Caprican't

From the little information I've been able to glean online, it appears as though Universal is not going to release Caprica, the prequel to the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, on Blu-Ray in North America. They're releasing it in France, but rather than purchase the show from overseas, I've decided to pick up the first and only season on iTunes. While I've purchased music and computer games online, this will be the first time I order filmed entertainment on line, and it's quite a psychological hurdle to leap.

I treasure books and film more than I do music or games, much as I love the latter pair. Games in particular are ephemeral, and I have only to look at the many CD-ROMs I've thrown out over the years to see the drawbacks of physical media. Valve's Steam service has served me reliably so far, effortlessly moving my purchases from one computer to another. So far I've experienced no hiccups with the music I've purchased from iTunes, either.

And yet I regret being left with only one option to buy this critically-acclaimed show. If prior experience is any guide, I probably won't wind up losing my purchase to the ether, but there's still a degree of comfort to be had in holding a box of discs in my hands and displaying them on a shelf.

And then of course there are the download times...despite recently upgrading to Shaw's fastest service, it's taking about an hour per episode to download the entire show. It makes me wonder if I'm being throttled.

Of course this conundrum is the epitome of the so-called First World Problem; my grandparents would have marvelled at such instant gratification. Heck, I marvel at it myself; I still remember the pre-VCR era, when the only way to watch a favourite TV episode or movie was to hope you caught it being broadcast. How quickly things have changed!