iTunes with Podcasting, Cell Phones and iTunes Movies?

Looks like typical Apple behavior to me - setting things up for the implementation of future plans. I support Podcasts and would like them in iTunes. The other things (iTunes cell phone and videos in the store) I would not use.

I couldn't care less for Podcasts.

Music videos in iTunes is not very interesting as long as the audio isn't streamed over AirPort (with all the problems of delaying the images that would involve).

My views on full length movies can be found in the poll thread[post].

But cell phones might be interesting. But I really want an Apple cellphone, not just an iTunes enabled Motorola (or others). I'd buy a nice Apple branded cellphone that synced flawlessly (over Bluetooth and/or USB) with iCal, Address Book and maybe even Mail that could play iTunes purchased music as ringtones (which is funny for a very short time, but still...) in a second.

"I'm going to have to leave that answer to our actions in the future."

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At any rate, you'd have to be crazy not to believe that they're working to make it happen as soon as possible. You'd have to think there would be a huge advantage for the first big player to offer comprehensive movie downloads.

This is good news. I feel like Steve spilled the beans.

Macrumors said:

"Apple's never been very good at going through corporate orifices in order to get at the end users."

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What's he referring to there? (historically, I mean)

Macrumors said:

"I'm going to have to leave that answer to our actions in the future."

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Damnit steve, couldn't you give a straight answer for once?!

so we should expet the ipod movie soon?

Macrumors said:

Finally, with the recent introduction of music video sales on the iTunes Music Store, Jobs fielded questions about whether or not movies might eventually be on sale. Jobs reportedly answered: "I'm going to have to leave that answer to our actions in the future."

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We know what this means. Recently Steve didn't even consider selling movies. This was clearly implied when Steve decided to not have an iVideo or iPod Video (or whatever Apple will call it) in the near future about a year ago. Expect movies on iTunes alongside an iVid -- soon!


The problems with Apple selling movies are:

- Where is the iVid? Will it come at WWDC?

- Also; are people willing to spend $10 per video as much as they are .99 cents per song? Ten times more is quite a bit. My guess is that many people who buy music from iTunes will still pirate movies.

- Are Apple's iTunes servers ready for selling long movies? Apple only lets you download your iTunes songs once and the videos they sell now are short in length. Movies are gigs in file size where songs are only in megs.

- People with 56k and other types of slow internet connections will not be to download movies.


If Apple can work out these kinks then they will be in good shape. Here are some solutions:

- H.264 makes the downloading server's speed easier to solve because the files are smaller.

- Slow internet connection users can download H.264 4 times faster than normal video codec.

- Pirates will pay just to get the video 4 times faster.

In other words... H.264 is more than just for movie trailers apparently .

We're still talking about HUGE movies to have to download though. That would be a big strain on Apple's servers. 9.99 for an album of less than 50 MB is one thing. Lets say Apple prices one movie at 9.99 (which would make sense). That would be 9.99 for probably close to 1 GB of information. And the music store already hardly makes a profit! Even if they price it at 14.99, I don't see how it can make business sense.

Podcasting:

I'm glad Apple is getting on board -- not because I like Podcasting but because I DON'T like it. The interfaces are clunky, the content is blah and the whole experience is very high maintenance.

Apple podcasting could be: NPR's "Morning Edition" synced every morning for $5 a month, Letterman's top 10 list, a weekly comedy broadcast by David Sedaris, etc. Apple will be able to fully intergrate it into iTunes and do it with great content.

Music videos:

I'm scratching my head at this one. Apple lets you watch music videos for FREE right now on iTMS. (You can also watch music videos FREE on MTV, VHI, BET, etc.) If this doesn't port to the iPod, Apple will just expect consumers to pay for something they already get for free.

This doesn't make any sense unless the iPod or a new handheld video player is involved.

longofest said:

In other words... H.264 is more than just for movie trailers apparently .

We're still talking about HUGE movies to have to download though. That would be a big strain on Apple's servers. 9.99 for an album of less than 50 MB is one thing. Lets say Apple prices one movie at 9.99 (which would make sense). That would be 9.99 for probably close to 1 GB of information. And the music store already hardly makes a profit! Even if they price it at 14.99, I don't see how it can make business sense.

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My thoughts exactly. Maybe they'll use bit torrent so they won't have to use their servers as much (just kidding). Maybe all their profit will come from their iVid and they'll lose a little money in their video store.

hob said:

What's he referring to there? (historically, I mean)


Damnit steve, couldn't you give a straight answer for once?!

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Yeah, I know what you mean. Asking Steve questions is like asking Jesus a question, or even Yoda. But it makes everything that much more exciting.

Fishes,
narco.

what if...Apple co-branded an exclusive brand with one of the biggest Mobile phone makers? Take SE, Motorola or Nokia for ex. Say that the plattform was developed with Motorola - but designed by Apple...in order to enhance the mobile phone vs. computer experience. No one could do this better than apple!

They would create a buzz throughout the industry AND all the mac-heads would pick one up and early adopters...which in turn will create an increased interest in apple computer products...

But - at the same time the cut out the other part of mobile phone industry...if the release iTunes mobile for nokia, SE's etc use they have an option of establishing a standard music-player. But then again...SE and the others will probably brand their own music-media-player...

Apple - give us an iPhone - with bluetooth, 1 GB Flashdrive, scrollwheel etc - syncable with .mac etc!

hob said:

What's he referring to there? (historically, I mean)
Damnit steve, couldn't you give a straight answer for once?!

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He was referring to Apple's inability to get their computers into Fortune 500 companies. That part of the quote was cut off in the transfer to here. It's on the O'Reilly website.
And does anyone who was in attendance have comments on the Podcasting interface? He did demonstrate this, didn't he? Was this also Steve's only conference-y appearance? No Airport Express revamp at D I take it?

Porchland said:

Music videos:

I'm scratching my head at this one. Apple lets you watch music videos for FREE right now on iTMS. (You can also watch music videos FREE on MTV, VHI, BET, etc.) If this doesn't port to the iPod, Apple will just expect consumers to pay for something they already get for free.

This doesn't make any sense unless the iPod or a new handheld video player is involved.

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Well, music is available for free on the radio and streamed on the internet, but people still want to own the music so that they can listen to whatever they want whenever they want.

I think music videos will have some success for the same reason. Anyway, why wait a week to catch the new Gorillaz video on MTV when you can watch it anytime you want, even if you don't have an active internet connection?

Of course, this might be cleared up at the same time that a video store is introduced...

But doesn't it make sense that Quicktime 7 be shipped to the PC masses before introducing a store? Iron out the big bugs, then unleash H.264 videos via iTunes 5.0(?)

I think it is pretty safe to say that Apple is working on movie downloads through iTunes or something like that. This is indicated by iTunes new video features and by his "wait and see" answer. Whether or not we see the end result of it is another story.

2 Podcasting comments and neither of you get it.

Porchland said:

Podcasting:

I'm glad Apple is getting on board -- not because I like Podcasting but because I DON'T like it. The interfaces are clunky, the content is blah and the whole experience is very high maintenance.

Apple podcasting could be: NPR's "Morning Edition" synced every morning for $5 a month, Letterman's top 10 list, a weekly comedy broadcast by David Sedaris, etc. Apple will be able to fully intergrate it into iTunes and do it with great content.

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Ok, there was this and another earlier post on podcasting. Neither of you get it. Yes some of the interfaces for the podcatcher software is clunky still.
Podcasting as a concept is still less than a year old, it has gone from one show to over 5000. That is one hell of a growth rate. And that is just the different shows being produced, that doesnt count the amount of people listening to them.

The content is far from blah, yes there are some blah shows, but its the concept of people being able to be their own broadcasters that is the exciting part. If you actually tried listening to a few shows, and do some checking about, there are lots of great shows out there, in almost all topics. They are done by people who love what they are doing and that is a huge driving force. It is giving people more content to put on their ipods.

For the short term, iTunes supporting Podcasts is the biggest news from this article. It will give more people easy access to podcasts which gives people more reasons to get ipods. And what is the cost for apple for this? Almost nothing, just the addition of podcatching software into itunes.

This is HUGE.....and completely awesome.

Aaron

Porchland said:

You can also watch music videos FREE on MTV...

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They show videos on MTV?

if they release iflicks on itunes that would be kool, but if they release an ipod to play em im gonna be mad. i just bought an ipod photo and i specifally remeber steve saying playing movies on an ipod isn't feesible.

longofest said:

In other words... H.264 is more than just for movie trailers apparently .

We're still talking about HUGE movies to have to download though. That would be a big strain on Apple's servers. 9.99 for an album of less than 50 MB is one thing. Lets say Apple prices one movie at 9.99 (which would make sense). That would be 9.99 for probably close to 1 GB of information. And the music store already hardly makes a profit! Even if they price it at 14.99, I don't see how it can make business sense.

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$/Gb has been dropping radically and will continue to do so. When Apple launches this service they will make money on it.

ijimk said:

if they release iflicks on itunes that would be kool, but if they release an ipod to play em im gonna be mad. i just bought an ipod photo and i specifally remeber steve saying playing movies on an ipod isn't feesible.

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Ah, the one thing about Steve is that he is farily upfront about feasibility, AT THE MOMENT HE IS SPEAKING. Just because it's not feasible then, doesn't mean it won't be at some point in the future.

I'm sure they are exploring it but I for one, would never watch a movie on an iPod. What's the point? A music video maybe, especially if it's part of an album that I bought, but then the battery life is going to sink to the point where a handful of videos will totally deplete the battery.

longofest said:

We're still talking about HUGE movies to have to download though. That would be a big strain on Apple's servers. 9.99 for an album of less than 50 MB is one thing. Lets say Apple prices one movie at 9.99 (which would make sense). That would be 9.99 for probably close to 1 GB of information. And the music store already hardly makes a profit! Even if they price it at 14.99, I don't see how it can make business sense.

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How about episodes of TV shows....?? I'd pay $5-10 to have the latest episode of my favorite TV show instead of waiting for the season to come out on DVD... Only buy my favorite episodes, it'd be great... I'd buy last week's Family Guy in heartbeat!

longofest said:

In other words... H.264 is more than just for movie trailers apparently .

We're still talking about HUGE movies to have to download though. That would be a big strain on Apple's servers. 9.99 for an album of less than 50 MB is one thing. Lets say Apple prices one movie at 9.99 (which would make sense). That would be 9.99 for probably close to 1 GB of information. And the music store already hardly makes a profit! Even if they price it at 14.99, I don't see how it can make business sense.

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Apple uses Akamai's caching service for most of their QuickTime-based content. They'll probably enlist Akamai's help for the movie store too.

Why does downloading a moviehave to be such a big deal? I rent movies from my Digital Cable provider on demand, and I can pause, rewind, fast forward and watch it over and over for the next 24 hours. Plus with my DVR, I can watch a movie in HD, and capture to disk for replay at any time. This is all from the same cable that I use for my high speed internet to the Mac.

Why couldn't the same thing happen directly to the mac and iTunes