Some of my relatives spend $1500 on cable TV a year. I watch more DVDs than cable TV, so spending that much seems crazy. But I understand that it’s nice to watch a good show or movie at times. I do it too. I rarely turn on cable TV, so much so that I have no idea what’s on and the digital guide isn’t really helpful. Even with the name of the show or movie and a one-sentence description, I don’t know if I’ll really like it.

So over time I started getting my entertainment on the internet. It has come to the point that I may get rid of the basic cable TV I have right now and just keep the internet access.

I wanted to share with you the resources I use to get almost everything legally that you probably already watch on cable TV or even regular TV.

Music/Podcasts

• For music I’m a big iTunes/iPod fan.
• I love podcasts because you can time shift when you listen/watch them.

  A podcast is a series of audio or video digital files distributed over the internet by syndicated download, through web feeds, to portable players and personal computers.

You can also stream music over the internet much like listening to radio.

University Courses

iTunes also has iTunesU where you can download audio from various university subjects. Some of them are from very well-known universities like the University of Cambridge, Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, Yale, and more. They have audio and video on language, business, physics, spirituality, and more. Some great free courses.

TV Shows and Movies

• For TV shows and movies I’ve been enjoying Netflix
• You can also buy and download TV shows and movies using iTunes. Plus you can rent movies. Purchasing TV shows doesn’t make sense to me since I am only going to watch them once and they take up a ton of space on your hard drive. I can understand renting a movie because at $4 it’s very close to the price of a traditional video rental store.
• You can also use a media center to get your online content up on your big-screen TV. There are many options for having a media center since it is basically a computer with high-end video, like the AppleTV. Rent HD movies. Buy HD TV shows. Listen to your iTunes music. Watch podcasts. Even show off your photos. Anything on iTunes you can listen to or watch on your big screen.

With the time shifting and the much better ability to search for content, I like getting my entertainment more from the internet than from cable TV.