Funny how someone living in UK has to pay more overall than someone in the US when purchasing the same thing from the itunes store. I know they "insist" it should happen but why hasn't it. I'm sure a lot of other users who have UK accounts agree with me here
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Apple Seeking Price Cuts on iTunes Television Episodes?
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Funny how someone living in UK has to pay more overall than someone in the US when purchasing the same thing from the itunes store. I know they "insist" it should happen but why hasn't it. I'm sure a lot of other users who have UK accounts agree with me here
This could definitely get me to purchase a few tings off of itunes. I think $1.99 is quite steep, and the only time I end up buying something to watch off of the iTunes store is when I'm really bored and could use a new tv show to watch.
For all the shows I like, I've always just grabbed it from a torrent site after it airs, or in some cases you can get it before it airs since I know there were a few shows last season that aired a day earlier in Canada.
I've never been a fan of purchasing digital media, there's too many downsides. I mean, if your hard drive crashes and you lose it all, you'll have to pay for it again? Yeah, everyone says to backup, but the fact is most people don't. What you purchase should be remembered in your account, and you should be able to redownload it if needed. I don't see what the big deal with letting people do that is. They could easily set reasonable limitations on that.
But, I like having the dvd box set to seasons I like eventually, due to captions/subtitles/extras/quality/having something physical that you can't lose, unless you play frisbee with the dvds. However, at $.99 per episode, I could see myself using itunes rather than torrents and even buying the dvd set after the season is over, at least sometimes, due to simplicity and speed. Well I guess speed isn't that big of a deal, it only takes around 30 minutes-2 hours after a torrent is posted to get an episode, most of the time. I don't know, it's just hard to justify paying $1-2 bucks for an episode that already aired in your home for free (well, are a few exceptions such as hbo/showtime stuff). And most of the time I watch the tv shows I like, schedule permitting, when they air.
For all the shows I like, I've always just grabbed it from a torrent site after it airs, or in some cases you can get it before it airs since I know there were a few shows last season that aired a day earlier in Canada.
I've never been a fan of purchasing digital media, there's too many downsides. I mean, if your hard drive crashes and you lose it all, you'll have to pay for it again? Yeah, everyone says to backup, but the fact is most people don't. What you purchase should be remembered in your account, and you should be able to redownload it if needed. I don't see what the big deal with letting people do that is. They could easily set reasonable limitations on that.
But, I like having the dvd box set to seasons I like eventually, due to captions/subtitles/extras/quality/having something physical that you can't lose, unless you play frisbee with the dvds. However, at $.99 per episode, I could see myself using itunes rather than torrents and even buying the dvd set after the season is over, at least sometimes, due to simplicity and speed. Well I guess speed isn't that big of a deal, it only takes around 30 minutes-2 hours after a torrent is posted to get an episode, most of the time. I don't know, it's just hard to justify paying $1-2 bucks for an episode that already aired in your home for free (well, are a few exceptions such as hbo/showtime stuff). And most of the time I watch the tv shows I like, schedule permitting, when they air.
I'm a long-time Apple fan, but it should be clear to the studios that this is Apple asking them to churn out the cheap content not so that the studios and networks can make money, but so that the iTunes store will be full of cheap cheap cheap and, importantly, large files -- thus creating a demand for iPods with ever larger storage capacities. Give us all your crappy shows for cheap, they're saying, so that we can make a bundle on how people store them. It works for me, but if the networks balk, who can blame them?
Downloads don't greatly impact DVD sales
Think about it. Video downloads are disposable. They're lower quality and they don't have the extras that come with the DVDs. But let's run with the assumption (for just a second) that people will collect the downloads instead of the box set. You buy the episodes. How do you back them up? Well the only way you CAN is as a data file. You certainly can't burn it into a playable DVD. So every time I want to watch episodes, I have to find the backed-up version, copy it to my hard drive and watch it at my computer (unless I have Apple TV.) Hardly convenient. I'd like to meet the marketing Einstein that thinks downloads will impact DVD sales. Yeah, right. Convenience is the name of the game. Downloads that are convenient will sell. Home-made collections are NOT convenient. Boxed collections are convenient (they just work, are of good quality with extra material.)
People that buy the boxed sets are fans who want the DVD extras. I very rarely buy boxed sets, and only then for shows that I really, really like. I have a few digital copies of some of the same shows that I have on DVD. But they were acquired in the interest of following the plot line so I wouldn't be lost the following week.
You make it tougher (i.e. more expensive) for me to get into the shows, I will watch less TV. I don't have time to dick around. It's all about convenience.
Think about it. Video downloads are disposable. They're lower quality and they don't have the extras that come with the DVDs. But let's run with the assumption (for just a second) that people will collect the downloads instead of the box set. You buy the episodes. How do you back them up? Well the only way you CAN is as a data file. You certainly can't burn it into a playable DVD. So every time I want to watch episodes, I have to find the backed-up version, copy it to my hard drive and watch it at my computer (unless I have Apple TV.) Hardly convenient. I'd like to meet the marketing Einstein that thinks downloads will impact DVD sales. Yeah, right. Convenience is the name of the game. Downloads that are convenient will sell. Home-made collections are NOT convenient. Boxed collections are convenient (they just work, are of good quality with extra material.)
People that buy the boxed sets are fans who want the DVD extras. I very rarely buy boxed sets, and only then for shows that I really, really like. I have a few digital copies of some of the same shows that I have on DVD. But they were acquired in the interest of following the plot line so I wouldn't be lost the following week.
You make it tougher (i.e. more expensive) for me to get into the shows, I will watch less TV. I don't have time to dick around. It's all about convenience.
This far along the thread, my reply probably won't get read but I'm sitting in an airport terminal with nothing better to do.
Are videos not locked into iTunes anymore or it that not a concern for anyone? Is iTunes/iPod how you primarily watch these movies and TV shows? Early on I was going to buy some music videos from iTunes but I want to be able to watch them where I want, even burn them on a DVD (maybe using iDVD?) much like I can with music purchased from iTunes, but since I can't, I won't be purchasing.
The shows on TV are not free, they are paid for by advertisers. Still though, these discounts are not aimed at consumers who aren't going to buy (that makes sense) and a $40 DVD set vs. $23 per episode download (maybe $34.50?) is a good option. But I'll never buy any videos until I can do what I want with them.
Are videos not locked into iTunes anymore or it that not a concern for anyone? Is iTunes/iPod how you primarily watch these movies and TV shows? Early on I was going to buy some music videos from iTunes but I want to be able to watch them where I want, even burn them on a DVD (maybe using iDVD?) much like I can with music purchased from iTunes, but since I can't, I won't be purchasing.
The shows on TV are not free, they are paid for by advertisers. Still though, these discounts are not aimed at consumers who aren't going to buy (that makes sense) and a $40 DVD set vs. $23 per episode download (maybe $34.50?) is a good option. But I'll never buy any videos until I can do what I want with them.
Really, I didn't miss the point. You may have missed mine, though.
And Econ 101 would teach us that price is often driven by perceived value. If the perceived value of being able to download an episode while in the middle of a season (missed an episode? just got into the show and want to catch up?) is greater than that of buying episodes after the season is over and the DVDs are out, then it could be argued that the price should be higher.
Now, the flip side is that not everyone will see the higher value, and therefore not everyone will be willing to pay the higher price. This, naturally, leads to the question "Will the volume of sales be sufficiently greater at the lower price to make up for or exceed the lost revenue?" That is the debate that Apple and the Networks are, no doubt, having right now.
As far as the DVDs of 24, you're making my point for me. I said that an argument could be made that once the DVDs come out some of the perceived value of the downloads would disappear, so the price should drop to $0.99 per episode.
If this is true, then I think Apple is right on track. I sometimes purchase tv episodes, but the $1.99 price does make me think about it and hold back. If episodes of shows I want to see (new shows in the past year) cost .99... I wouldn't think twice about it. I'd buy, and they would certainly get more volume out of me.
Don't bother discounting old material (decades old). Nobody wants to pay to see that from itunes.
Don't bother discounting old material (decades old). Nobody wants to pay to see that from itunes.
Arn,
Any idea why my post yesterday was removed? The discussion about UK prices I commented on (along with the original post someone else made) seems to have vanished.
The post was normal and innocuous enough, nothing unusual. Can't see why it was removed... system glitch?
Any idea why my post yesterday was removed? The discussion about UK prices I commented on (along with the original post someone else made) seems to have vanished.
The post was normal and innocuous enough, nothing unusual. Can't see why it was removed... system glitch?
