You never know what to suspect with Apple. They are so secretive. I guess the more sources, the more true this rumour is.

Reply

Walmart's getting really worried about Apple, however it remains to be seen how long it would take to download a movie, how many you can store on a 6G iPod and what the quality will be like when you burn it to DVD. I don't think price will make much of a difference in this battle.

Reply

Let Walmart complain all they want, they have a tendency to offer everything either through their stores or online and they put so many small companies out of business. Touche, Walmart, Touche....

Reply

All these hypocrites who bash Wal-Mart for everything, but after making all that noise, drive to their nearest Wal-Mart and buy stuff from there. Apple is no saint either. Apple, too, has broken many a law and trampled upon tons of smaller companies to make their products a success. So it ain't worth fighting or defending either crook. I hope Wal-Mart launches something to counter Apple's monopoly in the music/movies download market to bring down costs and improve service.

Reply

#4: The article implies that it is Hollywood that is keeping the prices high, not the retailers. The company that will be the most successful will be the one that has the most studio backing.

Reply

I found this post on a TiVo Forum - just thought it was interesting. I cannot, by any means, verify any of this. Just fuel for the fire.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4284749&&#post4284749

"I attended the WWDC last week and got into a conversation with a guy from TiVo while waiting for a session on Quicktime. I asked him about playing protected AAC songs from iTunes and he smiled and said "Can you wait a few weeks?". Excited, I asked if they had licensed the codecs from Apple, and he said they had an agreement with them. Apparently, music is just scratching the surface. He said the HME team at TiVo had a late beta of an iTunes client, which allows for searching, browsing, downloading, and playback of music, videos, tv shows, and, get this, movies! Apparently, they are mostly waiting on Apple to finish the negotiations with the studios and they are going to announce the whole thing when that is done. TiVo gets lots of new downloadable content and Apple gets a few million new iTunes customers. A match made in heaven."

Reply

#4
"I hope Wal-Mart launches something to counter Apple's monopoly in the music/movies download market to bring down costs"
Yeah, because Apple sure is keeping the price of music exhorbitantly high.

Reply

Regarding Jay's comment on hypocrites bashing Walmart and then shopping there.

I can assure you Jay, that I do not and will not shop at Walmart. They are evil incarnate and for some reason idiots continue to shop there simply because they think they are getting a better price. But at what price. That company is an economic polluter and we are all going to be paying a price for our greed soon and for a very long time.

Reply

I'm not sure if I'm one of the few people that doesn't care if apple launches a movie store. I have a 5th gen iPod and I'm far from happy with the quality of video they deliver with their TV shows. They're unwatchable on a big screen TV. If they release movies for the iPod I hope they're no more then $7 because paying anymore then that is a waste of my money. I can wait a few months and pick it up on eBay for about the same price and get a higher quality product. Or pay $5-6 more and get it that day with bonus features.

I understand that some people want this, but I'm curious if it's just a loud minority and the majority don't care.

Reply

Remember how when the iTMS TV shows debuted, only one network was signed on at the time? Maybe we'll see it the iTunes Movie Store grow starting with Disney and a few other studios. Just a thought.

Reply

Well, Steve (#8), I guess I'm an idiot! I shop at Wal-Mart. One just one income and a 1-year-old at home, I don't have the luxury of thumbing my nose at Wal-Mart, since I have to make the most of my income to provide for my family.

If you'd like to shop around and patronize those who fit your ideal, go for it. In the meantime, I'll continue to shop wherever I can to get maximize my dollar so I can merely exist and provide for my family.

If the iTMS store or Wal-Mart offers something cheaply, and I happen to have a few extra bucks, you better believe I'll get my entertainment there rather paying full price.

Sounds like a union representative has pounded their ideals into your head...shame.

Reply

Regardless of what comes of this - Apple will have to come with something spectacular. The Video iPod is probably more hyped up than the iPhone..

There is no way I would pay $14.99 for downloadable movies.

I would rather see a structure such as:

$2.99 - Rental - for 5 days.
$9.99 - Buy: Download, but burnable 3 times.
$14.99 - Buy: Download, burnable 3 times, and they send you the actual DVD and Case for it, like Gamefly does (without the burning..gamefly doesnt let you do that).

Reply

#7 - I hope that was tongue in cheek.

Apple had to FIGHT to keep the music at .99 Cents. It's the record companies that want to ream us for charging more. At least someone is standing up to them, and knows consumers like the .99 cent price point.

Reply

13: What are you talking about? Haven't you heard the record companies rallying for lower prices? They say that they're earning far too much and would like to reduce their profit margins. It's those greedy distributors like Apple that are screwing everything up for them.

Reply

Didn't the TV Store start with only 1 network. I don't see this as a problem. If it works well for Disney, I could see a lot of other studio's signing on.

Shane

Reply

Guys and gals, go read "The Long Tail" by the editor of Wired if you haven't already. Prices will come down, Wallmart will go the way of Tower Records if they don't get the $hit together and (here's the good part) the number of available video titles, TV and movies will expand exponentially.

I've never been an Apple fan, but I like iTunes video a lot. It downloads quickly (with 2meg DSL) and it looks fine (not great, but fine for TV) on normal sized TV. Most TV showsare watchable on widescreens (from the iPod) but there are disturbing artifacts from time to time.

I just hope the number of businesses offering online content will multiply and the prices are sure to come down.

Reply