Last month, I pointed out Apple's surreal use of the movie "Ratatouille" as an example of Closed Captioning support in iTunes during the teve Jobs keynote. It's surreal because Ratatouille, wasn't--and still isn't--available in a version with closed captioning from the iTunes Store. You can't rent a version with closed captioning, and you can't buy a version with closed captioning. And yet, there it was. As the poster child for closed captioning.
This week, I'm going to write an updated review of the Apple TV to reflect the changes in the new 2.0 version. (It's mostly very positive.)Instead of taking my Apple TV out of the living room, attaching it to a video capture device in my office, and taking a few shots, I decided to see if Apple PR had any representative shots I could use. They do: You can find them right here.
And wouldn't you know it: Two of the three shots that are available shows... ta da... Ratatouille. Which, according to the screenshots--yep, you guessed it--is available with closed captioning. So I fired up iTunes just now to check. Nope, no CC. Then I fired up the Apple TV, again, even though I looked at this very movie last night. It does NOT have closed captioning support.
Seriously. What the $%#@ is wrong with this company? I appreciate that CC is available at all, really. But don't advertise it using a movie that doesn't support the feature. There are people out there who actually do want to rent or own it but rely on CC to enjoy the film. It's like Apple is mocking the handicapped. It's shameful.