TV Tracker 3.5 is the easiest way to see what's on TV. The latest version gets it's listing data from a new provider, Schedules Direct You can customize it with your own cable provider to show just the stations you enjoy. The new version is resizable and offers integration with the iTunes store. It's also shinier. Everything you want and more!

TV Tracker 3.5 requires an account with Schedules Direct, which provides the show information TV Tracker displays. Schedules Direct is a subscription service, costing $20 for a year of listings. Zap2It Labs, the old data provider, was sponsored by advertisers. They recently stopped providing free listings, so we have moved to a new provider. You can read more about Zap2it here http://slashdot.org/articles/07/06/20/1920224.shtml

Why does the data cost so much money? There are a few reasons for this. First, actually gaining access to the data is difficult. Programming data is aggregated by one large company, Tribune Media Services. Tribune traditionally sells data to advertiser supported ventures like newspapers or to subscription services like Cable TV and Tivo. Schedules Direct has to buy subscriptions for every user from Tribune. Additionally, actually distributing the data once it is paid for is a surprisingly difficult process. Each listing file contains the data and descriptions for a day's worth of programming. With cable television offering hundreds of channels, each listing file can weigh as much as 3 megabytes. Additionally, each listing file is customized, meaning that there's a significant amount of server processing which takes place before you even start to download the file. Lastly, it is important to remember that although many websites do not charge for their services, they are not in fact free, simply subsidized by advertising and other businesses. Still, it can feel strange to pay for software, particularly subscription-based services.

1) When TV Tracker is launched for the first time, you will need to configure it. This process takes a few minutes, though it will prompt you through the steps. - First, you need to create an account with SchedulesDirect.com. This costs $15 for three months of service, which you can pay for on their site with a credit card or PayPal. Schedules Direct does offer a one week trial of the service so you can see how well it works. After you've created an account, you'll need to configure a channel lineup, where you enter your area code and cable company, and choose which stations you want to appear in your TV Tracker (handy, particularly if you don't care what's on the Home Shopping Network)
- After creating your account with Schedules Direct, you need to enter your username and password on the back of TV Tracker.
- You can navigate through show times by clicking the Left and Right Arrows at the top of the screen.
- To get detailed information regarding a particular show, you can click on the name of the show in the listings and the details and synopsis will be shown. Click anywhere on the info screen to dismiss it.
- The Clock Menu in the upper left corner allows you to configure TV Tracker and to jump to prime time.

- TV Tracker seems to get stuck on the Downloading Listings... page. What's up? Sometimes when TV Tracker locks up, the best solution is to press command-R on your keyboard. You'll get a nice swirling animation and your problem may very well fix itself. You can also download a new version from our site, sometimes there's a bug which we've fixed for you.
- What is the Certificate Code for TV Tracker? Who are these Zap2It people? What are they doing with my data? Schedules Direct no longer requires a Certificate Code to sign up.

TV Tracker, by Monkey Business Labs http://www.monkeybusinesslabs.com