I'm just wondering what the current television programs will cost through iTunes. Yeah, $1.99. That seems odd to me, as what is charged for a DVD of a various number of series episodes is MUCH higher. And this comes out the day after the program airs, giving TiVo some time-shifting competition.
There's an interesting bit on it in this article below. And I've got some more to say about possible implications of this, below that. Whoa! Great minds think alike. NYTimes David Pogue just dinged into my email box with his Circuits column with some of the same thoughts I'm mulling over. Geez, now I guess I'll have to give him credit for them.
Link: Techtree.com India > News > Gadgets > iTunes Offers 'Lost' on Video iPod.
iTunes Offers 'Lost' on Video iPod
Techtree News Staff
Oct 13, 2005
Apple Computer has announced iTunes 6, the Gen-Next version of its popular music jukebox and online music store.
iTunes 6 will enable fans to purchase and download over 2,000 music videos, as also 6 short films from Pixar Animation Studios, for $1.99 each.Also, thanks to a landmark deal with Disney, iTunes will now offer current and past episodes from two extremely popular television shows, "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost"; the new drama series "Night Stalker"; and two popular shows from Disney Channel, "That's So Raven" and "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody"; for $1.99 per episode.
In effect, customers will now be able to purchase and download their favorite television shows from iTunes, the day after they air on TV; watch them on their Mac or PC; and Auto-Sync them onto the new iPod - video iPod , for viewing anywhere.
Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple Computer, said, "We're doing for video, what we've done for music - we're making it easy and affordable to purchase and download, play on your computer, and take with you on your iPod.
Robert Iger, CEO, Walt Disney Company, said, "For the first time ever, hit prime-time shows can be purchased online, the day after they air on TV.
[...]
[emphasis mine]
OK, I'll get my ideas out here first, and then switch to Pogue. Maybe they aren't exactly the same ideas.
I think Apple scored something WAY bigger than a video iPod here. I think it just did an end run, maybe a major end run, against the oddly intransigent entertainment industry.
Maybe there's a catch. Maybe the video is of terrible quality, a postage stamp. But to my mind, this isn't about the iPod at all. This is about a major concession by the entertainment industry (well, Disney and ABC) to stream time-shifted television shows in their entirety to computers for playback, the next day (what about time zones?!).
I mean, if you had a choice, would you watch lost on iTunes on your computer, or in the teeny iPod window?
I listen to most podcasts daily from my computer at work, running through iTunes, even though I have a perfectly functioning iPod with my music on it (and Harry Potter audiobooks). Podcasts are great to run in the background behind whatever I'm working on in the office.
My thought is that the video iPod is a TROJAN HORSE! A red herring. The thing Steve Jobs used to pry open a door that would never be opened up for general computer users from their monitors otherwise. And if it goes further and IF the quality is good, it seems to me it could make personal video recorders like TiVo superfluous. What do I care what exact date a show comes out on? TV schedules are arbitrary anyway.
OK, now let's look at what Pogue says. this is from his email column, not the one in the Circuits section. I just looked on the web and on his blog, and I don't think it's posted anywhere there yet, or I'd post the link.
From the Desk of David Pogue: Apple's Sideways Entry Into Portable Video
[...]
To me, the two biggest video iPod surprises were the ways Apple worked around the arguments against one.
For example, for two years, Steve Jobs has maintained that nobody would want to watch movies on a two-inch screen. In an interview in January 2004, he told me that Apple was investigating video. But he noted that people just don't consume music and movies the same way. You might listen to a certain song dozens or hundreds of times in your lifetime. But how many times do you watch a movie? Most people probably wouldn't buy nearly as many movies as they do songs or CD's.
What Apple wound up doing, therefore, was very clever. It sidestepped the movie issue altogether; the new iPod comes ready to play short movies, music videos and certain ABC television shows--but not feature films. None of these items lose much when they're not on a big, wide screen. (It's not clear at this point whether or not you can load the iPod up with your own video, like a movie you've downloaded or ripped from a DVD.)
Nobody's suggesting that you might watch these little video morsels hundreds of times. The price of those ABC and Disney TV shows ("Lost," "Desperate Housewives," and so on) costs $2 per show.
This $2-per-episode pricing, by the way, blows my mind. How on earth did Apple persuade ABC/Disney to sell its shows for $2 an episode? Remember, we live in an era of rampant greed and paranoia in the TV industry. The only other legal TV-show downloading service I've encountered is the Akimbo box, which costs $10 a month AND $3 to $5 per episode AND your downloads expire in 30 days! My guess? Disney, which owns ABC, made this concession as part of a larger negotiation with Mr. Jobs in an effort to persuade him to renew Pixar's distribution deal with Disney.
[...]
You and me both, dude. I just can't wrap my head around how Jobs did it. Pogue is still more amazed at video in your pocket. I'm not a BitTorrent users, as I don't care that much about stupid TV shows (except Xena, of course, but that was back in the day).
I have trouble keeping track of what day of the week it is enough to watch any one show regularly, but I do like "Lost," and it would be worth it to me just to drop it down to my iTunes some time when I missed it because I got busy and didn't notice until a day or two after it aired.
I want to know what kind of quality I'll get on the iTunes playthrough, tho.
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