I doubt Apple would be able to offer up quick downloads any time soon.
But ordering a movie at 2PM while at work and having it downloaded to my AppleTV by 8PM would be better than NetFlix. They could also download overnight and you would still be getting "next day delivery"...still not to shabby.
What I would really prefer is a flat fee rental service like Netflix...$20, $30, $40 or $50 a month depending on how many movies you have checked out at a time. Let me queue them up in iTunes and have them download in the background at night. As soon as I return a movie, the next one in my queue starts downloading.
This is exactly what I think they should do. But iTunes would download your entire que (obviously with a hard drive capacity constraint that you would designate) So for th emost part your movies would eb ready to watch. Then when you are done with that movie you tell iTunes and it would free the next one for watching and release the one you watched.
People really like the netflix model its only the waiting. iTunes could eliminate that waiting for the most part. Oh and no post man.
Hey, thanks for that link. My first thought was that this tangent was getting a little ridiculous, but after checking it out I realized that I had never read the whole quote before. I had no idea it backed up to the "for whom the bell tolls" bit.
I do like the idea. At $US 3.00 ($AUD 5), it sounds OK. However, here in Australia, I pay $AUD70 ($US 58) per month for a 1.5Mbps which caps out at 12Gb (both download & upload is counted). That works out to $5.83 per Gigabyte after which the service is "shaped" (don't you just love the spin in that term) to 64kbps. THe whole idea of downloading movies is economically, out of the question here.
So, how does your ISP service differ where you are? It seems to me that if your data is counted, your out of the loop.
Urbanized areas of Australia's capitol cities can now connect to ADSL2. Upto 24Mbps (usually around 8 though) and 20 - 30 Gb / month for about the same money as I mentioned earlier. That still makes it $2.33 / Gb. Still too much!
I'd be happy with a "play count" lapse system. Say, 5 plays for $5, then gone.
I'd be interested to hear of your ISP plans from various countries though. I have a friend in Brasil, and they don't count their data, and thinks Australia is backward in this regard.
Cheers
I used to work for the American division of Primus, one of Australia's largest ISPs. I was amazed to find out that they had data limits - especially considering their DSL speeds were 10 times higher than ours! I don't think any of the major American broadband providers have data limits - all of the advertisements I've seen bill their service as "unlimited", so for the American market it is not a relevant issue. Perhaps as more services like this become available the Australian ISPs wil begin to go to an unlimited model, too.
I used to work for the American division of Primus, one of Australia's largest ISPs. I was amazed to find out that they had data limits - especially considering their DSL speeds were 10 times higher than ours! I don't think any of the major American broadband providers have data limits - all of the advertisements I've seen bill their service as "unlimited", so for the American market it is not a relevant issue. Perhaps as more services like this become available the Australian ISPs wil begin to go to an unlimited model, too.
I used to work for the American division of Primus, one of Australia's largest ISPs. I was amazed to find out that they had data limits - especially considering their DSL speeds were 10 times higher than ours! I don't think any of the major American broadband providers have data limits - all of the advertisements I've seen bill their service as "unlimited", so for the American market it is not a relevant issue. Perhaps as more services like this become available the Australian ISPs wil begin to go to an unlimited model, too.
I think most US ISPs have limits, but they don't tell you what they are until you exceed them. For the people that have exceeded them, the usual line is that the advertised "unlimited" internet means that's how much time you can spend on the Internet, vs, the old way when you only had so many hours in dial-up. Unlimited isn't the amount of data that you can download, they get irritated if you max out your pipe all the time.
I think most US ISPs have limits, but they don't tell you what they are until you exceed them. For the people that have exceeded them, the usual line is that the advertised "unlimited" internet means that's how much time you can spend on the Internet, vs, the old way when you only had so many hours in dial-up. Unlimited isn't the amount of data that you can download, they get irritated if you max out your pipe all the time.
I know this is true for some budget DSL packages and wireless (cell phone access) packages. But to bring this back on topic & relate it to this conversation: if there are limits, especially in America, then we need to make sure there is competition for broadband providers in all areas because as Apple and Tivo/Amazon and others continue to introduce products like Apple TV and services like movie downloads the providers who win will be the ones who allow greater data transfers.
Hmmm..... the first story linked includes the information that some ISPs are capping at levels like 2GB a day or 40GB a month.
Seems to me that's going to play havoc with our dreamed of "HD downloads on demand" future.
What it shows is that Fiber To The Premises (FTTP) is better than Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC)...although in the end even a FTTP network aggregates at some point.
In simpler terms FiOS > Cable. Unless you need port 80 unblocked.
Comments
I doubt Apple would be able to offer up quick downloads any time soon.
But ordering a movie at 2PM while at work and having it downloaded to my AppleTV by 8PM would be better than NetFlix. They could also download overnight and you would still be getting "next day delivery"...still not to shabby.
What I would really prefer is a flat fee rental service like Netflix...$20, $30, $40 or $50 a month depending on how many movies you have checked out at a time. Let me queue them up in iTunes and have them download in the background at night. As soon as I return a movie, the next one in my queue starts downloading.
This is exactly what I think they should do. But iTunes would download your entire que (obviously with a hard drive capacity constraint that you would designate) So for th emost part your movies would eb ready to watch. Then when you are done with that movie you tell iTunes and it would free the next one for watching and release the one you watched.
People really like the netflix model its only the waiting. iTunes could eliminate that waiting for the most part. Oh and no post man.
Someone will crack the DRM and take the time limit out. It's only a question of whether it will be weeks or months.
You mean like JHymn and it's continued stellar performance?
Considering that Ireland is a MAN,
since we know that Ireland is an island,
does this mean that man is an island ?
No man is an Island
Considering that Ireland is a MAN,
since we know that Ireland is an island,
does this mean that man is an island ?
No, he's a peninsula (does anyone remember Jefferson Airplane?)
No, he's a peninsula (does anyone remember Jefferson Airplane?)
Well, we didn't put an island in our kitchen, we put a penninsula in instead. Much more desirable for us.
Not that I have any desire for Ireland, of course.
No man is an Island
Hey, thanks for that link. My first thought was that this tangent was getting a little ridiculous, but after checking it out I realized that I had never read the whole quote before. I had no idea it backed up to the "for whom the bell tolls" bit.
I just been edjumacated.
I do like the idea. At $US 3.00 ($AUD 5), it sounds OK. However, here in Australia, I pay $AUD70 ($US 58) per month for a 1.5Mbps which caps out at 12Gb (both download & upload is counted). That works out to $5.83 per Gigabyte after which the service is "shaped" (don't you just love the spin in that term) to 64kbps. THe whole idea of downloading movies is economically, out of the question here.
So, how does your ISP service differ where you are? It seems to me that if your data is counted, your out of the loop.
Urbanized areas of Australia's capitol cities can now connect to ADSL2. Upto 24Mbps (usually around 8 though) and 20 - 30 Gb / month for about the same money as I mentioned earlier. That still makes it $2.33 / Gb. Still too much!
I'd be happy with a "play count" lapse system. Say, 5 plays for $5, then gone.
I'd be interested to hear of your ISP plans from various countries though. I have a friend in Brasil, and they don't count their data, and thinks Australia is backward in this regard.
Cheers
I used to work for the American division of Primus, one of Australia's largest ISPs. I was amazed to find out that they had data limits - especially considering their DSL speeds were 10 times higher than ours! I don't think any of the major American broadband providers have data limits - all of the advertisements I've seen bill their service as "unlimited", so for the American market it is not a relevant issue. Perhaps as more services like this become available the Australian ISPs wil begin to go to an unlimited model, too.
I used to work for the American division of Primus, one of Australia's largest ISPs. I was amazed to find out that they had data limits - especially considering their DSL speeds were 10 times higher than ours! I don't think any of the major American broadband providers have data limits - all of the advertisements I've seen bill their service as "unlimited", so for the American market it is not a relevant issue. Perhaps as more services like this become available the Australian ISPs wil begin to go to an unlimited model, too.
Verison does, at least for some plans.
I used to work for the American division of Primus, one of Australia's largest ISPs. I was amazed to find out that they had data limits - especially considering their DSL speeds were 10 times higher than ours! I don't think any of the major American broadband providers have data limits - all of the advertisements I've seen bill their service as "unlimited", so for the American market it is not a relevant issue. Perhaps as more services like this become available the Australian ISPs wil begin to go to an unlimited model, too.
I think most US ISPs have limits, but they don't tell you what they are until you exceed them. For the people that have exceeded them, the usual line is that the advertised "unlimited" internet means that's how much time you can spend on the Internet, vs, the old way when you only had so many hours in dial-up. Unlimited isn't the amount of data that you can download, they get irritated if you max out your pipe all the time.
I think most US ISPs have limits, but they don't tell you what they are until you exceed them. For the people that have exceeded them, the usual line is that the advertised "unlimited" internet means that's how much time you can spend on the Internet, vs, the old way when you only had so many hours in dial-up. Unlimited isn't the amount of data that you can download, they get irritated if you max out your pipe all the time.
I know this is true for some budget DSL packages and wireless (cell phone access) packages. But to bring this back on topic & relate it to this conversation: if there are limits, especially in America, then we need to make sure there is competition for broadband providers in all areas because as Apple and Tivo/Amazon and others continue to introduce products like Apple TV and services like movie downloads the providers who win will be the ones who allow greater data transfers.
I know this is true for some budget DSL packages and wireless (cell phone access) packages.
I've heard of people on cable plans getting cancelled due to excessive use on occasion, and the stories aren't hard to find, here are a few:
http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-5079624.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20030922-2852.html
http://comcastissue.blogspot.com/200...y-20-2007.html
http://forum.physorg.com/index.php?s...ic=13949&st=15
FYI: Amazon.com is already renting movies for download to Tivo customers with broadband. I'm one of them and I hope to take advantage of it soon.
Same here. I wish they'd figure out how to do HD movies so I could just avoid that whole Blu-Ray/HD DVD thing entirely.
I've heard of people on cable plans getting cancelled due to excessive use on occasion, and the stories aren't hard to find, here are a few:
http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-5079624.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20030922-2852.html
http://comcastissue.blogspot.com/200...y-20-2007.html
http://forum.physorg.com/index.php?s...ic=13949&st=15
Hmmm..... the first story linked includes the information that some ISPs are capping at levels like 2GB a day or 40GB a month.
Seems to me that's going to play havoc with our dreamed of "HD downloads on demand" future.
Hmmm..... the first story linked includes the information that some ISPs are capping at levels like 2GB a day or 40GB a month.
Seems to me that's going to play havoc with our dreamed of "HD downloads on demand" future.
What it shows is that Fiber To The Premises (FTTP) is better than Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC)...although in the end even a FTTP network aggregates at some point.
In simpler terms FiOS > Cable. Unless you need port 80 unblocked.
Vinea