I think the iTunes music store could pretty easily one-up its legal and illegal competitors by adding music videos to the songs that have them. Apple could bundle the Protected AAC audio they already provide with MP4 video (I don't think its really necessary to encrypt the video since a music video without the music isn't really useful) into a .mov file. Since iTunes is capable of playing the audio tracks of QuickTime files just like any other song, and cmd-R reveals the movie in the finder to open in QuickTime player, this shouldn't be too hard to implement. Also, 3-5 minute music videos don't have the bandwidth problems that have been discussed with films.
This would benefit Apple in several ways:
--Gives Apple a more substantial claim against their competitors than the rather tenuous claims of AAC vs. WMA.
--Gives peer to peer users a reason to pay for music (Music videos are rather hard to find on p2p networks)
--Advertise QuickTime to windows users, both that they have it (it seems obvious but I know widows iTunes users who did not realize that using iTunes also means having QuickTime) and also that it doesn't suck anymore.
--Music Videos are designed as promotional tools anyway, so licensing shouldn't be a problem.
Also, it would segway nicely into the introduction of a video iPod
.
This would benefit Apple in several ways:
--Gives Apple a more substantial claim against their competitors than the rather tenuous claims of AAC vs. WMA.
--Gives peer to peer users a reason to pay for music (Music videos are rather hard to find on p2p networks)
--Advertise QuickTime to windows users, both that they have it (it seems obvious but I know widows iTunes users who did not realize that using iTunes also means having QuickTime) and also that it doesn't suck anymore.
--Music Videos are designed as promotional tools anyway, so licensing shouldn't be a problem.
Also, it would segway nicely into the introduction of a video iPod
.
