Shame of the week: Nick Jr.

Nothing irks me more than coming across a website that intentionally blocks Mac users from viewing its content. It’s even more annoying when the reason that is listed is completetly and utterly bogus. It’s even MORE annoying when the same website worked just fine on a Mac a few weeks previous.

The site I’m referring to is Nick Jr., and their Nick Jr. “Play Time” site. It’s a Flash based site that offers music and videos from some of their popular shows. My daughter is currently enamored with the Backyardigans. She loves their music. My wife has been using their website to play their songs and let my daughter sing along to them. They also would watch the videos from some of the Backyardigans episodes.

Last week my wife was having trouble accessing the site. I took a look at the screen, and noticed that it was trying to access contnet in Windows Media format (version 9 or better according to the site). So I made sure I had the latest Flip4Mac Windows Media plugin installed. Check. Still, the page wouldn’t come up. So I went back to Microsoft’s site and downloaded the Microsoft Windows Media player for OS X. Check. Still, the Nick Jr. Play Time site would display it’s blocking message…

“Nick Jr. Video is only available to PC users at this time. When technology becomes available to support Nick Jr. Video on a Macintosh, we will develop a version for Mac users.”

What the? “When technology becomes available…”? Are they serious? First of all, the technology you use exists and is readily available for Mac users. Secondly, you could use a format that is on more computers, like say – Flash or Quicktime, and not have these issues at all. The fact that Nick Jr. is pushing this lie that the reason my daughter can’t watch her Backyardigans clips on their website is that the technology isn’t available is just plain deceitful.

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Category: News