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Another TV Show Arrives... Microsoft Competition?

Hoping Apple would do this...

I was hoping Apple would do something like this with FrontRow or something. I would be willing to pay a monthly fee for access to the TV shows on iTMS (maybe something like unlimited viewing, but pay if I want to download). As long as their offering are comparible to what my local cable company is providing -- would be good if they could offer local programming in your area as well.

If M$ starts doing this and bundles it with their Media Center and Apple doesn't do something similar, it may be a great alternative to a CableTV/TiVo setup.
 
evomac said:
:) The exact reason I say too little too late for these so called subscription television services. Plus, how many people are going to actually cancel their cable when/if these become available. None. Which means that you can add another 30-40 to your monthly bills.:(

Slightly analogous to having a landline and a cell phone.:rolleyes:
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Does you landline ever require its battery to be recharged or loose its reception in the middle of a call. :rolleyes:

Both services have they pros and cons. :)
 
TrUe!

maya said:
Does you landline ever require its battery to be recharged or loose its reception in the middle of a call. :rolleyes:

Both services have they pros and cons. :)
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Well I have been withouth a landline for ~5Yrs. So no it doesn't. And yes I do have difficulties with reception. A small price to pay, considering im savind $50 a month......$600 a year. Thats $3000 the last 5yrs.:D

Anyway....This has nothing to do with my point...which was there is always another add-on.:eek:
 
i'm also down for subscription for tv and movies only. Great idea. you don't watch things as often as you listen to them. so far i've only bought off iTunes, but i would use a different service for tv if it was subscription based, no question.


and come to think of it. since i only really by off iTunes anyway, might as well make the whole thing subscription based, save a lot of money.

does anyone here by music off anything but iTunes anyway?
 
SiliconAddict said:
You mean like people coming out with MP3 players and then all of a sudden Apple's all over the market as if they invented it? :rolleyes: No biasness here. None at all. :rolleyes:

In this case the possibility exists for MS to come in and do it right. What Apple has put out so far isn't right. It’s a hodgepodge of shows, low resolutions, and a small screen on a single device.
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I'm no iPod fanboy, but I disagree. Apple did innovate with the original 5gb iPod in a few ways: 1) it was the first decent player with the idea of taking your *entire* music collection with you 2) the UI was perfect and 3) the tight integration with iTunes for seamless sync.
 
Yay! I've been waiting for Commander in Chief!

I hope my next wish comes true also, that Microsoft may fall in a large pit somewhere and never come back out. :p
 
EricNau said:
Yay! I've been waiting for Commander in Chief!

I hope my next wish comes true also, that Microsoft may fall in a large pit somewhere and never come back out. :p
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What an evil thing to say. You know very well that cockroaches find some way of surfacing and resurfacing. ;) :D
 
Microsoft offering TV downloads?
:eek:

I might be in the minority, but when will Apple start offering video downloads from other countries? I would like to see shows from Canada offered in itunes.ca
 
sigamy said:
I'm no iPod fanboy, but I disagree. Apple did innovate with the original 5gb iPod in a few ways: 1) it was the first decent player with the idea of taking your *entire* music collection with you 2) the UI was perfect and 3) the tight integration with iTunes for seamless sync.
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My point being to the original poster is that all they did was come into an already existing market and create a cleaned up product. So here comes Microsoft and its all "they are copying Apple. DAMN THEM!"
No more so then Apple copied everyone else in the market at the time.
 
SiliconAddict said:
My point being to the original poster is that all they did was come into an already existing market and create a cleaned up product. So here comes Microsoft and its all "they are copying Apple. DAMN THEM!"
No more so then Apple copied everyone else in the market at the time.
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Two excellent posts, SA.

Its also possible that ms could do a better job than Apple....
 
Stella said:
Two excellent posts, SA.

Its also possible that ms could do a better job than Apple....
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All the more reason for apple to do even better. (Improve)
 
Macrumors said:
Meanwhile, there are reports that Microsoft is not taking Apple's success lightly and plans on launching a subscription-based TV download service. The service would presumably offer either unlimited downloads or one with a high limit for a flat monthly fee similar to Napster's present music subscription service.
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Competition is a good thing. That's about the only constructive comment I can make with regard to Microsoft riding upon the coat tails of anything even remotely innovative.
 
Seasought said:
Competition is a good thing. That's about the only constructive comment I can make with regard to Microsoft riding upon the coat tails of anything even remotely innovative.
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What was that song that said, "Always look at the bright side of your life..."

It may end up a good thing that apple can distract MS enough to get thier "eye off the ball" and someone can make a move where it hurts. (Desktop) Its not always a bad thing MS is busy busy busy copying/"innovating," that just means you control the game, the trick is staying in control.
 
Subscription service through RSS already out there ... kinda?

Jeromie said:
The subscription based method might actually make sense for television shows. After all, people are used to television being a transient medium. Subscription versus pay for download seems to be the distinction between replacing your cable connection and replacing your DVD collection. I think there is room for both in the market, and it will be interesting to see if consumers agree with me.
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Speaking of pay subscription --
I was doing searches to see if there was anything out there for subscribing to stuff like TV shows, Loveline, etc and stumbled upon this thread and then this site --
http://www.subscribecast.com
Anyone have any info on this or know anything more beyond the scant details provided?
 
Just imagine MWSF '06

Porchland said:
Apple may be headed the same direction. I have a hunch we may see some sort of a "season pass" for content on a Mac mini media center...

There are... issues to be worked out.. Do you use the cable model... all you can eat for a flat fee... extra for premium content? Do you use the iTunes model and continue to charge $1.99 per show?...

... nobody's going to pay $1.99 a pop to watch 30-minute and one-hour shows on their TV... (... watching an average of two shows a day would cost you $120 a month...)
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Right now I pay about $95 bucks a month for Time Warner basic cable & hi-speed internet. And it royally sucks to be paying about half that for the tv part, when most of the stuff is pure crap. The (US) FCC & Congress are going to start talking about ala carte pricing for cable & sat. tv, which is fine by me, because I avoid the "Networks" (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN, WB...) with their "retard-reality" love-fest [I only tune in during the NFL season]...

However, the ala carte solution wouldn't work: it is for picking the channels you want, not just the programs you want. And in the past couple years even the basic cable channels I watch "dipped their snouts in the reality trough"... History, Discovery, Learning, Bravo, Sci-Fi, etc. - they are just reeking with that crap.

Here are my suggestions to Apple:
• Widen the choices beyond just the Networks (and BSG, Monk, etc.).
• Have a fee of, say, $15.00 per month for the present bit-rate on a subscription model (streaming video - all you can watch)... And $2.50-3.00 (more for feature-length & miniseries) per download for a higher bit-rate that you "own" (your computer and iPod/vPod, and a security-backup copy allowed on DVD-R?
• At MWSF '06 intro the following:
•• vPod - basically an "iPod with video", but featuring S-ATA 80/100/120GB drive-choices, 802.11g or (if ratified) 802.11n WiFi, and a 5.5" screen... It would be about the size of a 150-200 page paperback novel...
•• iMac DVR 20" or 23" - wishful thinking - with 2.1GHz Yonah dual-core and Front Row 2.0 (with TV/DVR functions), plus what was in the recent upgrade...
•• "BIG mini" - not a replacement, but an expansion of the mini-line (I think the present mini will get single-core Yonah in May-timeframe). It would have much the same specs as Yonah iMac, sans display & iSight...
•• iLife '06 with Front Row 2.0 (DVR functions) and Bluetooth remote...
•• .Mac makeover to include a "premium-level", where members who pay, say, $150.00 per year would have access to a "Global iTMS", wherein they can preview and pay/download music, tv shows, music videos, animated shorts, short films, etc. from ANY of the International versions of iTMS, regardless of country... Apple would handle the currency exchange for their "premium" members...

If Apple did that - especially the last part, with .Mac Premium and a Global iTMS - then I'd drop my basic cable and just keep the high speed internet. Then I could download just the shows I wanted to watch, and no more ads or shows about whiny & needy reality tv 'tards...
 
Microsoft the eternal imitator will no doubt announce they invented this

Jeromie said:
The subscription based method might actually make sense for television shows. After all, people are used to television being a transient medium. Subscription versus pay for download seems to be the distinction between replacing your cable connection and replacing your DVD collection. I think there is room for both in the market, and it will be interesting to see if consumers agree with me.
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True, but the vast number of VCRs (and TiVos, etc.) sold indicates people like to be able to record and even share what they've seen on TV. Not to the extent of owning CDs for instance, but with DRM on such subscription based television will come an abrupt end to any such recordability and share-ability (making up words as I go along).
 
freiheit said:
but with DRM on such subscription based television will come an abrupt end to any such recordability and share-ability (making up words as I go along).
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That's where the iPod comes in, you can download shows onto it and take it to friends to watch. I'd also suggest something like the share with x number of people that itunes use, but I don't really think that would work as well.
 
Correction...

Reportedly Microsoft's service will be a Movie service, not a TV one.

though I see value in a TV one.

arn
 
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