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Apple Sells 1 Million Videos in Under 20 Days
olddotter writes "Apple has sold over 1 million videos through iTunes since the release of the Video iPod service. Personally I am surprised by this success, it raises many questions. Will this encourage more people to put their video content on the iTunes store? Is there a vast market for cheaper stuff at reduced prices? Why am I willing to pay more for music than I would for video?"
Well considering you don't have to acually watch the video. Why buy the song and video seperately?
Am no fek Buddhist, but this is enlightenment.
If they offered more than what they have, I imagine they would have made this point much faster. I would have bought stuff, but they didn't have any shows I actually wanted to see.
Plant a tree in a developing country.
Now I wish that they would start selling the videos in stores OTHER THAN the US....
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
"Why am I willing to pay more for music than I would for video?"
Shelf life - even the greatest video will probably only be played a few times at most, while you might listen to a song hundreds of times over the years.
Imagine if they had some content besides a few television shows and videos...
~~ What's stopping you?
Because music generally has more replay value than videos?
I would DEFINATELY download TV episodes and movies for $1.99 ANYDAY over music tracks for $.99
Even when iTunes first came out I thought that was a bit pricey and that the price would eventually drop. Doesn't appear to be the case. But $1.99 for tv shows seems to be a good deal as long as they cut the commercials out, or at least most of them.
This could usher in a whole new era for TV, and I wouldn't miss cable or satellite one bit.
You're nothing; like me.
Something tells me that Kevin Pollak is owed a royalty somewhere.
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
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It's my (utterly unsubstantiated) belief that Front Row will appear in iLife 06, and that then a Mac Mini playing these videos on a TV will start to make quite a lot of sense.
Cheers,
Ian
once the gadget whores have filled their video ipods up, they will move onto something else
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Will it be possible for comments to continue this decaying monologue of uncertainty and doubt? Will I be surprised? Should all comments not related to the article but the amusing questioning dialogue be posted herein?
Why would you want to watch a music video or a TV show on a tiny screen? Is it really that enjoyable? I just don't get it.
somebody posted this last week about making old 50s shows available for cheap. Sounds promising to me as a way of preserving the early days of TV. Heck, I'd pay a buck for old Zachary creature features.
Is it availiable in China?
Is this alot of videos? I mean, is this more or less than the number of video iPods sold. If its alot less than thats no great feat, if its double, well thats not a great feat either. Even if Apple was pocketing the whole $1.99 thats only 1.99 million dollars. That's not news by Apples standards.
Also, anyone know the number of songs sold that week?
Because music has far more inherent replay value than video.
Everytime some slashdork bitches about how a CD costs $20 for 60 minutes while a DVD costs $20 for 120 minutes or more and what a ripoff a CD is, I want to slap them silly; the two things have nothing in common other than size and shape. Unless you're some obsessive weirdo, I doubt you'll watch the same movie a couple of times a week right after buying it like most people do with an album.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
The iPod has become trendy, even fashionable. The company and the individual product have a large following. Were you surprised that the X-Box was successful? Granted, the surprise is caused by short term success. I guess the term I would give is impressive. I live near a college campus and I've heard a good bit of buzz from the students about the video iPod. I think Apple will fair much better with portable video than Sony did with its PSP. (Come on, 40 dollars for some of the UMD movies?!?)
Its a strong company with a strong following. When a decent device is offered in an area that hasn't yet had a good device to take the spotlight, I think this kind of response, though large, is reasonable.
-Da3vid-
In the world of wasting yer money on stupid, ephemeral stuff for digital gizmos, video on iPod doesn't even make it to the semifinals; at least you get to watch a 40-minute, commercial-free TV show for your cash.
Be surprised that we're so happy to part with our money for valueless things, perhaps--but don't be surprised that the iPod video is successful at this game...
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Just my opinion, but music has a MUCH higher replay value than videos or movies. I *love* the movie Se7en, but I only watch it once every 2 or 3 months. I listen to a bunch of the music I bought from the iTMS every day on my way to and from work.
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
I guess pretty much for the same reason that you are willing to pay more for a movie sound track CD than for the DVD of the movie itself. The RIAA has kept the prices artifically high and you go along with it.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
How is the quality of these things? Would one be able to watch these episodes on a normal television?
Well now that a company is offering a completely legal and conveniant service, I am perfectly willing to pay for it. When there is nothing on TV, I would love nothing more then to be able to quickly download an episode for a past show that I havn't seen before without having to go through the various bit torrent sites.
Why am I willing to pay more for music than I would for video?
I don't find this at all surprising. Perhaps a better way to think about it is the cost per hour, averaged over the entire period of ownership. People may watch a video a few times if they really like it, but listen to a favorite album dozens or even hundreds of times.
Because you're an idiot. Next question?
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
Will this encourage more people to put their video content on the iTunes store?
Of course it will. There is a market for video content; people will see this is another avenue of making money, getting more exposure, etc.
Why am I willing to pay more for music than I would for video?
People will listen to a popular song many times a day. People don't do the same with TV/movies. The entertainment value of most TV shows and movies is gone after 1 viewing. The entertainment value of music seems to carry on much longer.
So what does this mean? Who knows, but it seems as if the videos are really damn popular. I'd kill, however, to see which ones were more popular than others...
I think what'd be the real killer app for mobile video would be shorts like comedy, commercials, trailers, etc.
Apple are you listening? Use what you have already, most movies push trailers, and most commercial creators would DIE to get their bits on the iPod, and there're some totally awesome commercials that are pieces of art in their own right! Imagine a vid-cast of bits from The Daily Show, or a 5 minute part of a standup routine, too.. great for showing people at lunch/etc.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Well, let's get all the classic TV shows up in iTunes and I'll definitely buy some videos. I'd love to have a few Get Smart, Gilligan Island, and the like. Have the Best Of... type of collections. When the studios release their library of stuff that isn't on syndication any more, or even Nick at Nite, it'll open up a big market for nostalgia buys.
For TV shows, I can see it. For videos I would usually buy on DVD? Not with that video quality. As mentioned on arstechnica.com, Apple could possibly make a bundle with some of the older TV shows. I'm sure just about everyone can think of a series or two that's no longer airing and not available on DVD that they'd love to see once again.
"Why am I willing to pay more for music than I would for video?"
Because video is typically only viewed a few times. Music has much more longevity. You get much more in the long run out of a $1 song then you do a $1 video.
There's a lot of independent producers who want to market limited-market videos, but they can't use the store yet. There's a lot of podcasters and the like offering free video. This, however, is a demo for the other studios: See, Sony, Universal, etc.? Watch the cash flow, and get in on the ground floor with Disney. I think it's a crappy format for all but a few movies. A romantic comedy, maybe. A TV drama shot largely in closeup, okay. But try to watch a spectacular on this screen. Yuck. No, my bet is that shows up to an hour will sell well.
Once the content gets in there I'll be buying video from iTunes. That is assuming of course that the prices stay close to what I'm seeing right now. This fits in good with my desire to buy seasons worth of some shows on DVD but only a handful of episodes where other shows are concerned.
I look at South Park, Dead Like Me, and my Battlestar Galactica fix and I say "Buy the season on DVD". My wife wants Buffy the Vampire Slayer seasons 1-6 and DVD is the way to go.
I look at Star Trek Deep Space 9 and I say "Got to get me some DVD's.....HOLY SHIT CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT PARAMOUNT WANTS FOR THAT? MIGHTY PROUD OF THE STAR TREK AREN'T WE GUYS?"
Then I think about it and there probably weren't 10 episodes of DS9 I really want anyway. Maybe 10 if I push it. 20 bucks for those 10 episodes and screw the rest of it because it wasn't all that good anyway? I'm in.
Of course IF Paramount ever lets them sell episodes of Star Trek (and flavor) on iTunes they'll probably demand that they sell for $9.99 each or some insane amount of money that will screw the whole deal up anyway.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
But how many of those downloads are going to video iPods?
I wonder if most of those downloads are actually going on iRivers...
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
This is such a new technology/distribution medium, and iPods have such a big market share, that I'm sure they could find a million people to spend 2 bucks just to try the thing out and see what it is like. I dont even have a video iPod, but was thinking of buying an episode of "Lost" to watch on my Mac since 1. I've never seen it on regular TV and 2. was curious about download speed, picture quality etc.
I think that Apple may be using this to show that the MPAA can make some real money on selling videos from iTunes.
And the MPAA will, like the RIAA before it, along with the content providers, begin demanding larger and larger cuts and higher and higher prices.
They can't imagine a world where they can't rape the consumer.
If only I was willing to buy an apple product and be a clone of everyone else.
I used to carry a bottle of whiskey for snake bite. And two snakes. -Nefarious Wheel
MTV has been sitting on a mountain of music videos for ages that haven't been played.
VH1 Classic sure seems to have a lot of videos. Why don't you encode & sell them? I would have been more than happy to have paid for Josie Cotton's "Jimmy loves marianne" instead of requesting it & waiting to tape it(I eventually got it from p2p networks).
Let me guess, tied up in royalties and such?
Fine then, I'll just scoot around it by going back to Soulseek.
...but does it play pr0n?
"Made up/misattributed quote that makes me look smart. I am on
You can bet that they will increase prices.
[%] Cingular Ringtones
those songs are worth listening to, and not the fad hit of the day, or the target of ClearChannel as a new "hit".
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
I wasn't convinced that you'd be able to find enough people to buy videos at $1.99 each, especially at that low resolution. I figured the fact that Apple hadn't announced any stats for two weeks meant that they'd failed miserably and would be re-thinking the pricing/quality issues. And now this.
It probably won't make CBS, Fox, NBC or the other networks join in, but this kind of response will help fiendish web videographers get financing for their projects. Everything you could possibly imagine will be produced, just to cash in on the hopefully-will-be craze.
I apologize in advance for the further decay of Western Civilization.
The world's only surviving livewriter.
Since I personally do not identify with this product, I can't see it as anything but a fad type of thing. Anything Apple sells is an instant initial success... especially lately. But at least iPod, just like all portable music players, have long had an established market... it's just newer technology to deliver the same end. Video is something relatively new. We have actually had the ability to create and use portable video devices for a very long time. Most of the smaller Mini-DV camcorders have a large enough screen to work to that end. It hasn't had enough market demand to drive the creation of such devices. And portable TVs are largely the same -- remember those "Bentley" branded miniature TVs that ended up as give-aways in sales promotions? How about the plethora of similar devices once for sale at Radio Shack?
This is not a product they should have made. If it is largely successful for longer than a month or two after Christmas, I will be VERY surprised. iPods are good. The video thing is a fad that won't last long... that's my prediction anyway.
How is it a good deal? DVD for the complete first season of Lost: at Amazon. According to the details for the DVD, that's 24 episodes. 24 * $1.99 = $47.76. So you're paying more for the privilege of downloading episodes the day after they air, instead of waiting for the DVD to come out.
Not only that, but the episodes you download are 320x200, much less than DVD res. Plus, you don't get all the extras like the commentaries.
I think it's great that they're offering the episodes to download, but no way that's a "good deal." I'd be all over it if it cost me $0.50 or less, but $1.99 is way, waaay too much.
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
Really, there is no downside with the way Apple has handled the beginning of a transition into video. It seems unlikely that anyone planning to purchase an iPod would say, "wait a minute, I get a bigger, much better screen, larger storage, and thinner iPod for the same money as the old iPod--no way, I don't want that." Even if you exclude video capability, the new iPod has other features alone which might have ticked up the numbers. So, its hardly a surprise that Apple is happy with the results. I hope Apple is able to announce, before Thanksgiving, some big deal with at least one studio, for more content (e.g. Warner Bros., Paramount, etc.) which will include real movies. That will be the kicker for outstanding sales of the video iPod for Christmas.
do.what.promptcmds
I'd say a full half of the gadgets I buy are shiny, new and fun... for the first month. Then they're relegated to "eBay" pile. I'll be more interested in seeing how their sales fare in six months when having the latest teenage singer shaking her bottom in your hand is no longer enough to make you the "cool guy/gal" in school. I tried video on my iPAQ and trust me, there are better, more entertaining ways to go blind. Speaking which, time to go shave my palms.
It's very common these days that good series are cancelled in middle of a season. iTunes TV-series sales will make a change to that. When new series launches in the USA, it only has about 300 million potential viewers, but when the same show launces on iTunes, it has about two billion potential viewers.
Many people don't yet even realize what this might do to the industry. There will become more and more scifi series, because TV-companies don't have to rely on US Scifi fans only. And that's just the beginning. Soon you'll able to order tv-series like you order magazines now. Fans might even start to have their own tailored episodes or even whole series.
I'll sincerely welcome iTunes. It will change the industry - mark my words. Difference to other Video-on-demand services is that iTunes is 'the standard'. It's safe to buy there and you don't have to worry about having to deal with some strange proprietary DRM software.
Why am I willing to pay more for music than I would for video? I suspect if you were willing to put up with several interruptions in the middle of each song for commercials, the music would be cheaper too.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I'm a Lost fan, but I missed last week's episode because I moved and my Tivo was offline. How do I catch-up? This is perfect for me. I don't need to buy or rent the DVDs for 1 measly episode. And, I'd have to wait for the end of the season to get that anyway. Bittorent? Never seems to work for me, and hey this iTunes method is legal. I'm so tired of the "It doesn't work for ME! It's not good enough!" posts. It *is* good enough. They sold a million in less than a month. They don't need to go out of their way to please a minority of customers.
I'm depressed about this.. I wanted this to flop so that Apple and the studios would be forced to give us more content, higher res, and less DRM... And I'm an Apple shareholder!
Because, up until now, the studios had given us so much full-quality digital non-DRM encumbered content?
Please.
When they were already providing essentially *no* content, how would the first major commercial offering of such a service flopping "force" them to provide *more* content?
Further, you think that they'll provide content with "less" DRM? (Are you implying you'll accept DRM, if there's "less" of it? Or do you really mean no DRM? Because if that's what you mean, you'll NEVER get it.)
As to higher res, there's a problem here other than the content providers or Apple. And it's just a little one called "bandwidth". Before you go off telling me that you want to download your 1080i movies, even H.264 compressed, please explain how, even on the highest bandwidth home broadband connections generally available in the US, a 6 hour download jibes with Apple's strategy.
Never underestimate of the power of stupid anonymous coward posts on Slashdot.
Why am I willing to pay more for music than I would for video?
Because most of us can only stand to watch the best of videos three times at the most, but can listen to the best of songs hundreds of times.
I think what will really take off are old TV shows. A lot of content that had no viable market can now be dusted off and made available at a low price. It might even lead to a resurgence, and give shows that were good but never found an audience a chance to bloom.
Yeah, me too, because iTunes has been a flop, BitTorrent is hardly used at all, file sharing is so late-90s, and $1.99 per video is, well, really, who can afford that?
your retarded
At the moment I pay £5.99 for the privilege of watching 3 dvds a month, or £2.50 per dvd hire from the local shop. I'd be delighted to pay £1.99 for stuff that I want to see whenever I want, my only option at the moment is to break the law for bittorrents which never seem to work anyway. I don't even agree with piracy, but sometimes I just wanted to watch stuff without waiting for the TV stations here to deign to show them again. If I can pay £1.99 a time for stuff that I want to watch ad-free at my convenience I'll be biting Steve Job's hand off. I doubt I'm alone in this.
Does a Christian soccer team even need a goalkeeper?
How much would you pay to go to a movie? How much would you pay for a concert?
For some reason, music is worth more than movies. I'm not saying that I understand why, I'm just saying that it's deeper than just replay value.
Does this mean when the cable tv model dies and is replaced with iTunes I will have to spend $400 a year just to watch the Daily Show?
At $2 an episode does makes sense if you are buying an episode every so often but buying every episode of every season at those prices makes bittorrent a much better deal.
serenity for $1.99 anyone?
#
#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
#
What's really interesting about this article is this quote:
"Selling 1 million videos in less than 20 days strongly suggests there is a market for legal video downloads," Steve Jobs, chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings, so that customers can enjoy watching more videos on their computers and new iPods."
Interpret that how you will, but I take it to mean apple wants to offer a larger number of TV shows for download to your Mac or PC.
Michael
"Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
I was on vacation in Europe this summer, and the people we were staying with had MTV on the television, and I am serious - maybe 80-90% of the ads were from a couple of different companies hawking mind bogglingly irritating ringtones. It was completely unbelievable. And it was always the SAME ONES over and over. Yikes.
Considering how much I DIDN'T want to buy any of them, the only conclusion I could come to was that I must be getting old.
Oh, and by the way, if you're in the US, like me, this is going to be how our TV is pretty soon too, since we're trying to play catch-up with just about every other country in the world in cell phone technology right now. Just you wait.
Am I blind? No DC affiliate? I know DC is a small city, but I always assumed the metro area was apretty big market.
My guess is that most people (like me) find more re-use value in music over video. Music allows our eyes to be freed up to do other things like read, play video games or drive while video is a format that the user must dedicate themselves to in full... Except for those kinda video in which the user has hand actions going on during *nudge nudge* *wink wink*.
Not only that but I'm much more prone to enjoy music even if I've heard it a couple of dozen times, with video it has less much less value after a few plays.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
NTSC VHS is 352x240. NTSC TVs are 640x480. That's why a DVD (720x*) looks better than a VHS tape.
Holy shit.
I am scientifically inaccurate.
Naw I disagree. I'd like to think that the MPAA has more sense in it then the money-grubbing RIAA. For example the MPAA had to learn to deal with VCR's, and they did. Meanwhile the RIAA was having a heart attack over casette-tapes. Fsck the RIAA!!
your retarded
And you don't know how to spell "you're", but who's counting?
Yes, but how many of those times are you focused on the music? I'm generally doing something else like reading or playing a game when I'm listening to music, it's rare that I'll turn the lights off and give an album my full attention. I'd say that I'll watch a DVD and listen to a CD twice when I buy them, after that neither will get much attention although the CD will provide background music now and again (and as such is entirely replaceable). They provide similar amounts of entertainment to me, so they should cost about the same.
I quit!
I agree with you. At 1.99 I get a low quality version of the episode. I can buy a season cd for less
ESPN - Sports - Sports highlights podcast - ESPN Classic - Greatest Sports moments ever. ESPN - "Pregame on your iPod!" - download sports highlighs from both teams, exclusive interviews, only 5$ a week - get it now, ONLY on your iPod!! Anyone else see a whole world of ideas?
I don't think you appreciate how iTunes video will most likely change consumer spending habits. Take for instance regular music iTunes. For me, and most of the people I know, iTunes has spawned the rebirth of the single. Before, if you thought a radio song was good enough, you'd have to splurg on the entire ablum hoping the the rest of the songs were decent. Now with iTunes, you can admit that these bands are one hit wonders, pay for the one song and save a bunch of cash. I think many people are like me in the sense that if there is a full CD worth buying, I'll go out and buy the non-DRMed copy rather than buying it on iTunes. iTunes has changed how we view and spend on our music content. Likewise with video content. If there really is an entire season of a T.V. show worth buying, people will almost certainly buy the DVD set. But, if you just want to catch an episode or so of a show that you aren't sure that you will like, or if you missed the last cliff-hanger on Lost, you can buy just an episode, instead of ponying up for the Box set. Here's an analogy that most every slashdotter will understand. If ("and this is a really big IF, mind you"). iTunes put all of the Simpsons episodes up for sale, I personally would go out and buy seasons 4-9 (the "golden years" in my opinion) on DVD, and then cherry pick my favorite episodes of the remaining seasons of iTunes. The other seasons have shows that I like, but I don't know if I really want to buy all of season 12 because that was a bit of a low point in the series history. With the birth of Video iTunes, my perception and options regarding video has fundamentally shifted.
Please explain how both of the copyright-protected works were "free" a short while ago. Was there a download link on Pixar's website from which one could download For The Birds for free? Did the major music labels offer their music videos free of charge?
Seriously - I find your comment baffling and bordering on trolling.
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
Same here. I thought you were supposed to be embarassed that your phone went off in a public place and disturbed everyone else. Hello? Vibrate feature? But no, every 12-yr-old hip-hopster gangsta-rapper wannabe just HAS to have his phone blast out the latest crap from M. C. Pee Pants whenever one of his "bitches" calls him.
Here's a tip: if I hear your phone sing (I use the term loosely) "pick up da phone, got some money comin' in" one more time, I'm going to introduce your phone to Mr. Sledgehammer. And then maybe your head, too. I figure I should get a medal for preventing all the crimes you were going to commit in the coming years.
-paul
Pistol caliber is like religion: everyone has their favourite, and theirs is the only right choice.
within a week of the iPod video release Steve Jobs was still saying there is not really a mass market for this thing yet. i guess he was talking more specifically of the ability to watch videos on the iPod (as opposed to an actual computer). from what i remember reading he said it was not unlike the iPod Photo in the sense that the full sized iPod has the ability to play video, but you do not have to use it. it is not like they have a choice of video enabled iPods and monochrome ones. the new iPods are priced inline with their predecessors, so what's to lose? it seems like Apple knows this is going to be something standard down the line(in some form), and their technology allowed them to roll it out now (in some smaller form), so why not?
i guess the questions is how the sales keep going and if people actually watch the content on the iPod itself, or on their computer, or use the iPod's AV cables to send it to a TV. if it keeps up for a little while i am sure there will be more content. new stuff, as well as old stuff that was not deemed worthy of DVD collections. for a prime example look how Motown opened up the vaults of old songs that have been out of print since they stopped pressing them on 7inch vinyl. a lot of their long lost content is now on iTMS. it took less investment for them to do that than figure out how to make CD sets, and the fans get to pick and choose what they want. everyone wins. i don't see how this will be any different.
oops meant season DVD for less (say season four of alias for 38.99 walmart 22 episodes better quality)
So, let me get this right. You're paying this money to watch something on a 2.5" screen? Could that possibly suck any more? Oh, yes, I suppose it could have if they added that functionality to the ipod nano with it's 1.5" screen. If you want something portable that plays videos, you may as well get a PSP. Sure, it doesn't have the storage space than an ipod does, but it costs half as much than an ipod, and the screen is *much* larger (4.3" 16:9 widescreen). Not to mention, players have now been hacked in to the PSP to handle more video formats than just the native MP4 support.
I'm sorry, but the ipod is such a lousy platform for video, and the fact that so many people bought in to it is just proof that Jobs is really good at convincing people that they need things when they really don't. The scary part is, those people are going to come back thinking they got a good deal.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
Lucky for you: last week was a rerun. So is this week. Next week is the next new ep.
On a sidenote, can you take generic mpegs and play them on your iPod, or does it have to be stuff only purchased through the iPod store? I have some anime fansubs I'd like to watch, but on my tv and not my computer. Assuming they are in the right format, would it be possible to import them to a video iPod and play them from there?
The only thing I hate more than hypocrites are people who hate hypocrites.
I think that most people who are surprised by this success aren't realizing that the majority of the population are not the slashdot nerd type. People want EASY downloads, sync and play with no hassles. They don't want Bittorrent downloads that they have to burn on to a memory stick and alter the video codec to perform on an incompatible processor. Sure, that's a made-up scenario but the point is that what most of you find easy to do on your computer is incomprehensible to the majority.
sig here
So our you.
You can, but you have to use a specific video codec (H.264) and it has to be a particular resolution. Quicktime PRO already has a converter, from what I hear, and I'm sure other software with that feature is also out there or will be soon.
Because you're stupid.
I am hard pressed to understand that a CD can cost me $20, but a movie that took $100 million to make can cost me $15.
That's why I just signed up for the Yahoo Music store, get unlimited downloads and don't think about it. And now with the modification I've done on my car to play my MP3 player thru the existing system, I don't even NEED to buy the $.79 or $.99 tracks.
If I was going to pay $.99 for a track, I'd buy the entire CD so I could have the physical disc in my hands along with album art etc. Though admittedly, I was severely pissed when the new Nine Inch Nails came without any lyrics inside the disc jacket!
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
Is clearly not who makes up Apple's customer base. I think this is happening because Apple's customer base consists of a bunch of elitists with money to blow. Yes, this is flamebait. Mod me up!
This is purely a result of iTune's video features being severely crippled. You can't rip your DVDs, nor can you import video in other formats. The only way a person can easily watch videos on their new video iPod is download them from the iTunes store, hence the high sales figures. If you want to put your own content on it, you have to either rip/download it, then decompress it to a huge raw file, then re-encode it to H.264, a process that takes hours on my dual 2.7 ghz G5. Obviously we will never see DVD ripping, and probably not xvid/divx importing either. I could live with buying all of my video media from ITMS if it was in High Def, or even DVD res. I downloaded an episode of Lost, and the quality was terrible when watched at full screen. In addition, this whole distribution channel is in severe need of a video enabled airport express. I just hope they eventually get it right.
for Apple =)
I had never seen Lost, although certain friends had been raving about it. (I cancelled my cable last winter because I just don't watch TV.)
So I download the Pilot, which is sold as two episodes. $4.98. I figure if I really like it, I'll borrow the season 1 DVD from one of the aforementioned friends. The problem is that I found the pilot episode so compelling, that I couldn't wait, and downloaded another episode. And another.
That's 25 episodes (remember, the pilot is being sold in two parts) at $1.99 a crack. Of course, if I had had the foresight, I could have purchased and downloaded the entire first season for $35 bucks, instead of paying almost $50 piecemeal. And of course, buying the DVD would have been smartest of all, if I could have foreseen just how hooked I would be.
I also bought an episode of The Nightstalker, but that didn't trigger any addictive behavior.
OK, so now I'm up to date with Lost, having spent another $10 on the second season shows (5 on iTMS so far). Yes, I am jonesing for the next episode to be released online. And I'll probably end up buying the DVD anyway, I've become such a Lost addict.
So, yeah, this is a very good deal. For Apple. And for Disney especially (if I buy the DVD, they'll have gotten my money twice!).
By the way, you hear many people complaining about the "crappy resolution", but I don't think any of them have actually seen this video. It looks great on my 22" Cinema Display or full screen on my Titanium PB. Too bad it's not widescreen (like the DVD is. Doh!)
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
The intial question was, will they sell any at all? Oh, sure it was always guaranteed to be more than zero, but there are plenty of people who would have doubted that they'd sell more than a few thousand at that price given the restrictions (low resolution, DRM)
Check around this thread on Slashdot and you'll see plenty of people declaring that they'd never buy it. So selling a million isn't a significant contribution to Apple's revenue, but it is a significant proof of the concept. With that they may be able to expand the availability (more TV shows, shorts, perhaps even movies) and that could be a really big deal.
How big? Local TV affiliates are already speaking up, and satellite and cable providers are getting nervous. We're talking serious change in the way entertainment is distributed.
So yeah, a million isn't much on its own, but it could be very, very important as an indicator of what could happen in the future.
PSP: No video out.
iPod: Video out.
That's it in a nutshell for me.
There is quite a bit of interesting free content if you look around. This guy has done a piece on a Fire Festival out of Japan. http://feeds.feedburner.com/kyotopodcastvideo
So what does this mean? Who knows, but it seems as if the videos are really damn popular.
I know one reason... everyone who was viewing the free music videos off the iTMS suddenly had to pony up some money to keep watching.
for not capitilizating their assets. Open (the latest version of) Winamp. Open Open Media Library, click on "Winamp Video". You see 10000+ VCR quality music videos (1750 artists, top names). The same thing that APPLE is sucessfully selling at $2 a pop, AOL/TW has been giving away on Winamp for 5 years, except that Apple has a fraction of the # of videos.
If AOL/TW bothered to figure out how to make money, they would (at least) team with Apple to SELL this content (currently, they're only making a token effort to make money by showing an ad before playing videos..which is annoying and ineffective). If they were very wise, they'd turn around an Itunes like client and partner with Microsoft, Sony and other Apple competitors and CRUSH them.
I can't stand stupidity.
[rant done]
Well half right... Previews of the shorts seem to have been available on the Pixar site...(thankyou wayback) I think they made a big deal out of it when QuickTime 5 came out? Selective memory as far as it being previews vs the entire short?
... but what is being sold right now is pure BS.
Now music videos had been free via iTMS for a while... shrug...
Still... I agree with the thought process... For $1.99 you should be allowed to burn (at least once) to DVD, higher res than what is currently available.. Acting like they said they wanted 1080 HDTV is asinine and you know it... Just said high enough res to look decent when burned to DVD... There's plenty of h264 content out (video podcasts like TWiT and systm come to mind) that run 640x480 and look great when burned to DVD... File sizes aren't much higher than the videos Apple is selling right now. Get a grip.
People willing to pay $1.99 for what Apple is currently selling are letting the rest of us down. Feel high and mighty if you want, talking about bandwidth and such, but the bottom line is that what they are selling is overpriced, or too low res, too restrictive DRM and will only assist in the mega-corps whittling our rights down even further...
I don't think anyone is expecting DRM-free
The first season of Lost is available as a set on iTMS for $34.99, not $47.76. Second season episodes are available the next day after the air date. How long will you have to wait for the second season DVD?
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Sure, it doesn't have the storage space than an ipod does, but it costs half as much than an ipod, and the screen is *much* larger (4.3" 16:9 widescreen).
Half as much? The 30GB video iPod is $300, and the PSP is $250. How is that half?
The 60GB video iPod is $400. PSP is still $250. Again, not half.
Add a 1GB card for the PSP for approximately $100, and the PSP is more expensive than the 30 GB iPod and has 1/30 of the storage capacity. All of that for a bigger screen? Oh but you can buy the UMDs for $20 - 40. That's cost-effective.
I have a PSP, but I have it for games (which aren't much to talk about either, but I may get the GTA soon).
Slightly off-topic - the Daily Show.
:(
:(
"More4" - the new UK Channel 4 channel has started airing the Daily Show in the UK, but I can't watch it. Why? The Comedy Central logo hasn't been removed, just blurred out, and it looks like it's just an NTSC rip-off, as opposed to being re-synced from the masters (I think it goes out in the US on HDTV?)
Whilst I really enjoy the daily show, I can't watch it like that - it pains me to see the faded colours and the blurryness everywhere all the time, so I actually watch it streamed from the US from a friends HDTV box.
That's pretty sad - PAL viewers really do get the short straw with US TV, it's awful. Just because we have superior broadcast facilities
If Apple actually started offering TV shows for download (free with ads, 50p without etc) I may actually use iTunes. In fact, if they started offering lossless (FLAC et al) downloads, I might even use their audio services.
But at the moment, I can't see a reason to use iTunes' service - I pay the same as buying the music on CD and get a worse product in the end.
I know it's not Apple's fault, but if Apple don't swing their weight behind downloading soon - it's going to set an awful precedent
So overall, I would say that it is for what music lacks that makes me see it as more valuable.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
I bought the first episodes of Lost to determine if I really wanted the DVD set (never having seen Lost apart from an episode somewhere in the middle that didn't really grab me). I do have an iPod but it's the first 5gb model with no video support at all (not that I care, having no desire to watch video on an iPod).
There's a lot of people around willing to buy video without an iPod. I doubt video purchases for iPods are even the majority of cases.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If every concerned citizen with these tools running on their sub-thousand-dollar notebook were to arm himself with a D.I.Y. 'Press' card, a new era of Gonzo Journalism could be ushered in -
Just when we need it most.
Apple's content-enabling tools, content availability in the field (from Google: videos, blogs, gmail) in these times should let us break out of a dark age.Will it?
i think it's pretty obvious that most people who bought a video ipod are going to buy 1 video just to check it out. i know a guy that has bought every generation of ipod as soon as they were released (normal, mini, nano, video). he's never bought a song on itunes, but he did buy some pixar video just to see how the process worked.
if you threw out one video purchase for every one video ipod customer, i think the numbers might be a lot different. weren't a million nanos sold in a few weeks?
I graduated in 1984, so my high-school days saw the birth of MTV. In 2009, I envision a 25-year high-school reunion with songs from that era playing with the corresponding videos showing on a large screen. The video iPod makes this vision plausible.
If it were offered on iTMS today, I would purchase such video delights as "Love is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar. Certainly campy by today's standards, but the $2 is well worth it for the nostalgia appeal.
one of the best and innovative videos every made, relatively speaking for its time, especially considering ones budget back in 1985. heck i would say one of the best videos every made, along with peter gabriel, genesis and Dire Straits "money for nothing" video..
Why am I willing to pay more for music than I would for video?
Because most movies have already made back the cost of production at the box offices. Even shitty movies make at least 10 million at the box office. Then the DVD profit is just adding to this already big total.
For music, on the other hand, this is not the case. The CD is the only source of income.
Pixar!
"Why am I willing to pay more for music than I would for video?"
Because music is the best.
But equally importantly, buying things on dvd requires me to either physically travel to a store just to do so, or to order it and wait days or weeks for it to be delivered....I then have to putz around with physical discs....So I have to dig out the box of dvds, open up the ginormous packaging, pull out the booklet in the back, and look through it to figure out which disc that's on, then put that in, and remember to take it out and put it away later....
All very true. However, the same reasons are why I simply downloaded all of Buffy . . . and proper dvd-rips result in far better quality than the ones that iTMS offers, and then I have all the extras and commentary tracks . . . but you're right, DVDs are inconvenient. Which is why I still have DVD rips of the shows I actually own on DVD (whether I downloaded them before, or made them myself afterwards).
I'll add some things to the list of inconveniences of DVDs: load times and random pauses/silences when I'd rather things just be playing already (once you go through the motions of popping in the DVD, you have to wait while the menu loads, then go to the episode in question, then click "play" or etc depending exactly on the DVD), and stuff like having to start an episode/movie over again most of the time if you want to switch to the commentary track.
But there you have it: some sort of completely on-computer (should I just say PC? Apple'll be Intel soon anyways, will we get to simplify things then?) version works better for accessing than the rather clumsy setup of DVDs, but with the iTMS versions you don't get all the extras and you don't get the quality. Personally, since it's usually all the extras on the DVDs that push me over the edge into buying them (I've usually seen the TV show or movie before already), I would never bother buying the costs-as-much-or-more-but-is-stripped-down iTMS versions, but at the same time I would probably buy many more DVDs if it was less of a pain to rip them to my computer for easy access (it's a price one has to pay to be able to do something like, say, queue up a slew of episodes at once, but still, it's annoying that companies are so gung-ho on restricting what legitimate customers can do with their purchases... yeah, I understand the fear of piracy, but it doesn't hamper pirates much at all, there's always someone out there willing to take the time and effort to copy them (and no protections have worked forever yet, nor ever really will) and then they just spread everywhere from there to anyone feeling like downloading them, the customer is inconvenienced far out of proportion with any actual piracy-prevention).
Don't get me wrong, there are certainly some big advantages (as you note, good parent, you can get the shows the day after it airs, and can download them quickly without ever leaving home), but in the name of convenience it does leave some things behind, some of the things that are big selling points for DVDs (extras, quality, etc).
I won't bother going into any "actually having packaging" arguments, since that's all personal preference (and I don't always buy into it anyways), but it IS nice having copies that aren't on your computer already, I should point out . . . even with 600GBs, I certainly don't have unlimited space here on my computer, and it's nice to be able to just store away high-quality copies somewhere else if you're not going to be watching it for awhile or something.
So I guess my arguments can be summed up with the following: iTMS vids miss out on some things, DVDs are inconvenient, it would be better if there was legal ways to download something more akin to scene retail rips and/or copy legitimately owned DVDs without the disks acting as if you're a criminal every step of the way. But towards getting to this (probably somewhat naive, definitely idealistic) state of media, yeah, I'll give you that iTMS videos are a good step in the right direction. They're just not for me, at least not yet.
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
The number of videos sold as very little connection to the number of ipods with video support sold. You presume to try and understand the percentage of video buyers who care to have that video on an iPod...
I bought a few Lost episodes and do not have an iPod with video support. I think there are a LOT of other people like that with pent-up demand for onlne video purchases. It woud be really interesting to see the breakdown between shows, to see if it was a flood of people wanting Pixar shorts, a wandering crowd Lost fanatics, or a flock of "That's so Raven" fanatics (hard to imagine, but who knows?)
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So in your world, how come I can only either buy a whole DVD set for almost $40, instead of getting one episode for $1.99 to see if I like it? Or one episode because that's the only one I like?
In your world, I have to be beholden to the vagaries of TV schedules and the quality of my recording devices instead of simply downloading an episode sometime after it airs.
Why would I want to live in the old world when the new one is so much more convieninet and cheaper for me?
It's obvious you have not downloaded any of the video which is of higher quality than a lot of overly-compressed satellie channels offer.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I have analog cable and think the quality is a fine replacement for even the best recording over said connection. I used to have Dish and to me some of the shows on less important channels used to have compression which would yield the same level of quality...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Yes, yes you can. I've had a lot of success with MPEG video conversion to MP4 (mpeg 4, simple profile) using Videora. It's a free tool, it's very quick, and it's got preset options for exporting to video Ipod format.
Are you going to buy the Lost DVD or not?
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
You make the same mistake everyone does in tying the sucess of video on ITMS to the video capabile iPod. They really have little relation as anyone can buy and enjoy a video from a store without having a video-enabled iPod.
So ignore the history of portable video devices, and instead start thinking of what is really improtant here - not the iPod with video at all, that's just a footnote to backdooring real on-demand TV by a major player. If enough shows are offered, and you only watch a few shows here and there... why even have a cable subscription at all? That's what is going on here.
Even Apple doesn't make a big deal about video support on the iPods, noting that they added it to see what happens. Personally I could care not a whit for video support in a portable device but I am interested in online video and have bought a few things there already.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So many questions about why people would want to play video on a tiny screen. Why would they? I have no idea because I bought the video to play on either my computer monitor or TV! People who think the rapid sales in video are bolstered entirely by the new iPod are out to lunch and not putting on the long-term thinking caps.
Vidoe capabile iPods are a non-story and a gimmick. The foot in the door to FINALLY buy TV on a per-episode basis is the topic at hand, and a far more interesting discussion.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
And that's why?
I have a huge music collection, but it's a few beloved tracks - some from CDs, some from the net - that I keep playing over and over. WinAmp Statistics say that some of these tracks were played 40 - 50 times. So I get a lot of bang for my buck.
(And that's only on my desktop PC. Add a similar number for my MP3 player.)
The great thing about music is you can listen to it while doing something else. Try the same thing with video.
Honestly - how often would you watch an episode of "Friends" or another video? Two times? Maybe four? I don't think so.
(Admittedly, there are movies that I could watch over and over, like Blade Runner or Fight Club. But in that case, I'll gladly fork over the money for a real DVD.)
I love the fact that Microsoft missed out on this one.
These shows are all available for FREE
over the air.
If the season was 20 shows, you'd pay $40 for videos that:
a) Are in poor quality. At best.
b) you can't loan it to your friends because
1) the license doesn't allow it
2) even if it did, the protection doesn't let it
c) can't be sold when you get tired of them
d) can't be changed into other formats to watch on your PC/Mac in anything close to regular video
The solution, of course is:
a) Buy the DVD
b) capture it from the air; $30 TV tuners for PC's do that these days
c) download it off the internet
[Its hardly "stealing" as you folks put it, when the people who make the video give it away for free themselves over broadcast air.]
Hey, be trendy, be cool. Pay $2/episode when the original was free. But please PLEASE don't brag about it.
-1, Troll?
I must be severely demented, because if I had mod points that'd be +1, Funny (as Hell)
... that some percentage of the iTunes using community wanted to see what one of these videos looked like and spent a couple of bucks to see. Initial sales numbers may not be indicative. I bought one video just to see what it was like. I don't plan to buy any more of them.
CommonFlix iPod Video Downloads Most are free right now, some cost 99 cents and up including a feature length documentary at $19.99. RSS feed
I used to hate Lost when I watched it on the TV, cause it waa free and i had better stuff to do, like tell my friends how much I used to get pissed and vomit when we had exams and whatever.
But now that Stevie Jobs is selling it two bucks a go, it's just become a Have To. I mean, *everyone*'s watching Lost on their VideoPods, if your pod doesn't do video, well, dude, I mean, dump the mother and get yourself some real machinery.
It looks so cool on my 32" Sony Powerscreen too, and I can't tell that it's all pixelated and rough and stuff, cause after staring at my Videopod screen for like hours, my eyes get so red and sore I can't even tell my girlfriend Sarah from the dog.
Videopod is cool, and if you don't think so, you're a douch bag. And this is not astroturfing, it's as real as it gets. All my friends say so.
I have an idea, why don't you load your post up with some more *cough*cough* free iPod/Mac Mini SCAM links?
But slashdot taught me that capitalism was always wrong. People should make movies and music for the joy of making them, with no expectation of compensation beyond what I (or some other duly self-appointed minister) think they should make.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
...some shmuck will buy it. All they do is figure out the optimum profit achieved by a given price. If lower the cost 10 cents will sell enough copies to make more money they'll reduce it. If they can sell it for twice as much without losin a sale, they'll do it. Apple realizes that popularizing the concept of downloadable TV/movies is far more valuable to them than the money they make on the content itself. So the price is low.
The success of video sales through ITunes seems a little unexpected to me as somebody who has said that portable video is not viable yet. But then I realize why ITunes is still having success with it. I downloaded an episode of Lost. I've never owned a video ipod nor do I intend to soon. But I can watch it on my computer so that's fine. I can hook my computer up to my TV, so I'm good to go for downloading what I want and watching it. For 99 cents an episode, that's under $25 for an average season of a TV show. I spend $80/month for cable. I can buy a lot of TV shows for that price.
I would be thrilled to drop my cable service and only download exactly what I want to watch and this starts that. The benefits to me are huge. I can pick and choose exactly the shows I like. The concept of missing an episode goes away and if I hear good things about a show midway through season 3, I can go buy a couple episodes of the first season to see if I get into it. Then if I like it, I can buy the whole thing.
I heard about Lost being a good series, so what did I do? I went and downloaded the entire first season off of bittorrent. Is this wrong? Maybe so. But now that I've done that and loved the first season, I'm a loyal fan of the show and watch every week. Though I fast forward through all the commericals.
So, the content producers in the TV marketplace would be smart to get on board with this soon. In essence I get Lost for free. I don't watch the commercials and I downloaded the first season. They aren't making a dime off of me. On the other hand, if they made it available for download I wouldn't hesitate to shell out $25/year for it.
A little marketing here would not be unwelcome, as I'm always interested in hearing new music...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Funny thing is, they've fought against PVRs, and now most of them even offer one as part of the subscription.
It is funny. Mostly because you've lumped seperate media entities into one collective 'they'. In fact, there is a diverse crowd of players in the world of PVR. The entities opposing PVRs generate their revenues through advertising. These are regular broadcast networks like NBC, ABC, etc.
The companies offering PVRs generate revenue from subscriptions. These companies also make money from advertising, so your observation is correct, there is a conflict of interest at play.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
24 Episodes of Lost (Season 1):
Tiny crappy video files from Apple that you don't own for $47.76 ?
-or-
7-Disc DVD Box Set for $36.98 from Amazon ?
My friend and I were denied just today when we applied for distribution through iTMS. No, we're not a major indie like Matador, but we're also not a bunch of yahoos making records in the garage. I'm not complaining, but self-publishing through iTMS is still not easy enough. Having said that, people in my situation can probably use CDBaby to get onto iTMS, which is exactly what Apple's rejection note said.
...I'm betting that the hacked versions of Front Row on bittorrent will work on your machine, too. ;)
Frankly, most of the talented musicians are well...ugly. As one wit put it, rock and roll was created so that ugly guys could get laid. Given the postulation that talented musicians are ugly, why would I pay extra to get the video to go with the sound?
2 cents,
Queen B
HDGary secures my bank
The top download is currently 'Bum Fights Vol 2.mpg'... Who woulda guessed!
It probably is passable on an SDTV, but it looks absolutely awful on my 42" HD plasma. I know, I know--duh! But, seriously, iPod video is very close to unwatchable on a nice TV.
They stats say nothing except the unit sell well. I expect a direct correllation between the number of units sold, and the number of videos sold online. After all, when you buy one, you are gonna check out the possibilities. Also, you want to show off the thing running video. Therefore, it's not these first numbers that are interesting, except as a start of a trend. But will the people keep watching after they checked out the first videos they bought? I'm not convinced, the screen is too small to get an immersing experience and I'm not sure people want to keep paying for that.
No, but tell us how you really feel!
I'm still waiting for Twin Peaks. At the moment, I think the only option is to import it from the UK.
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Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
'People want see tv shows & videos on their PCs, and are willing to pay for the ability' is a premise that didn't really need testing. Just look at the shows, movies and videos on P2P and usenet as a good indicator that people want these content available on demand on their PC.
IMHO, I think the networks should be forced to provide the aired content for sale over the internet within one hour of the show being aired. The content should be available in two price tiers - with and without commercials. The content should be have DRM but also incorporate a 'managed copy' method. The content should be platform independant. The content should only be taken out of the download ability if a DVD type version is available (such as a series disc). And lastly, the content should be available in a version that looks reasonable on a SD/HD computer monitor (unlike iTune videos that look horrible on a computer monitor).
Fans might even start to have their own tailored episodes or even whole series.
Not to mention, getting signed with a big cable network is big business. But I have a hunch that in the future, getting on the iTunes video store will be as easy as "File>Publish on iTunes" - set the price, etc.
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
- Music Video - Michael Jackson - Thriller
- TV Show -
...And Found - Lost
- Movie - For the Birds - Pixar
- Music Video - Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice
- TV Show - Man of Science, Man of Faith (Premiere) - Lost
- TV Show - They Asked Me Why I Believe in You - Desparate Housewives
- Music Video - Kanye West - Gold Digger
- Movie - Boundin' - Pixar
- Movie - Geri's Game - Pixar
- TV Show - Orientation - Lost
- TV Show - Everybody Hates Hugo - Lost
- TV Show - Adrift - Lost
- Music Video - Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz
- TV Show - Malum - Night Stalker
- Music Video - La Tortura - Shakira & Alejandro Sanz
For those really interested, you can see the Top 100 Videos (requires iTunes).This sig donated to Pater. Long live
music is more relaxing than video .... maybe listening has less processing and memory requirements than watching a video - so the brain can relax a bit.... that maybe why you are willing to pay more for music.
Also, music is not as boring when repeated as video (no I am talking about music videos only, there are some which are not boring even when repeated ;-) )
it's in their best interest to beat down this new method of content distribution for TV.
I wish media executives could see that iTunes is their white knight. Right now there is a company successfully convincing people to PAY for something they can not only download for free, but that they can get on the airwaves for free. That's an amazing accomplishment.
The ______ Agenda
If iTunes offered American TV shows like battlestar galactica the day after they aired here in Australia (and worldwide), I'd be all over it! At the moment, I just check the torrent sites the day after it airs :)
But that assumes I know what show I'm after. iTMS could advertise new sci fi shows, and I could try them out before Australian TV stations have even thought of showing them here. Perhaps Firefly would still be around, because people could have bought them off iTunes IN THE CORRECT ORDER, and watched them at their leisure. Considering the cult following the show has, they probably would have sold heaps.
There's also the other aspect. TV producers get multiple bites at the cherry here. People buy current episodes in order to watch them multiple times at their leisure. Then sometime later, the DVD for the season comes out, and people buy again (because it is better quality). This will be even more true when we get HD quality DVD's. Of course, this only holds true for high quality shows that people love. Not "When monkeys attack", or whatever the hell Fox shows these days...
I guess I'm a sucker.
I bought every episode of LOST (seasons 1 and 2.) I save 17+ minutes of my life from commercials for $2 an episode. Assuming I could pare down my cable subscription this would be a great alternative for series like LOST. I'd never seen an episode until I downloaded off iTunes. I wish TiVo would get off their butt and do this instad of limping in like they have.
I then hooked up my PowerBook to my SONY 50" HDTV and I was astonished at how good most of it looked. It looked as good as any other SDTV broadcast (pretty much the same definition) but the SVideo made the colors pop. Obviously I'd love HDTV versions, but this really is a great start.
Some suggestions for Apple:
- More shows. Music videos for $2 suck IMHO. An hour long episode sans-commercials doesn't suck so bad.
- Discounts. I feel if you're comitting to N number of episodes you should get a little discount. Maybe 1 free episode for every 10?
- Subscriptions. Very related to the second request but it makes purchase easier.
This finally made IPTV make sense. It's just a good start that you know is only going to get better. Now if I could just put these on my PSP"Politicians find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the people."
I haven't watched the full episode yet so I'm still unsure...
I really liked Firefly which was also reccomended to me - but I need to finish the whole episode before I make up my mind. I just have this backlog of video and not a lot of time...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Well that comment sure was predictable. I myself thought the title track of Lining ina Daydream was pretty good and am going to buy that along with a few other songs.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I bought a few tracks, hope you have a good spike in sales!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If I could download feature films in the theater I might trade in my 4G 20GB iPod for a new iPod with video.
Way to make a strawman out of it, you did it like the pro's at apple. Personally I think the whole video on an obscenely small screen thing is pure nonsense.
But if it is really something you want to do:
PSP = $250.00
1 GiB card = $100.00
DeCSS or equivalent = free
encoding softare = free to 50.00 (depending on format).
Then rip all your movie collection to a format that looks good at the native resolution of the PSP. Granted this against the law (the whole copy protection circumvention part) but seriously who gives a fuck, no harm is likely to come from it. The media cartel's bad men aren't going to bust down your door and read you your rights because you didn't feel obligated to go buy 5 different versions of the same content in different packaging. I suppose the whole model breaks down if you are really that thirsty to watch something as soon as it is released on tv but I think there are other avenues that have negligible costs (aside from the 80.00 you pay every month for cable & pvr to the cartel) for such situations.
How can the ringtone sellers afford this you say? And how come MTV is up for sending them over and over again? Pretty simple - the ringtone sellers does not have to pay *anything* to have the advert played on MTV - however, MTV gets a percentage of the sales done within a specific timespan after the advert is sent. So, the more people buy ringtones, the more MTV makes together with the ringtone seller... The ringtone adverts are basically fillers - have a 30 second slot to fill between shows? Shove in the adverts twice to fill the time! If they sent the advert twice in a row, they essentially increases the timepan in which they earn money from the ringtone sellers. Pretty funky, eh?
Right, your insightful analysis correctly assumes that my time, just like yours, isn't worth anything.
Oh, wait.
What do I have to lose? I'll get paid for the work I put into, which I can use in my next project. I may even still release it for free on the internet, and let the video IPod suckers^W users pay $1.99 for it.
Anyways, the website for my short is http://genesoldiers.webforte.com/
We're currently in post production and looking at releasing in December or January.
Pr0n!
I suppose if you consider it a burden to figure out a few simple things like which codec you will use one time. Sure, it takes an hour +- 30 min to rip a disc, but despite your inveterate beliefs, watching the computer doesn't make it do its work any faster. A lot of software has an auto shutdown feature after it finishes extracting. But, by your criteria we should never make our expensive machines do anything that requires more than a few seconds. Better stop downloading the Linux bins and driking the kool-aid if your time is so valuable. +1 genius.
I've got the solution for your Ask Slashdot submission regarding two-factor authentication for your Active Directory domain.
The company I work for probably has what you are looking for. Not only does the client require a smart card/PIN to get on the domain, but we've greatly simplified the enroll, administration of all users from any PC in the domain (with proper token and priveledges) as well.
The company I work for has a website at http://www.sci-s.com/ but the product isn't even up there yet.
Please contact me at your earliest convenience.
Michael
213-743-9181 ext 231
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Apple certainly is raking in money through the use of its ipod. This means that apple has given up on its apple Computer. It is using its Ipod to create revenues for it. But the apple name will soon be forgotten and iPod will stop creating the magic revenues for the Apple Company. So Apple should consider if it wants to be in the video business or in the Computer business. The people are helping Apple by lending their support by creating free items for ipod. Sooner or later they will begin asking what is in it for the people. Apple should pay attention to what is stated in http://www.newerawisp.blogspot.com/ this blog discusses the need for a new method of surfing the web that is serever oriented rather than client oriented. The hackers have proven that they will not let the web be successful unless the new method is developed. Apple should support the dcevelopment of this new method through the donation of a relatively small amount of capital as seed capital.
Crazy Frog is the marketing title of a ring tone based on The Annoying Thing...
To be both off-topic and pedantic:
:-p
(should I just say PC? Apple'll be Intel soon anyways, will we get to simplify things then?)
It should be noted that Apples were PCs before PCs were. Recall, IBM (the Great Evil of the time) co-opted the "personal computer" (the friendly name for micro-computers used by Apple and others) for their own brand. What's weird is after a couple years of writing PC and PC-XT and PC-Clone about every piece of Intel-Architecture software/hardware that we didn't all start calling them ATs when the IBM PC-AT came on the scene; Everyone just kept calling them (ambiguously) PCs. The AT is the most surviving architecture wise (today's IA32 has more in common with the AT ["Advanced Technology" 80286] than with the PC/XT).
No point really... just interesting that the generic term became a brand (not unlike Windows) -- strange compared to other industries. Look how successful Le Car was for example
Read Heinlein's 1953 Revolt in 2100, now more than ever.
We may as well just cancel civilisation, it's clearly a failed experiment.
Some people insist that it was a mistake to come down from the trees in the first place.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
"when that happens i get a sudden urge to get up off my chair, walk up to her, unzip my pants, and then stick my cock so far down her throat that she'll never be able to speak again. wtf."
That was hysterical and I would pay to see you do it.