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gmwedding
join:2005-02-14
Elk Grove, CA
| reply to b10010011
Re: Comcast On Demand or Internet downloadable movies?
Well, the business model for Web-based content delivery is still in its infancy, so the real competition to cable is only now ramping up. Obviously, the Hollywood studios are dragging their feet on allowing Apple access to movie content, to buy time for Blu-ray and competing online download services to get established and have a fighting chance of competing against the iTunes/iPod juggernaut, which also includes the revamped Apple TV, an evolving product that is marketed as a part of the iPod, and not the Mac, product line).
The reality is that the level of content quality available on these new services will improve as U.S. Internet bandwidth improves. But ISP's like Comcast and Time Warner also are dragging their feet on this. They are not going to empower Apple and other Web-based content providers) by improving their Internet bandwidth too quickly (not until their own cable TV systems in all cities are revamped to compete with full HD services. The traditional cable companies also fear the Apple/iTunes/iPod juggernaut. The trouble is, it will take cable systems another two years (perhaps more) to rebuild their aging infrastructure.
In the interim, as this plays out, Comcast has limited bandwidth available for Internet or HDTV. As a result, competition from satellite is now forcing Comcast to REDUCE the quality of their HDTV channels, a tactic they now are trying so that they can add more HD channels and create an appearance that they are competing against all those new satellite channels.
So, I think all this unprecedented action may level the playing field as far as quality goes, and create an opportunity for the fledgling online content services. Gradually, Apple has been upgrading the resolution and audio quality of their movie and TV downloads, and their Web downloaded movies and TV shows finally are starting to look pretty good on the big screen HDTV in the family room. | |
AppleTVpfft
@comcast.net
| I know how much you are in-love with Apple TV, but it really has no chance. It's a niche in the market of video delivery and will always be. Netflix is a better and cheaper alternative at this point. You can't argue that 1080p Blu-ray is not a better alternative to 720p, which Apple will never be able to deliver.
BTW: Amazon is eating Apples lunch when it comes to non-drm music. | |
gmwedding
join:2005-02-14
Elk Grove, CA
| RE: Netflix: the key words are "at this point."
Online movie and Blu-ray sales are just getting started. The iPod and iTunes were minor players for a year after Apple's late start in music back in 2001. We'll have to wait and see how this all plays out and neither you nor I can predict the ending. Of course 1080p is a better alternative to 720p, but few people own Bluray drives as of yet, so this fact remains irrelevant for the moment. You don't really believe that disc rentals will outpace online downloads in the long run do you? Even Netflix's founder doesn't believe this, and as online movie downloads come to dominate the market, Apple will be there to compete, maybe even minus the 12-hour outages like the one that recently idled Netflix. Apple doesn't have to own this market, they just have to make sure that content is available for their hardware. If the iTunes movie store ends up with a big market share, so much the better for Apple.
As for our family, we don't purchase On Demand movies from our Comcast cable TV provider (generally poor choices of titles, little HD content and too expensive), Instead, we're still renting DVDs by mail and have not yet even committed to the AppleTV. I'm waiting just a little awhile longer for all this to play out and for the movie studios to stop delaying the rise of Apple's rental market (Apple TV does need more content, but this will come). However, I do see the handwriting on the wall and realize that online downloads are the future for movie rentals.
RE: "Amazon is eating Apples lunch when it comes to non-drm music."
So say the music labels, which have vested interest in claiming this, since they are actively trying to invent a competitor to Apple that might be able to help shift power back to their traditional, music business cartel. But so far, Apple still holds the same 80% online market-share in music that it held last year and independent sales figures are not available to confirm the recent claims about the strength of DRM-free sales made by the music labels. We do know this: Amazon is vying for a very small piece of the remaining 20% share of the market that Microsoft, Real, Rhapsody, eMusic and all the other alternative vendors share.
Even if this claim is true, it just doesn't matter. While still dominant, iTunes music sales are not as important to Apple as iPod/iPhone hardware sales. Content sales are little more than a loss leader for Apple and a way to make sure that compatible content is available for Steve Jobs' hardware products. Since Amazon's non-DRM tracks play on iPods, iPhones and Mac computers, the sales still benefit Apple as long as most people continue to purchase the company's hardware, which they will, because it has become a defacto standard.
Finally, you must agree that the industry-standard .mp4 tracks that Apple uses are a better alternative (as far as quality goes) to the old, .mp3 file standard that Amazon uses. The fact is, those Amazon .mp3 files are larger, take more time to download, and consume more storage space than comparable, modern .mp4 files. | |
AppleTVpfft
@comcast.net
| You make some great points, I agree that Comcast On Demand PPV is very limited in the amount of content it offers. That's why I chose Netflix for now.
I guess we could see room for all these different video delivery methods to co-exist, only time will tell.
Yes mp4 is a much better alternative to mp3 for file size and quality. I like FLAC so none of the distributor's have what I need.
You could be right that the music industry is fudging the numbers of Amazon sales because they have a bizarre vendetta against Steve Jobs and want to create more competition in the market place. | |
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