Filed under: iTS, Video, Odds and ends
I just splurge bought the entire Schoolhouse Rock collection
I know Dave already mentioned this, but I just wanted to underscore how cool this is. Nothing sells like nostalgia. I just bought the entire Schoolhouse Rock collection from the iTunes Music Store. And now, I am sitting here at my desk listening / watching each video while I work on this post. Never has an iTMS purchase given me such instant joy. I'm singing along. This was my childhood! And now it will be on my iPod! OMG!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Malfoy Roark said 9:35AM on 2-14-2006
Dude, you are behind the times! I bought the DVD when it came out almost 3 years ago!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005JKTY/qid=1139927656/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-2058483-6724742?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=130
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LD said 9:35AM on 2-14-2006
How much did you spend? Personally I'd rather have a hard copy on DVD and take the time to rip the videos. That way I'm not stuck with an inferior quality version I can only watch on my iPod or computer.
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C.K. Sample, III said 9:42AM on 2-14-2006
Malfoy: I had them on VHS, but this is even more portable than the DVD.
LD, I had a gift certificate that covered half of it, otherwise I don't know if I would have splurge bought both sections simultaneously. BUT, I don't buy the quality argument with this one. They are all old animations transfered to DVD from analog video tapes to begin with, so the DVD isn't going to be that amazing in quality, and since they are animations, they scale nicely when you plug the iPod into a TV.
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LD said 9:55AM on 2-14-2006
My guess is they are cleaned up film versions of the original animations. This isn't Joe Blow making a transfer of a Van Damme flick he copied to VHS 10 years ago in college.
Still, I think Apple is missing a huge market by not co-selling DVDs with video purchases. If I could buy the Schoolhouse Rock DVD and iTunes downloads for, say, and additional $10 it might be worth it. Same goes for seasons of television.
Sell episodes as they come out during the season then offer a percentage of each episode purchase as a discount on the DVD box set when it's released.
That's what is holding me back from buying much on the iTunes video store.
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Malfoy Roark said 9:59AM on 2-14-2006
Let just wait till Blu ray hits(a single HDDVD obviously can't contain the quality) and we get our school house rock in 1080p. Then we'll be in nirvana.
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Jeff said 10:17AM on 2-14-2006
I'd love to get it from iTunes, but I have no interest in a 320x240 native resolution especially if I can purchase the DVD for the same price. I love convenience, but I'm no dummy.
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Doug Menke said 10:34AM on 2-14-2006
Oh dear, the entire body of work is available on DVD, along with a bunch of extras, for the cost of a single volume.
What are they thinking?
Doug
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arkowi said 11:05AM on 2-14-2006
"Still, I think Apple is missing a huge market by not co-selling DVDs with video purchases. If I could buy the Schoolhouse Rock DVD and iTunes downloads for, say, and additional $10 it might be worth it. Same goes for seasons of television."
Yeah, I agree.
Example: I had never seen Battlestar Galactica and I bought the mini-series off iTunes. When I went to buy the first season, I bought DVDs. Then I ripped them to iPod format. I spent the same ammount of money for 4.5 times the size. Also, when the next iPod that does higher resolution comes out and Apple starts selling the shows at higher resolution I am not stuck will full seaons of TV shows in QVGA.
Now...If I could have bought it from iTunes and they would send me the DVDs also (for old seasons, naturaly) I would have paid a little extra (10 bucks or so) to save me the time of ripping the 4 DVDs and going to Target.
The current setup is great for when I miss an episode or two, but it is flawed for buying entire seasons. It is also probably why you don't see full movies on there. Would you pay 5-10$ for a movie in QVGA format?
Part of the problem is the fact that I don't want to watch everything on my iPod. Now, my iPod looks great (ok, good) on my 27 inch Sony Trinitron in my bedroom. However, hook it up to the Sony Wega HDTV in the living room and it looks like...well, QVGA video on an HDTV, not pretty.
I have done some tests with 640x480 video on the HDTV using my Powerbook and it makes a world of difference. I think if they could get the iPods video output up to this level they could potentially make iTMS videos a DVD replacement for a lot of customers.
...
Back on topic, they need to do a new school house rock with this internet gem:
Q. How does a War Bill become a War Law?
A. It all begins with the president, who submits a bill to the president. If a majority of both the president and the president approve the bill, then it passes on to the president, who may veto it or sign it into law. And even then the president can override himself with a two-thirds vote.
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umijin said 11:26AM on 2-14-2006
Umm, well... I hope you will actually listen to the vids and learn a bit of grammar.
The headine of this entry is absolutely painful to read.
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LD said 12:19PM on 2-14-2006
HAHAHA!
I just looked at the ITMS link. 11 episodes for $22. C.K., I hate to break it to you, man, but you got ripped off.
That's not the entire collection. There are 46 songs. The DVD at Amazon is only $13 and contains the actual entire collection.
"There's a sucker born every minute."
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EatingPie said 1:50PM on 2-14-2006
#9 I was going to post something similar: the whole set on DVD for 13 bucks. Even the full retail of the DVD at $19.99 is cheaper, and can be transcoded to iPod format.
This, indeed, is a shortcoming of the ITMS, and I think it's worthy of discussion. You get more for the DVD, but ITMS still has advantages.
DVD.
+ A Hardcopy pre-made
+ Higher Resolution
+ Less Expensive
+ Playable on almost anything
- Shipping Time
- Transcode doable, but difficult
ITMS
+ IMMEDIATE access
+ Already in iPod format / on HDD
+ Preview the Content
- Lower quality
- More expensive
- Limited to iTunes, QuickTime and iPod
- Requires back up
There's probably some more here, but you do have to weigh the tradeoffs. A lot C.K.'s (the author) excitement and joy came from being able to buy it and play it *now*. That's my favorite feature of the ITMS.
-Pie
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EatingPie said 2:01PM on 2-14-2006
#7 Says: "Back on topic, they need to do a new school house rock with this internet gem: Q. How does a War Bill become a War Law?"
On topic? How is this on topic? You just used this as an excuse to bring politics into this absolutly non-political thread. And to say it's "on topic" paints us as fools. Sure, there's a "Bill / Law" episode, but it has nothing to do with President Bush or the War in Iraq. Why did you find it necessary to drag that into this thread when there are other forums for such discussions?
-Pie
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Mac Diva said 3:14PM on 2-14-2006
I did the math regarding Battlestar Galactica before deciding to buy the iTunes downloads and reached the opposite conclusion. Like Arkowi, I had gotten hooked after watching the free half-hour intro and bought the mini series. From there, one can't turn back. Have it all now. I watch each episode at least twice (on my iPod video and my PowerBook G4), listen to TWO BG podcasts that take an hour or more and check out the producers' blogs. Frakking addicted.
The iTunes downloads actually cost less. In addition, they are at hand. One has to wait for the DVDs of a currently in production show. Besides, I don't have cable anymore.
The current price of the Mini Series, Season One and HALF of Season Two is $88.97 at Amazon, compared to $69.95 at iTMS. It has dropped and is now more competitive with iTMS.
As for LD's (why am I not surprised?) and Arkowi's arcane notion of how iTMS business model should be changed to suit their tastes, ain't gonna happen. It is important that iTMS remain an adjunct of the iPod because Apple's major profit is in the latter, not the former. However, consumers like these two may get an opportunity to get subscription content via download if Apple enters into contracts with Vongo and similar services. And, of course, there is the possibility of a separate video iPod (as opposed to the iPod video) that would dispose of their concerns about resolution and have a larger screen.
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arkowi said 3:21PM on 2-14-2006
go eat some pie and calm down.
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arkowi said 3:29PM on 2-14-2006
"Arkowi's arcane notion of how iTMS business model should be changed to suit their tastes"
I agree with most of your comments. I guess my main concern is with the low frakking quality of the video. Perhaps co-selling DVDs is a bit arcane, I agree. However, I did go on to mention that should they increase the quality to something along the lines of 640x480 I could consider it as a DVD replacement.
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arkowi said 3:36PM on 2-14-2006
"The current price of the Mini Series, Season One and HALF of Season Two is $88.97 at Amazon, compared to $69.95 at iTMS. It has dropped and is now more competitive with iTMS."
Not to get picky, but the mini-series is included with season one.
DVD Price for MS, S1, and S2 - $72, 2 dollars more than iTMS.
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Mac Diva said 3:51PM on 2-14-2006
Are you sure? There's a separate listing for the Battlestar Galactica Mini Series at Amazon. (Safari just crashed so I no longer have the page up.) Also, the discount is relatively new. Wasn't available when I made my decision.
The main decision driver for me is not having cable. So, unless I want to get P2P friendly all over again, or bug friends to record it and get to me, iTMS is the best option for obtaining BG.
Arkowi, I want Billy back. How dare they?
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arkowi said 3:59PM on 2-14-2006
"Are you sure?"
I have this same set and disc 1 is the mini-series. I am assuming there is a sepperate listing so people that just want the mini-series can buy just that and not the whole first season.
"The main decision driver for me is not having cable."
Well, I agree with you there. I have cable but I buy the new episodes from iTunes when I miss them which has been about 2 times since the second part of season 2 started.
"Arkowi, I want Billy back. How dare they?"
I agree. If Apollo ends up with D he might as well be pissing on Billy's grave.
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idogcow said 5:36PM on 2-14-2006
Isn't the download AND the CD/DVD the projected business model for Amazon's (so far) hypothetical iTMS copy/killer?
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Mac Diva said 6:18PM on 2-14-2006
I haven't read that, Idog. Think the downloads are meant to be free-standing. The incentives for buying the DVDs would be the additional content not available until after production and having a hard copy. Then there are collector types who will want both.
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