Digital Downloads Still Soldiering On

[hardcore_canadian]

Courtesy of MSNBC, iTunes to Release Movies Day and Date with DVD Releases

Apple Inc. said on Thursday it would begin selling movie downloads on its iTunes service on the same day as the titles are released in DVD form, under an agreement with top Hollywood studios.

Titles that will be available this week include "Juno," "American Gangster" and "I Am Legend."

iTunes will offer new releases and catalog titles from such studios as 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Lionsgate.

The move would allow a broad slate of top-shelf films to be offered day-and-date with home video releases, which risks cannibalizing DVD sales. Such a move would also put significant pressure on iTunes competitors ranging from Amazon's Unbox to Microsoft XBox Live Marketplace.

Movie sales have been eyed as a new area of growth for Apple, possibly prompting consumers to buy newer models of its iPod digital media player. Earlier this year, Apple launched a service for iPod and iPhone users to rent and download movies to watch on their devices. Each title costs just $3 to $4 for consumers to access for a 30-day period. Movie purchases, however, could cost as much as $15.

Apple hasn't moved as aggressively to date on film as it has in TV, with most download-to-own devoted to older titles in studio libraries. But Apple's success with those deals, which included MGM, Disney and Paramount, likely encouraged studios to take the next step.

In March, Disney CEO Bob Iger publicly estimated that his company had sold 4 million movies via iTunes since it became the first studio to try download-to-own in 2006. A few major new releases already have been made available day-and-date in recent weeks on iTunes, including Fox's "Juno."

The news follows Wednesday's disclosure by Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes that Warner Bros. will experiment with video-on-demand releases day-and-date with DVD.

The announcement originally was expected to be released earlier in the week, perhaps timed to the fifth anniversary of iTunes, which was Monday.

So I See a little Bit of a higher threat level here. But Unless Computer Chairs Become So Comfortable That People Can Fit Families on them, This is all BS to Me. I Know you Can Watch Your Computer Stuff on the TV, but Most People don't Know how to Do That.

Also, It's Important to Note that Sony Pictures is Listed, once Again Proving that They All Just Want Money. Ideologies are Nothing These Days.

[Branden]

nobody wants to crowd around the Dell for family movie night, especially when the Jones next door just got a 60" HDTV.

[Marine Mike]

My wife will not tolerate viewing a movie from a computer let alone an ipod. Me personally I can tolerate it, but its not something that I am willing to pay for.

[Beta Man]

I keep my laptop just barely on the cutting edge of "internet" technology.... I surf the web, check email etc..... I usually just use my work laptop though, but anyways..... I don't know what capabilities my laptop has, but I like a small screen, light-weight laptop.... I don't want to listen to the crappy speakers it has, and I don't want to watch movies on it. Why do people think this will catch on.... I have "watch now" movies on netflix, and I have never felt the need to watch one of those, and it's FREE! (although maybe watching one while I'm at work would be cool )

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

I've always hated watching movies on a computer with other people. It wouldn't make a difference anyways even if I were alone. IMO, it's very uncomfortable to sit in my computer chair and watch a film on my computer. It just isn't the same when watching a movie on an HDTV & blu-ray player.

[Branden]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Why do people think this will catch on....

to an extent it will catch on for the same reason mp3 downloads caught on: because there are some people out there who wouldn't know poor quality if it bit them in the ass.

[Darkseekers onaplane]

Digital Downloads are for nerds and geeks that never had a girlfriend and live in there basement at there moms house and they stay on the computer all day and watch star trek.

[Frumious Boojum]

Eh. While I'm not a huge fan of downloadble content, there are several devices out there that are made to solve the problem of downloadable content being restricted to computers.

For example -- Apple TV. No need to gather around a computer to watch your downloaded movie with that around.

[AikonEnt]

I have a computer connected to my tv and I watch tv stuff and movies that I've downloaded on it all the time. Quality is watchable, but then I haven't paid for them so can't complain. If I actually want to own a film I would buy it on Blu, I have no interest in paying for a download to keep on my HDD or iPod or whatever and never will. I want my shiny disc in it's plastic blue box.

[TheTenth]

what's the size of the files for DVD and HD movies on iTunes? I think it's the same 720p with very low bitrate Microcrap offers to their fanboys

[DeathByAsh'aman]

Originally Posted by Branden

to an extent it will catch on for the same reason mp3 downloads caught on: because there are some people out there who wouldn't know poor quality if it bit them in the ass.

I think its the exact oppisite. people got mp3 downloads because its much easier to overlook the worse sound quality. whereas even to someone not usually picky about things will notice bad picture quality. the only way you wont notice it is on an ipod/psp etc.

[J_UNTITLED]

Plus, it should be noted that the sound of a say, for example, 256 kbps mp3 is quite decent (or at least can sound quite decent) and also sound in of itself is more subjective than picture quality.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Darkseekers onaplane

Digital Downloads are for nerds and geeks that never had a girlfriend and live in there basement at there moms house and they stay on the computer all day and watch star trek.

+1

Once Blu-ray players hit $200 or less this whole download thing will be a complete non-issue to almost everyone except a few.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Why do people think this will catch on....

PEOPLE do?

A bunch of companies that would make a massive amount of money if it did catch on are saying it will catch on. Hardly surprising.

Right now it is mostly desperate move to try to stop Blu-ray adoption, because they all know they're plans be delayed for years waiting for the Internet to catch up to the bandwidth needed to support Blu-ray type capabilities.

Gary

[jkwest]

Originally Posted by Branden

nobody wants to crowd around the Dell for family movie night, especially when the Jones next door just got a 60" HDTV.

great analogy!!!

no kidding, huh?

[Grubert]

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/new...ticle_ID=12646

New releases will cost $14.99 with most catalog titles $9.99.

Those are SD purchases, aren't they? I can get the Cloverfield DVD for $14.99. Does that make any sense?

[mightypen]

Originally Posted by Branden

nobody wants to crowd around the Dell for family movie night, especially when the Jones next door just got a 60" HDTV.

If you're spending money on downloads (which I don't, except in very rare occasions), then I would hope you would have the sense to either use a media extender or have some other capability to connect your pc to your home theater. It's not complicated.

[DavePS3]

Movie renters will be the main adopters here... IF they're willing to buy more equipment and even if they already have that equipment, they're in a minority now. The movie rental business turned into just new releases around '86 or so. They want everyone including collectors to buy into this crap but I for one, love having a hard disc I can watch anytime. No time limit, full resolution, full HD audio... no downloading times, no glitches, artifacting etc... screw downloads. Especially, screw Microsoft! I like Apple but no thanks to this idea.

[WickyWoo]

Those are SD purchases, aren't they? I can get the Cloverfield DVD for $14.99. Does that make any sense?

And therin lies the rub. They won't let Apple or MS or anyone else sabotage the B&Ms because the studios expect a certain minimum return, especially on first week sales

And that is why buying digitally will continue to fail for movies, because the customer is paying the same money for lesser quality. I still can't figure out why anyone would wan to copy Blus to the HD since it costs you $10 in HD space to do it. That's something people never take into account. My shelving system cost me approximately $0.20 a DVD it holds. A 720p digital download costs $0.87 worth of hard drive space. (lowballing $65 for 350GB and usuing the typical 4GB file size for them)

Digital downloads have and will continue to succeed. In the form of on-demand PPV through your cable company. Sourcing the files locally on a private network is practical (one server farm can handle tens of thousands of homes). Through the internet is not

[david2189]

doesnt make the slightest bit of difference to anyone in europe, download speeds are just too slow, takes me over a hour to download an album let alone a movie!!