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159 Comments
- rm999, on 10/12/2007, -2/+132For 15 dollars buy the dvd with all the extras and the box. Rip it into a format that you need if you want it on your computer or iPod.
- cwalk, on 10/12/2007, -10/+118I won’t start buying media online until it is $0.25 for a song and $5.00 for a movie (those numbers are more than fair).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14481929/
“Warner Bros. has decided to release its films on DVD for sale in China as quickly as 12 days after their theatrical debut, and at prices as low $1.25 a movie.”
Why should Chinese citizens get cheaper media than us? It is obvious that Hollywood studios and the music industry are overcharging us for the same products because we have more disposable income. At $1.25 the studios are still making money, so at $14.99 they are making a killing and laughing all the way to the bank. A line must be drawn. - CPops, on 10/12/2007, -5/+94Fifteen dollars per new release is about five dollars more expensive than I was realistically hoping for. For fifteen dollars, I'd expect the movies to be of decent quality and burnable to a DVD.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+45"well the thing is in China the piracy there is unbelievable, you can get a movies on dvd before they even hit theatres in the US and they are really really cheap. So i guess warner is trying to make the cheap prices more apealing."
They pirate, prices drop
We pirate, we get sued - Esquare, on 10/12/2007, -6/+46cwalk: "Why should Chinese citizens get cheaper media than us?"
Perhaps because they're busy making iPods for 40 dollars a week? - RubberbandLN6, on 10/12/2007, -4/+43I'm sorry but for a few bucks more or even less, I can buy the physical DVD with the packaging and the all extras, and the multiple discs and not have to worry about DRM. I can then just rip the DVD and put it on any device I choose to put it on.
I do not see any reason to spend $15 on something that essentially won't let me do the things I want with it.
This is all just moot point as of now because this is still a big fat rumor. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+45". For fifteen dollars, I'd expect the movies to be of decent quality and burnable to a DVD."
For fifteen dollars I'd expect a handjob from the download - CLIFFosakaJAPAN, on 10/12/2007, -6/+35$14.99 for Lower Quality Recent Titles?.....hmmmm all of a sudden, driving to Blockbuster or subscribing to Netflix doesn't sound so bad after all
- David1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24rm999 has it spot on.
If all we had now was downloads and Hollywood started releasing DVDs - a master disk of superior quality with extras and nice packaging we would be falling over ourselves. - Agret, on 10/12/2007, -14/+34To answer the topic title: Yes, Apple are nuts. Nobody is going to pay that.
- rm999, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20A. buying individual songs makes sense for most people who don't like every song on a given album
B. apple makes very little off itunes. They use it to sell iPods, which are very profitable. - siMac, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21Er, as I recall the major labels wanted to increase the price on the iTMS and Apple fought tooth and nail to keep their $0.99 price structure. Maybe that's why they're 'avoiding this hate'.
- kirashira, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18@cwalk
well the thing is in China the piracy there is unbelievable, you can get a movies on dvd before they even hit theatres in the US and they are really really cheap. So i guess warner is trying to make the cheap prices more apealing. Oh and the dvds are made there... - jmob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17no way it's a timed service if you are paying $15 dollars.
- Ninjamonk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17now if these were HD movies and go with the new MacMini with HD output then this would be good.
- cwalk, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21@kirashira
"well the thing is in China the piracy there is unbelievable, you can get a movies on dvd before they even hit theatres in the US and they are really really cheap. So i guess warner is trying to make the cheap prices more apealing."
Last time I checked I “can get movies on dvd before they even hit theatres in the US” from the convenience of my own home. Obviously the studios are trying to make prices more appealing to the Chinese, but they should be doing the same over here. The problem over here is that too many suckers are paying the prices the studios are asking for. The people of China basically boycotted the overpriced media industry and won. We should be doing the same. Every time I download anything for free I think of myself as a crusader rather than a criminal. - CLIFFosakaJAPAN, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18I guess i was speaking for my home country peeps (U.S.)...but Japan has a Blockbuster equivalent called "Tsutaya",and its even cheaper to rent Movies; they even rent CDs for about 80 cents! No Netflix but Tsutaya will start a similar service soon and everything can not only be done on PCs but with Cell Phones as well
- lane.montgomery, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17FYI you do have to worry about DRM on a DVD. It is just broken really easily whereas the iTMS DRM is a bit harder.
Legally speaking it is fine to rip your own CDs for your own personal use, but that is not so for DVDs. By bypassing the DRM protection on a DVD to rip it to your computer/iPod you are violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and is punishable by up to ten years in federal "pound-me-in-ass" prison.
I personally hand-wrote and mailed a letter to my three congressional representatives (two of which are up for re-election this year) trying to convince them that this was absurd to say it is ok to rip CDs but not DVDs even though they are essentially the same media. The two up for re-election didn't even respond. The third one wrote me back a form letter saying that he does not support piracy under any circumstances. So I hand-wrote him a response saying that I believed he misunderstood my intentions. I articulated to him that I thought it was wrong that the government could punish some one so harshly for exercising fair use when I've seen people get less time for manslaughter and rape.
His letter responding to that was, again, a form letter basically saying we will have to agree to disagree and he hopes that he can continue representing me. It's the kind of thing that makes me want to run for his office and be the voice of common sense changes until I realized that I'm only 22 and will have to wait 8 more years before I can be a U.S. Senator.
I'm getting off on a tangent here, but I don't care. The apathy that is so apparent in the electorate is sickening. My generation has been raised though the school system to believe that there is nothing we can do to change power. That our only outlet is in individual expression but the political system and the rules that govern us are off-limits. We are taught that the laws are holy and for the greater good even if we don't like them. When people start believing that, then the laws stop reflecting the will of the people and start reflecting the will of those in power and the will of those who hold power over them. And let me tell you, the people are not the individuals holding influence in our republic. Votes don't count, dollars do. My heart aches and longs for a representative that understands me and my point of view. I honestly don't think such a thing exists in our body politic right now. I would challenge you to try and talk to any of your representatives about ripping a DVD for personal use and see how much of that sentence they actually understand. You will quickly find the only thing they hear concerning anything to do with "copy" and any form of media comes from the corporations telling them, "Bad, bad, bad." They don't hear from real consumers who feel what they do in their own homes shouldn't be against the law. It's not just the idea of copyright and high prices on content and the power-drunk MAFIAA. It's about government having the ability to send me to a federal prison for 10 years for ripping my "Chappelle's Show Season 2" DVD and putting it on my iPod. I know nothing is probably going to happen to me because I'm not sharing it on the internet so how could they ever know. The principle mirrors the argument against gun control. If ripping protected DVDs is illegal, then only criminals will be ripping DVDs.
*deep breath*
I feel better now. - Simen, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17You're right. Apples are fruit, not nuts.
- Alex.w, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Has anyone started importing the $1.25 DVDs yet? Even with 17.5% VAT, that's a price I'd be willing to pay for a film that will most likely be pants, and the all seem to be lately.
We do get totally bent over when it comes to media. When it comes to digital downloads a lot of people are just blind I think, there's no way it costs nearly the same to sell a DVD over the Internet, yet $14.99...
It just shows that the media company just charge what they get away with, and they're getting away with to much IMO. - osmaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Apple isn't setting the prices, studios are.
And as the article mentioned, studios are freaked out by WalMart's threats and demands if/when Apple sells movies through iTunes (as WalMart sells 40% of the DVDs bought in the US).
Perhaps it's time to bitch about WalMart again? - paulryan21, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18Apple isn't nuts - they would sell it for a dollar if they could get the studios to sell it to them for half that.
Problem is, the studios have seen Apple grab the music industry by the nuts and now Steve has control - he sets the rules. The music industry make a lot of money off itunes and lost their fight for tiered pricing.
The studios have been playing hardball from the start - they had no choice. - deadlock, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14The key is to not leave them on your iPod - I have a video playlist that I move vids in and out of; only videos in this playlist are uploaded to my iPod.
Learn to use Smart Playlists as well - you can create a Smart Playlist that only includes videos that have never been played and then make iTunes only sync videos on *this* playlist to your iPod; I did one of these for the Futurama box set and did something similar for Battlestar Galactica.
With regard to the topic, I'm not sure where I stand on this really and I suspect it will be a while before I'll really have to think about it (I'm in Ireland and this service will probably only be for American customers, the way TV shows are presently). On the whole though, I'm positive about it: I don't really want to buy DVDs any more because they take up space and the main appeal - extras - tends to be disappointing more often than not.
$14.99 (€14.99, presumably) may or may not be a bit steep depending on quality and features and the value for money question won't be answered until we have more details. For example, will these videos be formatted for viewing on the iPod or for outputting to a TV? Will they be in a format that can be easily burned to DVD? Will they, as some have already asked, be time-limited? - Crypty, on 10/12/2007, -7/+20This is only worth it if you don't know what bit torrent is.
- ericeman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Think about it this way:
Why do people buy TV shows via iTunes? Sometimes it's because they are interested in the convience of it all. I think people will buy movies because they are there at their fingertips. Too late to go to the store, a new release sold out on DVD- just go online and download the movie.
Another reason this might become a success is because people like putting it on their video iPods. Not a HUGE market of people who are taking long trips and would immediately find this deal enticing, but hey, it'll sell. - Charlotte_Web, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16Isn't pay-per-view on cable about $4?
- neod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Actually for $15 a month you can subscribe to Netflix. That will get you around 15 DVDs a month (realistically speaking) which you can watch and copy to your own media and save them for later viewing or convert them to portable media player formats. That's $1 per movie.
Buying music is different, you can listen to the same song a few times every day and not get tired, but I for one don't watch the same movie for six months to a year, and that's only if I like it. - sokko, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13Is This Title Nuts? A Rumor!...Judging Prices That Don't Even Exist; Should We?
- Chewie67, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Burnable to DVD -- in FULL DVD QUALITY -- is a MUST for any movie that costs more than $2.99 as far as I'm concerned.
If they're selling "iPod Quality" movies, then the price should be representative. - Pushkin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I know a lot of europeans that would love to be allowed to download episodes of US tv series!! But we cannot (yet)
- Shorties, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I spend 10 dollars a month on unlimited movies in Vongo. $15 per movie sounds outrageous to me.
- tsunamisteve, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I'm pretty sure Steve wanted 9.99 and the movie execs are dicks.
- inkswamp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7> Wal-Mart also happens to sell an awful lot of iPods and Macs.
Huh? Since when did WalMart start selling Macs? I think the author needs to do a little more research and fact-checking prior to publishing his piece. Sort of casts some doubt on the rest of his article. - nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8For $15 I expect 5.1 surround audio. Sure most DVDs are over $15 now, but they damn well shouldn't be!
"Perhaps because they're busy making iPods for 40 dollars a week?"
That's a laugh. They're probably making more to the tune of $40 a month, IF they're lucky. - meanreal, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8at the end the customer (we) will decide ...
- robdavy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"It just shows that the media company just charge what they get away with, and they're getting away with to much IMO."
A company charging the most they think the market can take? GOD FORBID!!!!
It's called capitalism people - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6No thanks Mr Jobs...I`ll rent the DVD for $2 and make a perfect copy (with all the extras)without any DRM with DVD X-COPY.
- thecharliefarm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6not to mention aussies :)
- shark72, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6cwalk:
"I won’t start buying media online until it is $0.25 for a song and $5.00 for a movie (those numbers are more than fair)."
Statuatory royalties for composers and lyricists are defined by law at $0.07. Add $0.15 royalties for the performer, two cents for the credit card company and a nickel for the bandwidth and server maintenance, that's $0.35 before you've ever made a profit.
That's why even "good" companies like emusic and magnatune, which sell non-DRM content and pay the artists well, don't even approach $0.25 per track.
If you *really* think $0.25 is "more than fair," then why not crack the market wide open and start selling music on your own for $0.25 a track? Unless you avoid the step of paying the artists (as the Russian sites do), you'll lose $0.10 per track, but you'll likely get lots of business.
But I think that what you were really saying is:
"I won’t start buying media online until it is $0.25 for a song and $5.00 for a movie. I know that won't happen, because distributors must make a profit and artists must be paid, so in the meantime, I will use the lack of availability of $0.25 songs to keep pirating. See? I'm pirating, but it's the *other* guy's fault, because he hasn't found a way to sell music at a money-losing $0.25 per track. Thus, I'm perfectly justified." - Spanca, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6That's far too expensive given you've got bandwidth costs to cover as well. If they're going to offer decent quality as well as the extras that a DVD of essentially the same price, the price would want to be a fair bit lower than US$15.
Then there's the DRM... - Antialias, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I'de like to know where you're buying new releases for $12? I've seen them for $17 or $20, but not $12. I'll grant you there are older movies for $6.99 and such, but they are usually the crap bin. $9.99 for older movies isn't too bad.
I don't know why people believe Apple or any download service could offer $5 or $6 movies. If it was that cheap. People would stop buying DVDs altogether and the movie industry definetly doesn't want that. - mrgreen4242, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"I'de like to know where you're buying new releases for $12? I've seen them for $17 or $20, but not $12. I'll grant you there are older movies for $6.99 and such, but they are usually the crap bin. $9.99 for older movies isn't too bad.
I don't know why people believe Apple or any download service could offer $5 or $6 movies. If it was that cheap. People would stop buying DVDs altogether and the movie industry definetly doesn't want that."
New releases are usually $12-15 for the first couple weeks. Then they go off of sale andback up to $18-20 for a few months. Then they get dropped to bargain prices, usually the same $12-15 they were on sale for, and eventually make the bins at $6-10.
Apple could easily sell movied for $5. I know DVDs are cheap to make, but that's just manufacturing. Figure in the cost of transporting them from China to the US, the cost of store space (built into the price by retailed profits) and I'd be surpised if they couldn't take $10 right off the top of the sticker price. Factor in that they don't make money on songs (they use it to push iPod sales) and movies could easily be $5 a piece under the same business model.
Now, if they are planning an HD movie service they're onto something. A $500 Mac mini media center version is the same price as an HDDVD player and less than a BluRay player. Sell the movies for $15 and your at half the price of the others. Have a built in (or optional) tuner module and a a beefed up version of Front Row and you can replace your TiVo while you're at it.
Sounds like winner to me. - JoeyDeacon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Get your high def torrents hours after broadcast for $0 or pay $15/€15/£15....hmmmm.
I'll wait for an official announcement but at this price point I won't be using the service. Much as I have been screaming out for a decent movie download centre for the past few years they need to halve those prices for it to be viable for me and I'm not a student.
The quality will be important too, I don't want movie downloads for an iPod. I want movie downloads to watch on my widescreen hd tv. - waalter, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6The price isn't really what worries me. I concur that part of the iTunes Music Store appeal is in convenience, but how convenient can the iTunes Movie Store be? Downloading a few megabytes to listen to a 2 to 8 minute song is one thing, but downloading a considerably larger file to watch an hour to three hour movie is a completely different ballpark.
More often than not when I watch movies at home, it's with friends and family - not by myself at the computer. I can imagine Apple implementing an easy way to burn the movie to DVD, but how fast can a machine do that and what will the hardware requirements be? Will the quality be comparable to a store bought DVD? After all of this fuss (and the alleged price), it would be easier and cheaper to go to the store a block away and buy the DVD. The media its on will be more durable, and it comes with much nicer looking packaging.
Then let's not forget Netflix and Blockbuster. Even if they aren't instant, they're still part of the competition. - wild, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I think title was written by William Shatner
- sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9I would rather buy the DVD. Perhaps Apple would like to sponsor my monthly bandwidth allowance, in which case I will gladly download their (probably) DRM infested files.
- thatsiebguy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5The price on iTunes is a non issue. We all know that Apple will get less than a buck from the sale, the rest will go directly to the Studio. Also, the 15 bucks is for new releases, 10 bucks for older movies.
What you should take notice is the fact that Apple was able to talk the studios into even Offering the movies for download. This marks the beginning, that the studios are taking notice that they have to change their ways, this being their first step into a distribution system, that if done wrong, they loose all control over, and that is what they have fought to keep for so many years.
Other services will pop up to dethrone Apple after they see how successful it can be. - kolop1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5 For 15$. I'll just buy the movie on DVD.
- malloc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6@cwalk
It's a free market. Draw the line yourself, don't buy it.
Stop whining. - moisie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Or steal the dvd's from a shop for nothing!
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