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New Media Content Distribution System?
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puckhead193
macrumors G3
to solve the i want to take it with while i'm flying or whatever, i think you will be able to put it on your ipod video....
Super Dave
macrumors 6502
vrabz said:
READ THIS POST. YOU WON'T REGRET IT
This technology is already in use. And it's not slow. Try front row and look at movie trailers. They're good quality (not 1080i certainly but good) First thing you notice is that they just start quickly, and you say "whatever."
But, try scrubbing to any part in the video, even the very end. It's just plays. It does not do that on the apple.com/trailers site. This technology isn't coming. It's already here.
David😎
PS - I doubt it will be a .mac tie in. The think secret report is definitely 2 truths and a mistake.
mdavey
macrumors 6502a
neutrino23 said:
Hmm. When watching a FrontRow trailer, that is exactly what happens - it buffers a bit until it is confident it can play the rest without gaps, then starts playback. The trailer is then cached locally for a period of time. Playing back again within half an hour or so doesn't require a new network connection. But try again a couple of days later and it'll refetch.
Perhaps Apple is planning to cache movies locally on iDisk for a much longer period of time, but eventually they'll be deleted and just a record of your purchase will be kept if you want to watch again.
A mechanism a bit like iTunes podcasts could be used to allow people to pre-purchase movies. If you are on a 'plane you could watch anything still in your cache (both recently watched stuff and stuff you haven't watched yet). Perhaps it'll even download a lowres version that you can keep forever on your iPod?
I still don't like the idea, but with enough thought Apple could come up with a scheme that everyone except the hardcode geeks would accept.
iDisk and Movies
I, too have been thinking that storing movies on iDisk through .Mac and streaming them would be a bad idea (imagine the bandwidth costs, probalby for Apple, if you watched the movie over and over again).
Then I had a thought: maybe your movies/TV shows/songs won't be stored on iDisk, but your purchase history would. If you lost your shows and songs, Apple would let you redownload the ones in your iDisk history. This way, Apple is just adding insurance that wasn't there before (though I guess you could already store your files on iDisk but that would wipe out your space pretty fast). I know you can backup your own stuff now, but most people don't.
For all of the reasons that people have already mentioned here on this thread and all of the animosity shown toward storing the content remotely, I just don't see Apple going down that road at this time. In the future, maybe a couple of years, the technology might be there to stream media from servers to almost anywhere at anytime in real-time, but that can't happen now (especially on laptops).
I, too have been thinking that storing movies on iDisk through .Mac and streaming them would be a bad idea (imagine the bandwidth costs, probalby for Apple, if you watched the movie over and over again).
Then I had a thought: maybe your movies/TV shows/songs won't be stored on iDisk, but your purchase history would. If you lost your shows and songs, Apple would let you redownload the ones in your iDisk history. This way, Apple is just adding insurance that wasn't there before (though I guess you could already store your files on iDisk but that would wipe out your space pretty fast). I know you can backup your own stuff now, but most people don't.
For all of the reasons that people have already mentioned here on this thread and all of the animosity shown toward storing the content remotely, I just don't see Apple going down that road at this time. In the future, maybe a couple of years, the technology might be there to stream media from servers to almost anywhere at anytime in real-time, but that can't happen now (especially on laptops).
Epicurus
macrumors 6502
If Apple really intends on selling full movie downloads, then they have two options: make their standard hard drives really, really big, or offer online iDisk storage to all who want to buy a movie. It seems that Apple has gone with the latter. If they are smart, they'll not make this iDisk plan the only option for viewing the movies. Full quality (in some flavor of H.264 HD, 720p or otherwise) downloads should be available to those with the necessary internet bandwidth and local storage capacity. Lower quality, iPod ready downloads should come with the same dual-storage options. If you have the iPod version locally, then you should have access to the HD version online and for download to an external storage medium (DVD or HDD).
The whole content delivery paradigm that we have now with the iTunes Music Store would have to be overhauled. Music works pretty well with a pay-per-download system (allowing the user to keep copies of the song on several local machines and iPods). Moving to a larger file like a movie and you run into storage capacity problems right away. Assume for now that Apple is still going to use the line that "this is all to boost iPod sales". This means iPod versions like the current TV and Music Video content will have to be available and at the forefront. Full versions would only be of interest if Apple comes out with a DVR Mac mini. This new iDisk idea makes the DVR option all the more interesting.
What if instead of simply recording TV content like a TiVo DVR, the mini was you local storage site for all the Movie content you download from Apple. The mini would become the focus of the Movie Store just like the iPod was the focus of the Music Store. Sell more HD movies to boost Mac mini sales!! 😱 The mini would need a much larger hard drive (or two) to make this work, but it is possible. By offering dual-downloads of both HD and iPod sized files Apple would also keep the mini from having to bear the brunt of H.264 encoding for all the movies you choose to download. Click to buy the movie and you instantly* get both formats (*minus the download times). For those without a mini (or a suitable PowerMac with 500GB+ storage) you can always leave your HD content online in you .Mac iDisk and just take the iPod sized file with you.
If all this is tied together with a sweet marketing campaign, flawless software, speedy downloads, and signature Apple hardware, it just might work! 😀 😀 😀
The whole content delivery paradigm that we have now with the iTunes Music Store would have to be overhauled. Music works pretty well with a pay-per-download system (allowing the user to keep copies of the song on several local machines and iPods). Moving to a larger file like a movie and you run into storage capacity problems right away. Assume for now that Apple is still going to use the line that "this is all to boost iPod sales". This means iPod versions like the current TV and Music Video content will have to be available and at the forefront. Full versions would only be of interest if Apple comes out with a DVR Mac mini. This new iDisk idea makes the DVR option all the more interesting.
What if instead of simply recording TV content like a TiVo DVR, the mini was you local storage site for all the Movie content you download from Apple. The mini would become the focus of the Movie Store just like the iPod was the focus of the Music Store. Sell more HD movies to boost Mac mini sales!! 😱 The mini would need a much larger hard drive (or two) to make this work, but it is possible. By offering dual-downloads of both HD and iPod sized files Apple would also keep the mini from having to bear the brunt of H.264 encoding for all the movies you choose to download. Click to buy the movie and you instantly* get both formats (*minus the download times). For those without a mini (or a suitable PowerMac with 500GB+ storage) you can always leave your HD content online in you .Mac iDisk and just take the iPod sized file with you.
If all this is tied together with a sweet marketing campaign, flawless software, speedy downloads, and signature Apple hardware, it just might work! 😀 😀 😀
Apple Spending
This rumor does make their spending make sense. For Apple to do this they are going to have to make a large inverstment in their servers. Coincidentally they just anounced they will be spending a large amount of money on enhancing their "information technology infrastructure."
Planned Spending
Apple projects that is will spend roughly US$390 million for capital expenditures in fiscal 2006, compared to $260 million in fiscal 2005. $210 million of that will be used for further expansion of its retail segment, with the remainder to support normal replacement of existing capital assets, along with enhancements to the company's general information technology infrastructure.
ShavenYak said:
This rumor does make their spending make sense. For Apple to do this they are going to have to make a large inverstment in their servers. Coincidentally they just anounced they will be spending a large amount of money on enhancing their "information technology infrastructure."
Planned Spending
Apple projects that is will spend roughly US$390 million for capital expenditures in fiscal 2006, compared to $260 million in fiscal 2005. $210 million of that will be used for further expansion of its retail segment, with the remainder to support normal replacement of existing capital assets, along with enhancements to the company's general information technology infrastructure.
csubear
macrumors 6502a
This is one rumor i hope is not true. I would not feel comfrotable have my purchased media on a remote sever.
What if I wanted to watch the movie on an airplane? Or some where else i don't have an internet connection.
I don't think this is going to happen. Steve has always stressed that people want to own there media.
What if I wanted to watch the movie on an airplane? Or some where else i don't have an internet connection.
I don't think this is going to happen. Steve has always stressed that people want to own there media.
pgwalsh
macrumors 68000
Cooknn said:
yeah.. it's sort of like cables on Deman, but through your Mac and possibly your entertainment box in the future. Perhaps they'll reduce the price of .Mac and add a charge per movie.. If they're going to offer HD content, it might be a bit much for downloads, so streaming makes more sense. Who knows, but they have to have some revenu model for the expense. If they do offer full featured HDTV and Films, I wonder how this would effect NetFlicks over time.
It also seems a bit silly if they don't offer this to windows users. Windows users are a big part of ITMS downloads... If there's any merit to this rumor, it should be intersting.
SiliconAddict
macrumors 603
Pretty freaking useless if you ask me. I mean you can't even bring it down to a laptop to watch it on the go? Umm OK....whatever.
Fukui
macrumors 68000
Not necessarily, they can just mirror the same content to different accounts, so there is only one actual resource for the movie, but is mirrored for speed, and when you make the request for the movie file from the iDisk, it just pipes the request to their heavy duty servers... IOW a kind of trick behind the scenes...awesomebase said:
I do hope though, they give is the option to copy it to our disk when/if they want. I think they would make mandatory download unnecessary, but give the option to download too.
mdavey
macrumors 6502a
physics_gopher said:
Or perhaps the new Mac mini media center won't have a hard disk at all. By default you mount your iDisk and 'store' to that (but as others have said, it would just be a symlink). Alternatively, you can buy an optional Xmediaserve, hook it into your home network and store your movies there.
Either way, you can save a version of anything you have bought to your iPod or laptop at any time.
csubear said:
it is the wave of the future. bluray and hd-dvd are the last physical media you as a consumer will be able to buy. by 2015, if not earlier, all new media content will be pay-per-use. the concept of local storage of anything - applications, files, entertainment, etc... is going away for the majority of consumers.
csubear said:
buy a DVD.
people watching movies on a plane is such a minority as to not be a worthwhile hinderance in rolling something like this out. i fly all the time... something like 100,000 miles this year and i see maybe 2-3 people per flight crack open their laptops or portable DVD players.
ScubaDuc
macrumors 6502
Cooknn said:
What if I want t watch my stuff, say in Nosy be, Madagascar? If I pay for content, I want to use it wherever and whenever I please otherwise, what am I paying for? Can I watch it on a plane? On the road? How does it add value? Seems I might as well use a DVD recorder and burn whatever I wanna take with me or load it onto a 2.5 external disk!
Geez, it takes 20 minutes to copy 1 Hr of MPEG2; How long would it take to stream a 2 Hr movie in HD TV? 😕
Wow another step towards the media companies ultimate goal that we pay each time we want to hear or watch a song or movie. Pay for play just like a jukebox.
This clearly would pass over from purchasing media to renting.
This clearly would pass over from purchasing media to renting.
You can also contact Apple once a year to give you back ALL your 'lives', in essence resetting all the old registered computers from jobs you got fired from, ex girl friends laptops etc. Don't question mighty Steve and Apple. They know their customers and products, just a little bit.knoxer said:
aswitcher
macrumors 603
Super Dave said:
Except it reinforces a business model of getting as many Mac users as possible into .Mac.
If they offer free stuff (it better be internationally or this will really sux) because your a subscriber, or even a token (I emphasise small) extra amount for a whole series/channel for a year or more, then it would rock. Anyone with a video ipod and a Mac would have to consider .Mac and PC users could really be tempted to the Mac platform if enough good content was made available.
I really don't think Apple is going to do it the way alot of you are thinking. I believe it will be a mix between how Napster - On - the - Go BS works, mixed with how the current iDisk and iTunes DRM works. You will most likely be able to put videos on your iPod for like 30 days or so before 'timing out' in which case you would have to sync to the registered computer. I'm sure iTunes Music DRM will not change, other than possibly giving access to a iDisk copy, and possibly only referring to those files. Bye Bye JHymn, but I hope not. It will still have local copies, cached on your hard drive similar to how iDisk works in Tiger and Panther. I doubt Apple will be streaming over the internet to watch an HD Movie, unless it allows you to start after partial download, but that would be only for the first watch, they will probably swap cache giving precedent to the most recent files. Anyway we all see soon enough.
Superdrive
macrumors 6502a
My iDisk already crawls when I try to move Canon RAW files between computers, why in the hell would I want it for utilizing movies? I'm hoping this is another TS error. Also FOX saying that they are open to iTunes distribution is far from saying they are going to do it, IMHO.