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March 14, 2007

itunes_store

Closed-captioniong for the hearing impaired (not bloody likely)

Posted Mar. 14, ’07, 10:33 AM PT by Kate Marshall
Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

closedcaption.gifSo iTunes is still my favorite application but I’ve got one comment/quibble/question. Why do TV shows purchased from the iTunes store not come with any sort of closed-captioning? “Why should I care about this?” might be your next question. Well, I may not be deaf (yet) but I can’t always count on a quiet environment when I’m watching TV, whether it’s on my MacBook or in the family room. If I watch videos on my MacBook while commuting, I have to contend with the noise of the train (and SEPTA stations/trains are indeed noisy). If I watch TV or movies at home, it’s frequently against a cacophonious background of other family members doing stuff nearby. So I’ve gotten into the habit of turning on closed captions (also known as “subtitles” in the UK). Unfortunately, I’ve also gotten into the habit of buying video content from the iTunes and while you can do all sorts of things to the purchased media (editing tags, adding artwork, etc.), you cannot set up any sort of closed-captions. It sucks, and I’m not the only one who thinks so.


6 Comments

David said:

While this is a legitimate complaint for the deaf, in your case couldn't you just buy sound-isolating earphones or wait til you can actually enjoy the show. If it's so noisy you can't hear, how can you really focus on it?

March 14, 2007 11:03 AM
R.Weiss said:

Exactly the reason I have not downloaded ITunes movies, etc.
Would be great so I could purchase
the TV when it is available.

March 14, 2007 11:14 AM
R. Hickman said:

I have the same problem and have contacted Apple Support about this. Apparently CC support should come out when Quicktime and Itunes 8 is released with Leopard. I'll believe it when I see it.

March 14, 2007 12:06 PM
Kate Marshall said:

@David: You raise a good point but it's not just the background noise. Sometimes, the TV, DVD player, and actual DVD don't want to play nice and "volume level vs. annoying feedback" is the one who suffers. Other times, it's actors who insist on never speaking above "whisper-level," no matter what the scene calls for. Or, in the case of The Prestige, it's Christian Bale deciding to put a bunch of marbles in his mouth for any scene that requires him to speak. I know his character had a working-class London accent but that's no excuse for sticking a bunch of Jolly Ranchers under your tongue just before Christopher Nolan says, "Action!"

2nd reason: My "new in 1996" TV was the first one that could display closed-captions so I kept them on most of the time because I thought it was cool (yes, I'm so much of a geek that I enjoy reading while watching TV). After a while, I simply got used to having the closed-captions on most of the time. Nowadays, if I turn them off, I get cranky.

March 14, 2007 12:09 PM
Ralph F said:

Thanks for the article. I'm hearing impaired, but not deaf, and have come to rely on CC and subtitles, which are all too lacking on some DVDs and, of course, completely MIA on iTunes.

That's why I don't buy movies there, but it's understandable why they're not included; it's a file size issue, or so I would think.

March 14, 2007 1:48 PM
definetheline said:

I almost didn't know what closed captioning was. Us Canadians call them subtitles too....

March 14, 2007 9:18 PM

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