Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New Media Content Distribution System?

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
69,348
40,369


Think Secret claims that Apple is set to unveil a new media content delivery system, which will include feature-length content, expanded television offerings, and more.

According to their source, the new system will rely on .Mac's iDisk for storage, keeping media files from ever being held locally on the purchaser's hard drive, utilizing the rumored Front Row 2.0.

In addition, Think Secret claims that Apple is poised to offer a number of new partnerships with various content providers, possibly including NBC, CBS and Paramount Pictures. Fox Filmed Entertainment has already gone on record as saying they were "open to" a deal with iTunes.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2005/12/02/new-media-content-distribution-system/
Wow.

Talk about making .Mac worthwhile for the masses as opposed to the few.

I would not have guessed this. Looking forward to seeing what they have in mind.

Edit: Cool, no longer a newbie
 
Macrumors said:
According to their source, the new system will rely on .Mac's iDisk for storage, keeping media files from ever being held locally on the purchaser's hard drive, utilizing the rumored Front Row 2.0.
Click to expand...
Oooh... i do not like this concept.
 
Would this mean that one would have to subscribe to .Mac? Not having the files on one's own computer would eliminate file sharing for sure, but would you have to stream the content then to watch it, essentially making this a quasi video on demand?
 
Yeah, would this mean that you'd have to pay for the .mac subscription, then pay for the media? And what happens if you cancel the .mac? Do you lose your media? This sounds like the subscription services offered by Yahoo, Napster, etc, that I really don't like...
 
Well that sucks. What about the Video iPod? You buy all this content, but you can't use it unless you have an internet connection.
 
I would think Apple of all people would understand that people want to own their content. Sure you would 'own' it, but if you cant access it without internet, do you really?
 
Sounds good!

Well, it seems like a .Mac account would be needed for "verification" rather than storage. I can't imagine Apple trying to open up .Mac space to hold HDTV programs and such, that would increase their storage requirements exponentially. But, such a service provided to .Mac members would certainly be welcomed. I'll admit that the .Mac service has been slow to add real value over the years and only this year it has finally gotten a Backup system that works. I would welcome anything that adds to the value of this $99 annual subscription price!
 
Here we go again.

I think Apple is taking this road to keep the studios happy and it's something we will have to live with.

My guess is that Apple will store a "key" on .Mac that will let you look at a movie whenever you want. It won't be that hard to transfer this to people who don't use .Mac later when their content library is expanded - just like they brought iTunes to the PC world. I'm happy to let Mac users get the initial experience and I use .Mac (well worth it for $8 a month) so I'm ready. All I need is a way to get FrontRow 2 onto my rev a G5 iMac.
 
Works for me. I would finally have a reason to subscribe to .Mac

Imagine the possibilities with this! Cable companies better be taking notice. Advertisers as well. This is going to start a major shift in television viewing if Apple does it right.
 
this stinks. this will be slow, slow, slow. also, no chance of watching this content while on my airline flights on the laptop, either. have to have .mac as well??? come on, apple. you are turning into TiVo in terms of backing down to the entertainment industry.:confused:
 
Mudbug said:
agreed - seems a little weird to me. Also begs the question of what if you're not a .Mac subscriber?
Click to expand...

I agree too. Not to mention the fact that iDisk is always horribly slow. It'll be interesting to see how this develops.
 
negative vote.

i gave this a negative vote. .mac? ha!

i won't even buy/download the videos or tv shows Apple is offering. "low-quality" m4ps, ok? low quality video? no.

i only would buy the videos, if they sell really hard to find stuff.
 
obviously .mac would change drastically, to the point where the proposition isn't "i need .mac to make this work?", but "if i subscribe to 'back row', i get .mac functionality for free!"

if true, and i must say i find it far fetched, it will be marketed akin to the ipod 5g and iwork, but in reverse. where those two products were marketed as hey buy this product that you know and love for the same price as the old version (ipod, keynote 1) and you get this bonus (video on the ipod, pages). this new thing will be sold as subscribe to this media thing, like you would cable and you get .mac for free.
 
anastasis said:
Booo! If I buy something, I want it on my hard drive for archival purposes.
Click to expand...
You have to think differently. If you have today's DVR you get to watch your recorded content whenever you want. You can't archive it to another drive though. So what?! It's still yours. Now it will live on .Mac and Apple can deal with the storage issues instead of you. If this rolls out in Hi-Def as I expect it will, you won't want to be archiving this stuff unless you have TB's of HD space anyways :cool:
 
Calm down. Whatever Apple decides to go with, it won't be any worse than the current iTMS scheme. Computers will have to be registered to that iTMS account.

Do any of you *really* expect Apple to ask consumers to pay $100 a year just for the ability to purchase content? I didn't go to business school, but even I know that Apple isn't going to require a .Mac subscription to get episodes of The Simpsons online.
 
I'm glad to see that FOX is possibly getting on board with this. Not too happy about the .mac thing, but we still don't know what it all means, so I'll wait a while to comment on that.
 
Interesting

I would guess it is a ".mac like" service, with remote content storage (ala gmail), with the ablility to transfer content to matched laptops / computers / video ipods for viewing while a internet connection is not available.

This would work well with a set-top box, but if the ability to view while on the go doesn't happen, I sense this will be dissapointing. However, this is apple, so i'm sure they have thought this through.

Should make for an exciting keynote.

-alywa
 
Not storing the content on your own HD does have advantages, though...

Think Secret said:
This method, which will be every bit as simple and straightforward for consumers as the iTunes Music Store is now, poses a number of advantages over Apple's current pay-once-download-once system, including saving users' hard drive space and essentially providing a secure back-up of everything purchased. iTunes Music Store customers at present are charged 99 cents every time they download a song, regardless of whether they already bought it, and must back-up purchases themselves. A customer who experiences data loss and loses purchased songs is effectively out of luck as far as Apple is concerned.
Click to expand...
 
kenaustus said:
....................................
My guess is that Apple will store a "key" on .Mac that will let you look at a movie whenever you want. It won't be that hard to transfer this to people who don't use .Mac later when their content library is expanded - just like they brought iTunes to the PC world. I'm happy to let Mac users get the initial experience and I use .Mac (well worth it for $8 a month) so I'm ready. All I need is a way to get FrontRow 2 onto my rev a G5 iMac.
Click to expand...

what's the point when i need an internet connection to be allowed to see my movies? the reason for owning the content is that i can watch it in the car, on the train, on the plain, in my backyard or at the beach.

with this concept i might as well stop at the next blockbuster and rent a dvd.

i don't think it's gonna happen like this.
 
awesomebase said:
I can't imagine Apple trying to open up .Mac space to hold HDTV programs and such, that would increase their storage requirements exponentially.
Click to expand...

No, there'd probably only be one copy of the video file on the .mac server, and it would be symbolically linked into each user's iDisk who had purchased it. It wouldn't eat into the user's quota, either. Just like the GarageBand Jam Pack samplers in the Software folder... you don't think there's a separate copy of those files for every .mac user, do you?
 
Video Airport Express

As far as I'm concerned this is all worthless. I want something that will enable me to stream all of this content to my TV rather cheaply. I don't want to buy a 5G iPod right now, and I certainly don't want to buy a laptop to hook up to my TV that has inadequate power, speed, and storage for a digital lifestlyle of making movies, and holding thousands of songs and photos on your computer. Where is my Airport Express with video that supports 802.11n???????? Only then will I be tuly happy!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back