I think cable COs would get pissed at that, and remember, Scifi, MTV comedy central, showtime and the like are loyal to cable because that is and will be their main profit stream: remember, they are first in the business of selling ads, if you watch, all the better..
I would love it, I usually delete the DailyShow after 3 weeks anyhow...so why spend cash "buying"
At some point, profits coming from digital downloads will outweigh loss of profits from cable sales. I'd guess in 5 to 8 years.
What I mean is that Apple is pushing music and television to make digital downloads into a viable business where people could just as easily download the same content for free. I think its an over estimation that Apple needs lower price content to sell iPods. When there is nothing at all that prevents anyone from getting the content for free and loading that onto an iPod.
Yes the market is moving in that direction of downloading content. But no I don't believe that iTunes will be the only way to receive content. Apple will not out price cable, netflix, and all others because they use entirely different business models which have their own advantages.
I think you keep missing my one point that Apple doesn't need to make video downloads a viable business for itself because its money comes from hardware and not software. I doubt Apple is very concerned about people pirating Leopard next month because even if they do, Apple already knows that every computer it goes on was a hardware sale. Much the same goes with iTunes videos because they only play on Apple hardware (unless you're content to sit in front of a computer screen in which case you can watch it via Apple software).
If Apple puts their video dowload prices to a break even price for themselves (while still making the studios money), how could anyone else get into the game? Or stay in it? There are plenty of free alternatives, but people looking to buy are obviously not going that path, so the people that choose torrents or what not really aren't part of this discussion since they've already factored themselves out.
I see the point that there will be someday be three ways to acquire media: DVD, cable or downloads. But with Apple's need to not make a profit that triad could easily be: DVD, cable, or iTunes which isn't really an attractive alternative for one company to control an entire distribution channel.
And assuming I don't want to be stuck watching the video at my computer, what options do I have with iTunes Store downloads? Only Apple options: iPods via video out and AppleTV.
You mean the most useable/best products on the market? Actually, any music player capable of playing this decade's industry standard audio technology (as opposed to MP3) will play downloads from iTunes+
Quote:
Originally Posted by caliminius
Is that what you want? Only one choice in hardware vendors? I don't understand why people seem so quick and eager to surrender their freedom of choice to Apple.
Because the other way only gives us crap. We've learned that we get interoperability at the expense of quality & useability and it ain't good enough. So we made a choice - no 'choice'! C'mon, 'freedom' is sooo last century (or is that next century?)
I think it's something to do with other manufacturers obsessing about getting a product up to a technical standard and forgetting to employ people capable of real design & innovation but that's just me guessing - which I'm prone to do. Why are you so hooked on choices when they so rarely help?
[QUOTE=McDave;1141231]You mean the most useable/best products on the market? Actually, any music player capable of playing this decade's industry standard audio technology (as opposed to MP3) will play downloads from iTunes+[QUOTE]
You must have missed the part where I was specifically discussing videos (TV shows and movies) not music. Videos are still only playable on the iPod/AppleTV/iTunes. I suppose there are some iTunes Plus music videos but they are negligible.
Quote:
Because the other way only gives us crap. We've learned that we get interoperability at the expense of quality & useability and it ain't good enough. So we made a choice - no 'choice'! C'mon, 'freedom' is sooo last century (or is that next century?)
I think it's something to do with other manufacturers obsessing about getting a product up to a technical standard and forgetting to employ people capable of real design & innovation but that's just me guessing - which I'm prone to do. Why are you so hooked on choices when they so rarely help?
I'm assuming there's quite a bit of sarcasm in these comments. But yes, I want choice. I want to be able to play my video downloads on whatever media playing hardware I desire. I'd even be okay if I still had to buy videos from iTunes if I could play it on the hardware of my choice. I don't find anything particularly innovative in the standard iPod or AppleTV interface; it's a menu hierarchy, which is definitely very last century (I had that back when my computer was running DOS with a whopping 12MHz 286 processor and 640KB of RAM).
[QUOTE=caliminius;1141365][QUOTE=McDave;1141231]You mean the most useable/best products on the market? Actually, any music player capable of playing this decade's industry standard audio technology (as opposed to MP3) will play downloads from iTunes+
Quote:
You must have missed the part where I was specifically discussing videos (TV shows and movies) not music. Videos are still only playable on the iPod/AppleTV/iTunes. I suppose there are some iTunes Plus music videos but they are negligible.
I'm assuming there's quite a bit of sarcasm in these comments. But yes, I want choice. I want to be able to play my video downloads on whatever media playing hardware I desire. I'd even be okay if I still had to buy videos from iTunes if I could play it on the hardware of my choice. I don't find anything particularly innovative in the standard iPod or AppleTV interface; it's a menu hierarchy, which is definitely very last century (I had that back when my computer was running DOS with a whopping 12MHz 286 processor and 640KB of RAM).
If you forego an excellent, useful product that's available right here & right now for something which only has a perceived benefit then you truly deserve the second-rate products you'll get. Don't worry about whether they'll be future-proof as they'll probably be retired on eBay or consigned to the old-kit box long before that becomes an issue.
& yes, I remember menu systems under DOS but comparing them to AppleTV's interface is a bit of a foolish over-simplification so common on these forums.
Looks like Apple are, 'relatively', giving us in the UK a good deal. Anyway, I guess it's best to think of it that way when we are being charged around double US prices!
Dude, lunch in London is twice the price of lunch in Washington DC. The prices are all the same except you realize...hey these are £ not $.
Comments
I think cable COs would get pissed at that, and remember, Scifi, MTV comedy central, showtime and the like are loyal to cable because that is and will be their main profit stream: remember, they are first in the business of selling ads, if you watch, all the better..
I would love it, I usually delete the DailyShow after 3 weeks anyhow...so why spend cash "buying"
At some point, profits coming from digital downloads will outweigh loss of profits from cable sales. I'd guess in 5 to 8 years.
What I mean is that Apple is pushing music and television to make digital downloads into a viable business where people could just as easily download the same content for free. I think its an over estimation that Apple needs lower price content to sell iPods. When there is nothing at all that prevents anyone from getting the content for free and loading that onto an iPod.
Yes the market is moving in that direction of downloading content. But no I don't believe that iTunes will be the only way to receive content. Apple will not out price cable, netflix, and all others because they use entirely different business models which have their own advantages.
I think you keep missing my one point that Apple doesn't need to make video downloads a viable business for itself because its money comes from hardware and not software. I doubt Apple is very concerned about people pirating Leopard next month because even if they do, Apple already knows that every computer it goes on was a hardware sale. Much the same goes with iTunes videos because they only play on Apple hardware (unless you're content to sit in front of a computer screen in which case you can watch it via Apple software).
If Apple puts their video dowload prices to a break even price for themselves (while still making the studios money), how could anyone else get into the game? Or stay in it? There are plenty of free alternatives, but people looking to buy are obviously not going that path, so the people that choose torrents or what not really aren't part of this discussion since they've already factored themselves out.
I see the point that there will be someday be three ways to acquire media: DVD, cable or downloads. But with Apple's need to not make a profit that triad could easily be: DVD, cable, or iTunes which isn't really an attractive alternative for one company to control an entire distribution channel.
And assuming I don't want to be stuck watching the video at my computer, what options do I have with iTunes Store downloads? Only Apple options: iPods via video out and AppleTV.
You mean the most useable/best products on the market? Actually, any music player capable of playing this decade's industry standard audio technology (as opposed to MP3) will play downloads from iTunes+
Is that what you want? Only one choice in hardware vendors? I don't understand why people seem so quick and eager to surrender their freedom of choice to Apple.
Because the other way only gives us crap. We've learned that we get interoperability at the expense of quality & useability and it ain't good enough. So we made a choice - no 'choice'! C'mon, 'freedom' is sooo last century (or is that next century?)
I think it's something to do with other manufacturers obsessing about getting a product up to a technical standard and forgetting to employ people capable of real design & innovation but that's just me guessing - which I'm prone to do. Why are you so hooked on choices when they so rarely help?
McD
You must have missed the part where I was specifically discussing videos (TV shows and movies) not music. Videos are still only playable on the iPod/AppleTV/iTunes. I suppose there are some iTunes Plus music videos but they are negligible.
Because the other way only gives us crap. We've learned that we get interoperability at the expense of quality & useability and it ain't good enough. So we made a choice - no 'choice'! C'mon, 'freedom' is sooo last century (or is that next century?)
I think it's something to do with other manufacturers obsessing about getting a product up to a technical standard and forgetting to employ people capable of real design & innovation but that's just me guessing - which I'm prone to do. Why are you so hooked on choices when they so rarely help?
I'm assuming there's quite a bit of sarcasm in these comments. But yes, I want choice. I want to be able to play my video downloads on whatever media playing hardware I desire. I'd even be okay if I still had to buy videos from iTunes if I could play it on the hardware of my choice. I don't find anything particularly innovative in the standard iPod or AppleTV interface; it's a menu hierarchy, which is definitely very last century (I had that back when my computer was running DOS with a whopping 12MHz 286 processor and 640KB of RAM).
You must have missed the part where I was specifically discussing videos (TV shows and movies) not music. Videos are still only playable on the iPod/AppleTV/iTunes. I suppose there are some iTunes Plus music videos but they are negligible.
I'm assuming there's quite a bit of sarcasm in these comments. But yes, I want choice. I want to be able to play my video downloads on whatever media playing hardware I desire. I'd even be okay if I still had to buy videos from iTunes if I could play it on the hardware of my choice. I don't find anything particularly innovative in the standard iPod or AppleTV interface; it's a menu hierarchy, which is definitely very last century (I had that back when my computer was running DOS with a whopping 12MHz 286 processor and 640KB of RAM).
If you forego an excellent, useful product that's available right here & right now for something which only has a perceived benefit then you truly deserve the second-rate products you'll get. Don't worry about whether they'll be future-proof as they'll probably be retired on eBay or consigned to the old-kit box long before that becomes an issue.
& yes, I remember menu systems under DOS but comparing them to AppleTV's interface is a bit of a foolish over-simplification so common on these forums.
McD
Not too sick to post a 639th time.
I have to increase my post count some how...
Looks like Apple are, 'relatively', giving us in the UK a good deal. Anyway, I guess it's best to think of it that way when we are being charged around double US prices!
Dude, lunch in London is twice the price of lunch in Washington DC. The prices are all the same except you realize...hey these are £ not $.