which, related, still isn’t the best) to start playback. Unless, again, it’s on Netflix and I have to go to their app.
There’s gotta be a better way, and Siracusa’s post is the obvious place to start.