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Friday, September 1, 2006
The rumor mill is in full swing, again, on the iTunes Movie deal. This time we’re now getting some hard facts to the deal and it says we’ll be purchasing newer movies for $14.99 and older gems as Dumb and Dummerer for $9.99. Now, the question buzzing of the web is who would pay such a price for a low quality movie? Granted, the current spread of TV programs don’t look that bad on my TV from my PowerBook, but those are only a couple of bucks. No major foul for excellent shows such as Lost and 24. But seven times the price for a movie? Mmm, I don’t think so.
It’s well known that Steve Jobs does not want to go the subscription route and may have continued digging in his heals on the movie end in fear that if Jobs went rental, then that would give Hollywood some wiggle room to go subscription on music. Purchase is a must for music in my book (if I were still buying the evil DRM protected songs that Apple won’t open up for Sonos,) but for movies? Nah. I’ll watch them once, maybe twice, and that’s it. Rental suits my needs just fine for movies and that’s why Netflix will do far better than Apple if Jobs really does spring a buy-only option for iTunes Movie Store.
Will you pay for $14.99 for a movie?
September 1st, 2006 at 9:18
Steve has always said that he thinks people want to own their music and that TV and movies are different. I see no reason to believe that he would be against a subscription service for movies as long as licensing would allow for it. I also see no reason to believe that the Movies delivered via iTunes will be “low quality”. Sure the TV content is 320×240 but I see no reason to believe that Movies will not change aspect ratio and increase resolution to around 480p.
Going up to 720p would put Apple into a position where it might be cheaper to purchase an iPod or a Mac mini to get access to HD movies than it would be to move to HD DVD or BlueRay. Apple might be able to end the debate between these two formats by making both irrelevant.
September 1st, 2006 at 9:35
Lets see, Netflix costs $20 for a months worth of movies and they seem to have new and rare in their library. If I feel the need to own them, or must have a movie tonight, I can go to Fry’s and buy the movie for $10ish.
I just can’t imagine needing a crappy copy of a rare movie at a moments notice.
September 1st, 2006 at 10:55
Not a chance. I’ll stick with brick and mortar. This will only drive more people to illegal downloading. Personally, I want the product in my hand at a good price. I buy my movies on DVD, mostly from Amazon. It’s not Apple’s fault. The Entertainment Industry has shown in yet another way that is simply stupid. Sorry for holding back my true feelings, I’m trying to be genteel about it.
September 1st, 2006 at 10:56
Not in a million years would I page $15 for a low-res iPod movie. I’ll buy a DVD (new or used) and then make an iPod video copy and still have the DVD for high quality video on a high-res TV. I do the same with videos of TV shows. I can buy used on Amazon for less than the cost on iTunes and I end up with the best of both words (iPod video and high-res video).
September 1st, 2006 at 12:11
Lets be a bit more precise about netflix. $20 gets you 3 movies every 5 days for most people. This means you can see about 18 movies/month. Depending on how Apple did their subscription service you might be able to see far more movies but we will just have to see. And again, lets be clear that just because Apple delivered TV at 320×240 is no proof that Movie content might not be larger (probably limited based on the resolution of the next gen iPod) but we will have to see.
September 1st, 2006 at 15:06
YES.
September 1st, 2006 at 21:02
> Would You Pay $15 for a Low-Res Movie from Apple?
I wouldn’t pay $2 Low-Res Movie from Apple!!
September 2nd, 2006 at 11:50
Would I give $15.00 for a movie? Humm, depends on the movie.
Most of the ‘current releases’ suck. Most of the oldies suck too. This is the same for all of ‘Popular Culture’ – as opposed to ‘Art’.
But, figuring that McDonalds, Applebees, and Olive Garden are doing ‘quite well’, none of us should be surprised that *many* folks WILL give $15.00 for crapola. They ante up $10 each week at the Multiplex.
So, if the question is merely what’s the ‘worth of something’ – easy: is whatever someone’s willing to pay.
However, if we want to know the ‘value of something’ – well, if you have to ask, just keep eating at Olive Garden and keep thinking you’re having a ‘real’ Italian Dinner