posted
Not trailers. Not short movies. iTunes has been updated, and now sells movies in various genres.
Most movies sell around $9.99, what you'd pay for the average music album on iTunes. Of course, Disney movies make up most of their selection at the moment, but it's bound to expand. After what has happened with music on there, and podcasts, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has just struck gold, big time.
What do you think?
Posts: 292 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Here's some linkage. It should show up as the main advertisement, if not one of the smaller ones at the bottom.
Posts: 292 | Registered: Jun 2006
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It's a really good idea, but I'm not sure if I'll actually buy something off of it. Still, it's still amazing.
Posts: 1789 | Registered: Jul 2003
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Upon further thought, I think the success of this program will depend on several things:
1) The quality of the files. 2a) Whether the movies are burnable to DVD. 2b) Whether the accessibility and popularity of media center computers increases. 3) Whether more studios jump on the bandwagon, and make as large a selection of titles available as music is available. 4) Competition for direct delivery of content, e.g. Comcast's OnDemand or a future equivilant purchasing program to a TiVo-esque unit that interfaces primarily with a TV.
1 may or may not be an issue; I'm not entirely sure how anal retentive the average consumer is about quality, and DVDs are pretty crappy resolution to begin with. I think, though, that average joe consumer is more likely to notice a visual quality difference between a low quality video and a high quality one than he is to notice the difference between a 128 kbps mp3 and a CD.
2a/b could be a big, big, BIG factor. Despite the numerous ways to play computer content on a TV (media center PCs, TV out now more or less standard on video cards), the inability to burn downloaded movies will likely be a deciding factor for many potential consumers. It may not, however, be as large a factor as it first appears; as evidenced by Sony's creation of the UMD format for PSP, propietary media methods can be embraced against ALL logic. Heck, UMDs can only be played on PSP (to the best of my knowledge), cost as much as the DVD versions of theatrical releases, and are significantly lower quality.
3 and 4 are likely the deciding factors. I can't imagine many studios electing NOT to participate, especially since Apple has proven through the sales of both mp3s and TV shows that there is a market for the product, but there may be holdouts; enough for the idea to fizzle and die. 4 is the big one: I'm kind of amazed that there isn't yet a popular in-home TiVo equivilant for purchasing movies directly through a cable service, much like Comcast's OnDemand, except permanent. If such were released and made relatively cost effective, I can see the iTunes movie program becoming less and less attractive for many users, especially if coupled with the inability to burn downloaded movies to DVD.
Anyway, just random thoughts, and I couldn't find any comprehensive information on the new program with a quick google search. Anyone have more info?
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Apple was already selling TV shows and music videos. With the movies, they've gone up in quality from 320x240 to 640x480, all encoded using H.264. New releases are $14.99, while older movies are $9.99. Doesn't seem worth it to me.
To handle 2b, Apple announced that they're going to be releasing a wireless media box tentatively named "iTV" next year.
I'm not convinced that digital movies will take off the way digital music did. DVD sales have flattened out. As far as I can tell, the only digital video "market" that seems to be growing significantly is user-created shorts on sites like YouTube.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Apple apparently has a deal with Disney and so far all their movies are either Disney or a Disney subsidiary or affiliate.
Amazon.com also has a video download service and they apparently already have deals with a number of other studios, (but apparently not Disney).
I hope Apple does well with this and expands their movie selection to other studios, but even this early in the game they are definitely not the only players. Granted they probably have more visibility, better marketing, and a cool, convenient technology, which Amazon doesn't have yet. (I hadn't even known Amazon was doing this until I heard the report that Apple was doing it now.)
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Its going to be interesting. Amazon has prices that are often the same, but also that are often higher. Their DRM is also more restrictive. The greater selection will play in their favor, of course. However, it will be interesting to see how the iTV affects the dynamics of the competition.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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For me, digital downloads of movies won't be interesting until the price drops dramatically. Why pay Amazon or Apple $14.99 for an inferior quality file* with limited playability** when for pretty much the same price I can pick up a hard-copy DVD from Walmart which I can play on my portable DVD player with a much large screen than an Ipod or take to any friend's house and play on his TV. (Or for that matter, can lend to a friend just like lending a book.)
* I say "inferior quality file" because per twinky it's 640X480 resolution for Ipod downloads. I don't know how Amazon compares.
** "Limited usability" because it's not like you're going to have a bunch of friends over to watch your Ipod with you, and you can't lend the file to a friend to watch on his own.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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While Apple is only offering 640x480, it's worth noting the normal DVD resolution is only 720x480, and you can output video from the iPod to a TV -- but it's S-video, IIRC, so no progressive scan (480p) unless you play the movie using a computer rather than an iPod. I do agree that the prices are a bit too high. I don't have any plans to buy video using the service. I don't find the idea of "portable" video even one-tenth as compelling as portable music.
For watching at home, as an HDTV owner, I'd be a lot more interested in 1280x720 (720p) video. Heck, I can download 720p movie trailers from Apple.com right now and watch them on my computer monitor, not to mention view them on my TV if I download them from Microsoft via Xbox Live. The iTV will reportedly have both component video and HDMI outputs, which would make 720p feasible given sufficient bandwidth, but really, when it comes to movies I'd be a lot more liable to "rent" them from an on-demand service provided by, say, my cable company than I would be to "buy" a digital video file that I can't back up.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I'm proud of myself because I understood everything twinky just said.
The first thing that popped into my head was whether or not they will be able to be burned onto DVD's.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Don't know about iTunes, but Amazon.com explicitly states that they can be backed up to DVD and even recommends doing so. However, the DVD so created cannot be played on a DVD player, but only through their proprietary set up.
Amazon.com also apparently keeps track of your purchases in a personal library of sorts which allows you to re-download movies after the initial download (presumably in case of loss or change of computer) and you can order video from one PC (i.e. work) and have the purchase begin downloading on a different PC (i.e. at home).
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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KarlEd: of course, $14.99 is the high price. Most movies on the iTMS are/will be $9.99 . $14.99 is the price for new movies to catch people who want instant gratification. Also, if the download is fast enough, its a lot easier to say "I'll buy this movie to watch later this evening with my family" when you don't have to go anywhere to get it.
There are a lot of factors at work, I'm far from sure how things will evolve.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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quote:Karl wrote: For me, digital downloads of movies won't be interesting until the price drops dramatically. Why pay Amazon or Apple $14.99 for an inferior quality file* with limited playability** when for pretty much the same price I can pick up a hard-copy DVD from Walmart which I can play on my portable DVD player with a much large screen than an Ipod or take to any friend's house and play on his TV. (Or for that matter, can lend to a friend just like lending a book.)
This is how I feel about it, too, but seriously: look at the success of UMDs.
posted
Well, I've actually cut WAY back on my DVD purchasing. I've reached the point where I won't buy anything that I'm not likely to watch repeatedly or want to lend to friends or show when friends come over. That's a pretty small percentage of "new releases".
With Netflix and the rate at which I watch DVDs (up until this past month when I started playing WoW and my DVD watching dropped to near zero) I get movies for under $3 each and the selection is practically unlimited.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I seriously think the 'big' initial market will be people who want to watch on their iPods (and their TVs). A video ipod is only $250 now, and the ability to use it for easy video watching on airplanes, while commuting (in a non-driving capacity, of course), and while generally waiting for anything is a pretty compelling application for someone who might already buy one for the music aspects.
That won't be a huge number of people, but it should be enough to support the store as it irons out the bugs and improves selection.
I do think Netflix/Blockbuster Online are currently superior for most users; subscriptions are likely the way to go with movies, and the iTMS might do that at some point, who knows.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I don't find this to be all that compelling. I think a subscription service, or renting, would be much more practical. And as long as I cannot burn the movie as a playable DVD, I'm not interested. The idea of having my movie collection only on my computer and only viewable through my computer (with the computer being required even if you want to watch it on your tv) is not really that appealing to me. Sadly, I'm afraid that this will be fairly popular and profitable causing us to be stuck with these restrictions as a minimum standard for all future digital media.
Posts: 1256 | Registered: May 2005
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So how long before somebody hacks it and comes up with an easy way to burn them as playable DVDs anyway?
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Chris Bridges: So how long before somebody hacks it and comes up with an easy way to burn them as playable DVDs anyway?
Not long, but the goal of anti-piracy measures is never to make them hack PROOF; as one of the developers mentioned before (I can't remember which one), the primary goal of anti-piracy measures is to keep the honest people honest.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Despite the funky new features in iTunes 7 -- the album cover effects are interesting, and are obviously a response to Media Player 11's album cover funkiness -- I still have two huge problems with iTunes.
It can detect duplicate song entries, but not remove them. And the store doesn't keep track of what you've bought. When I buy e-books, I can go back in and download them again any time I want. There are some music stores that do this as well. Not iTunes. If the shows and movies are now larger, do I get free copies of the ones I've already bought? Doesn't look like it.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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CoverFlow was developed by a guy on the Ars Technica forums last year. I remember trying out a few of his betas and thinking that it was a pretty nifty app. As it turns out, Apple bought the technology from him. That made me happy, since Apple has in the past been known to ape independent developers' products and essentially put them out of business without buying them out (e.g. Watson/Sherlock).
Erosomniac, I don't understand your response to my post.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Hey - so I just bought the full first season of Firefly from the iTunes store. $26 for the lot of it, not bad.
1) Apparently, no, you cannot burn TV shows or movies to a viewable DVD. You can however backup to a DVD, but it can only be watched/ redownloaded to your comp.
2) There's no little box that pops up to inform you of this, even if it's your first TV show/ DVD purchse (this is my one objection)
3) Playback quality is very good. Lots of dark scenes in Firefly, so my PowerBook LCD can't do as much as I'd like, but that's the comp, not the source.
4) This will be much more exciting when I can automatically watch on my TV. Without spending an arm and a leg. I think my iPod is too old for video, and I don't wanna buy a $300 iTV. But all that will be worked out in the next five years or so, I expect. We'll have nice integration of technology, and no more commercials for me!
K, hope that was intresting for someone.
Posts: 471 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Unbox from Amazon has movies too, and you have the option to "rent" the movie. It lasts something like 48 hours from the time you first start to watch it and the price is comparable to going to the video store to rent it.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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