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could microsoft be an influence in this decision by NBC since they own considerable shares.

hence their derivative.... MSNBC :)
 
could microsoft be an influence in this decision by NBC since they own considerable shares.

hence their derivative.... MSNBC :)

Yes. If you bothered to RTFT, you'd have noticed that this has been brought up several times already.
 
And what about those who don't get cable or dish? Those who just watch the shows online because the price of cable or dish is far more expensive then just the small fees of purchasing to own via iTunes?

Am I wrong?

I use Amazon Unbox on my Tivo Series3 all the time. It works GREAT... I'm actually pleased with this news. Who wants to watch a TV show on a 3" screen anyway... let me download it to my Tivo and watch it on the big screen!

Have either of you ever heard of that new technology called an antenna ?
It's cheap and all you need to do is connect it to your Mac via an Eye TV Hybrid.
Then you get all the free over the air HDTV you want.

The fact is Vivindi/Universal has decided they know a better way to make more money without dealing with Apple.This will of course flop.

Just another day as the world turns.
 
Where are those 90%?

Wake Up!Still more than 90% of people use PC.Besides, what is new technology in watching TV series? Don't trust all the BS from Jobs Congregation.

That 90% is probably true, but how many of those 90% are being used in businesses for word processing, accounts, speicific business computing etc. The percentage of Macs in the home market, where all this video watching is occurring may be much higher. Does anybody know what the Mac market share is in the home vs business market?
 
I gave you the link so you could read it for yourself:)



To be fair, you can still get free TV; it's quality may not be great, but it's there. Nonetheless, I too feel a bit bitter towards media companies. Not to be philosophical or anything, but are we any better if we steal from them? Sure they're greedy bastards, but when we rip DVDs from Netflix or use a torrent, don't we become as bad as them?...Naw, enjoy your free media:p

i'm going to say nah, it would take decades of ripping off to become as bad as them. just like the whole music piracy issue. if it ends up putting them out of business, i say good riddance!
 
I only say 3 points
1. apple was being stupid and dishonest to accuse NBC wanting $4.99/episode. which is against any basic market rules.

2. NBC is apparently giving up apple platform, if hulu.com will not bring it back to osx... Im not sure if thats a good strategy for NBC too. I know OSX is not a big market, I just need to know if iPOD is a significant video market in their research.

3. OSX might need a DRM system that is compatible with windows. for better or worse, altho I don't like DRM.
 
I only say 3 points
1. apple was being stupid and dishonest to accuse NBC wanting $4.99/episode. which is against any basic market rules.

2. NBC is apparently giving up apple platform, if hulu.com will not bring it back to osx... Im not sure if thats a good strategy for NBC too. I know OSX is not a big market, I just need to know if iPOD is a significant video market in their research.

3. OSX might need a DRM system that is compatible with windows. for better or worse, altho I don't like DRM.
1. The only thing I can think of in NBCs favor is that they wanted to sell "season passes" for less money, without lowering the wholesale cost to Apple. What else do they gain by moving to Amazon and offering their product for the same price per episode, but lower per "season pass"? Either that, or they read the backlash that was created by Apple's announcements and didn't go with the prices on Amazon that they orig. intended to.

3. If this really started to hurt Apple, I wouldn't be surprised to see them start licensing FairPlay. That works on both OS X and Windows. Doesn't Microsoft's new Silverlight do DRM on both platforms too?

Edit: yeah, looks like it does.

http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/faq.aspx

For content providers, Silverlight will support digital rights management (DRM) built on the recently announced Microsoft PlayReady content access technology on Windows-based computers and Macintosh computers.
 
and do we know what percentage of pc users (that do download media) downlaod the pc version of itunes? i'm going to guess that it's skyrocketed every year. thus, this is not a pc vs. mac thing. itunes is universal (no pun intended).



That 90% is probably true, but how many of those 90% are being used in businesses for word processing, accounts, speicific business computing etc. The percentage of Macs in the home market, where all this video watching is occurring may be much higher. Does anybody know what the Mac market share is in the home vs business market?
 
This proves NBC was telling the truth when they said it had nothing to do with doubling the price.. Wow, apple fans were jumping all over NBC for being greedy when all they wanted to do is have the flexibility to package their shows. They even selling the package for a discount. Notice they are not preventing anyone from buying a single show.. just if you want to buy a package, you can too.. itunes does this already with music.. you can buy a track or album. What was apple problem here?. Am i missing something?

Yes, you're missing quite a lot. NBC got half of what it wanted, and I can guarantee, come contract time, it will be getting the other half.
 
That 90% is probably true, but how many of those 90% are being used in businesses for word processing, accounts, speicific business computing etc. The percentage of Macs in the home market, where all this video watching is occurring may be much higher. Does anybody know what the Mac market share is in the home vs business market?
At the home USA 92% using 2000,XP and Vista. Also surfing patterns leads to conclusion that a lot of people use Windows on Mac. I know that because I m working for an entertaining site, and I don't beleive someone use us from working place. And our site optimized for Mac Safari as well.
What about business use, I'm sure when we exclude designers, columnists and other creative people the business share of a Mac will stand somewhere about 0.1%
Actually I think that Unbox is a passing phenomenon for NBC. The best and easiest way to deliver video is HD streaming. Every company that want to benefit from selling videos on the net, should to develop some kind of such services
 
I'm not trying to give Comcast, or any other company, a get out of jail free card by any means. I just think that if people are going to get pissed they should know who all they need to get pissed at. :D

Ok, so now I'm pissed at a government I couldn't have elected and a cable company with bad ethics...am I being fair to all parties now?:p No, I get what you mean; it doesn't make me feel any better though...in fact, I feel much worse knowing it was legally accepted.
 
1. The only thing I can think of in NBCs favor is that they wanted to sell "season passes" for less money, without lowering the wholesale cost to Apple. What else do they gain by moving to Amazon and offering their product for the same price per episode, but lower per "season pass"? Either that, or they read the backlash that was created by Apple's announcements and didn't go with the prices on Amazon that they orig. intended to.

I don't think so. I think there are several benefit, what I need to know is if these benefit will compensate the loss at osx/iPod markets

1. They are not doing exclusive with amazon unbox.

2. w/o restrictions of ITMS, they might be able to expand their market: non-iPOD/OSX user market; (After all, watching tv shows on PC is a pretty attractive idea.) or foreign market, (which I don't know if its possible)

3. flexible pricing. I know many people hate the idea, but as long as its optional, there won't be much problem, on the plus side, bundle some new shows for free might generate more interest for the new shows.

*cough* torrent sites *cough*

stop promoting piracy!
:D do canadian users has any options at all?;)

PS. some more news: Sony is preparing to launch a challenge to iTunes' video service
http://news.com.com/Does+Sony+finally+have+an+iTunes+answer/2100-1025_3-6206039.html?tag=nefd.lede
 
I love my macs, but come on. Apple deserves this. They're trying to act like an 800 pound gorilla and almost getting away with it. If anything, I'll bet Amazon's service will work on the mac soon - that way they won't shut out this part of the market.

If Apple wants to be a team player, maybe they should:
- allow for open DRM on iTunes
- support 64 bit Vista with iTunes (especially for the iPhone)

Until Apple plays like a better corporate citizen, I say let the competition take them down.

While these turf might make it more difficult for consumers in the short run, hopefully, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe this will help usher in the era of OS independent and better interop of music and video services.

Microsoft continues to delay MSOffice for Mac and you want Apple to put extra developer resources in making iTunes 64bit clean on Windows Vista?

Blow it out your asses.

The Enterprise Markets for Windows hasn't jumped on the Vista bandwagon. Apple sure as hell isn't going to be an early adopter of moving technologies that aren't there own.

Windows XP is the overwhelming leader of PC deployments, both Consumer and Enterprise.

You want the largest marketshare so you go after it. You don't go after the future markets when they aren't even on your platform.

Apple is focusing it's efforts on its hardware platforms, existing cross-platform options for their software that sells their hardware and mainly on OS X Leopard dev tree/market tree for further platform expansion.
 
2. w/o restrictions of ITMS, they might be able to expand their market: non-iPOD/OSX user market; (After all, watching tv shows on PC is a pretty attractive idea.) or foreign market, (which I don't know if its possible)

3. flexible pricing. I know many people hate the idea, but as long as its optional, there won't be much problem, on the plus side, bundle some new shows for free might generate more interest for the new shows.
Maybe I'm missing it, but this is how it looks to me:

Before: 99% of the computer market (OS X + Windows -- iTunes lets people watch TV on both platforms) and 80% of the portable media player market (iPods)

After: 92% of the computer market (Windows -- Unbox doesn't work on OS X) and 20% of the portable media player market (a subset of Plays for Sure devices + TiVos (although I don't see purchases from TiVos offsetting the loss of OS X sales, much less iPod sales).

To me, it looks like Amazon's dramatically REDUCED their market. :confused:

As for bundling free episodes, they used to do that on iTunes. It wasn't too uncommon to see where ABC would let you download season finales free (right before the new season started, to get you excited), or free episodes of new shows, or free "iTunes only" episodes of stuff like Battlestar Galatica.

The only thing that really makes sense to me is that Amazon is DYING for content and did anything to snag NBC. :confused:
 
Actually, you don't need a PC...

Amazon's Unbox service requires Window XP and is not compatible with the Macintosh.
Actually, if you own a broadband-connected TiVo, you can now directly access Amazon Unbox content without using a PC. The account setup is, IIRC, web-based, so you can use Firefox on your Mac to set up an account.

That is, if you own a TiVo and you really want to download NBC TV shows. But then again, if you own a TiVo, and you watch these shows, why not just record them when they are broadcast?
 
As for HBO and *PAID* networks, yes, I think I should have to pay for it. ONCE. Not around every corner as these greedy media companies constantly try to pull money out of my pocket again and again for the same mediocre programming.
You left out ESPN, A&E, USA, TNT, TBS and every other basic cable channel. You didn't get them over the air. They are not paid networks. So is it OK to pirate their content? What about cable channels you do not receive?

My point isn't to say that I don't care about the content creators. I care about how GREEDY they have become. That's why I like iTunes. It's FAIR. I pay a modest fee to buy my programming. I have it delivered without commercials. I watch it where I want (TV, iPod, computer screen). And life is good - and simple.
Many people think ITMS is most unfair. It does not pay artists very much, and restricts you to using iTunes. What if I don't want to use the craptastic iTunes for listening to my MP3s on Windows (it seriously blows on Windows, much more than on the Mac). I suppose it's OK for me to just pirate music in that case.

Seriously, what is your problem? I didn't even mention Apple, nor did I bring software piracy into the argument at all.
How is software piracy any different than pirating content? Let's find out. I'll take each of your justifications for pirating TV shows and apply them to pirating software.

I'm sick and tired of the TV and movie industries trying to force me to spend A LOT of money on throw-away media.
I'm sick and tired of Apple forcing me to spend a LOT of money on throw-away software. I only used it once or twice, so I can pirate it.

Sell it to me at a fair price
Sell me Leopard at a fair price. The most I want to pay is $99. Apparently me gets to set what's a fair price now, and I demand $99.

and don't restrict the h*ll out of how I can view it, and I'm HAPPY to pay.
Don't restrict the h*ll on how I can use Leopard. I want to legally install it on a PC. I want to legally virtualize it. I want to legally reverse engineer it so I can write my own drivers. All three are forbidden by the EULA, so I shall pirate it.

But your reaction is a perfect example of why the industry can't get it together. You think the system is good and fair. Sorry buddy, it's not. It sucks for the consumer.
I don't think the system is perfect, good or fair. I just don't think pirating is the way to solve it. By your reasoning, I can ignore any law I think is unfair or "not good".
 
Maybe I'm missing it, but this is how it looks to me:

Before: 99% of the computer market (OS X + Windows -- iTunes lets people watch TV on both platforms) and 80% of the portable media player market (iPods)

what you missed is the fact that computer market != online tv show buying crowd, with later being much smaller.
 
what you missed is the fact that computer market != online tv show buying crowd, with later being much smaller.
But if a computer is required to buy a TV show online, how can reducing the number of computers capable of making such a purchase not also reduce the number of TV shows purchased?
 
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