What's the point of 99 cent TV show rentals

[Looon]

If you can just buy the show for another dollar and have it forever? I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't just spring for the extra buck. Maybe if it was 99 cent movie rentals I'd go for it because that would actually be a great value. But for just a little more you get to keep the show on your ipod/hd forever so why not just do that?
Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way though

 

[Applejuiced]

Maybe they want to watch it just once, like most tv shows once people see it once they prob wont want to see it again.
So at least there's an option to do both.

 

[SilentPanda]

It depends. You need somewhere to store all those shows. The difference between $0.99 and $1.99 is negligible but for a whole season, ~22 episodes) you're looking at the difference between $21.78 and $43.78. Then tack on the cost of storage... it can add up. For a single episode that you really like $1.99 is a great price. But for just buying a season and never watching it again, you might as well rent it. You can watch twice as much TV for the same cost.

 

[aelalfy]

If you can just buy the show for another dollar and have it forever? I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't just spring for the extra buck. Maybe if it was 99 cent movie rentals I'd go for it because that would actually be a great value. But for just a little more you get to keep the show on your ipod/hd forever so why not just do that?
Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way though

Apparntely Amazon announced the same day apple anmounced the $.99 rental that they will be offering $.99 cents purchases on tv shows. That's a slap in apples face.

Thanks
AE

 

[dojoman]

I still don't get the concept of 99 cents TV shows rental. Has anyone not heard of antenna? Why would I pay shows I can watch on TV for free? If I can watch like Dexter or other premium channel shows I can see but fox and abc?

 

[Rooskibar03]

Personally while I love to look across my vast library of ITMS TV shows, the reality is 99% of them get watched once and then never get viewed again.

I like the idea of the .99 rental. I DVR most of the shows I really want to watch but every now and then I miss one or it gets cut off or whatever.

For a buck, Ill pay to go back and catch up on it.

 

[SilentPanda]

Apparntely Amazon announced the same day apple anmounced the $.99 rental that they will be offering $.99 cents purchases on tv shows. That's a slap in apples face.

Thanks
AE

They're only doing it temporarily. Or not. My fault.

I still don't get the concept of 99 cents TV shows rental. Has anyone not heard of antenna? Why would I pay shows I can watch on TV for free? If I can watch like Dexter or other premium channel shows I can see but fox and abc?

Some people aren't able to make a weekly commitment to a time slot. It's essentially paying Apple to DVR the show for you.

 

[Bandolier]

I still don't get the concept of 99 cents TV shows rental. Has anyone not heard of antenna? Why would I pay shows I can watch on TV for free? If I can watch like Dexter or other premium channel shows I can see but fox and abc?

One of the dumbest posts I've ever seen.

1. We don't use antennas anymore. Everything is digital now.
2. They were free at that 30 minute point in time when ads were paying for the content.
3. The next time you want to watch a particular episode of your favorite TV show, are you going to turn on the TV and HOPE that it's playing?

 

[saving107]

3 things:

1. The new Apple TV only streams the HD content, so you would actually be spending $2.99 an episode (not $1.99)
2. Some people like to only watch it once. A lot of people I know don't care to own it because...
3. Some people just want to catch up on what they might have missed the week before.

but when you realize how much your spending as a whole, renting seems like the better (cheaper) option, especially when you rent more than 1 show.

Psych Season Pass (HD) - $42
Psych Season Pass (SD) - $27
Psych Season Pass (Rent HD) - $14

I'm with you though, I personally prefer the SD version for $1.99 and I like to own the show, but Apple is just giving the other people an option as well.

 

[aelalfy]

They're only doing it temporarily.



Some people aren't able to make a weekly commitment to a time slot. It's essentially paying Apple to DVR the show for you.

Where did you read that? I didn't see anything about temporarily and it should be permanent, because think about it giving someone a tv for rental or purchase is the same, in the case of the new apple tv. You can't store them on the new apple tv, and most people don't watch something over and over, but giving them the idea that it's "theirs" ie purchased will make them buy more shows, and not have to worry about storage space. I don't see myself watching many shows over unless they caught my eye enough and are worth watching again. It's just annoying to know that you can't watch it again with rental, making me think it's a waste of money.

Thanks
AE

 

[Maverick1337]

What really gets me is 4.99 movie rentals. They're not even Bly-ray quality and they are almost twice as expensive as a blockbuster rental. I think they failed on the movies portion.

 

[SilentPanda]

1. We don't use antennas anymore. Everything is digital now.

My brother uses an antenna. He really only watches CBS/NBC/ABC/Fox/PBS and they all come in HD via the antenna.

Where did you read that?

Coulda sworn I read that yesterday or the day before but I can't find anything about it so I may have been mistaken.

 

[Salacion]

Well, I'll share my point of view.

First off, you need to remember that this $0.99 rental price includes HD, where actually buying HD shows costs $2.99. Bigger difference, especially for someone who only wants HD content.

Secondly, for me, I only buy shows that I know are great, shows I want to keep in my library. I do not want to buy a show I have previously not watched, with there being a chance it might not be good. I just don't want crap taking up precious storage.

This works well for me, because there are many shows I'd like to just watch instead of own, and since I don't have television, and even if I did, I wouldn't pay the $15/$20 for HBO or Showtime, where several of my favorite shows reside. So yes, I'd happily pay $0.99 for an HD pilot of a new show, to see what all the "rave" is about. Not only that, it's instant and it eliminates any need for physically leaving my house and renting a show. It's nice.

The last point; I watch shows on my Macbook, since I travel consistently. So iTunes rentals very much apply to my lifestyle.

Of course, this is just me. Many of you pay monthly for cable, therefore you have absolutely no need for this service.

 

[Salacion]

What really gets me is 4.99 movie rentals. They're not even Bly-ray quality and they are almost twice as expensive as a blockbuster rental. I think they failed on the movies portion.

$4.99 for HD movies. iTunes HD quality surpasses DVD quality and Cable provider's HD content. Just google it. It's still pricey though, I agree.

 

[Applejuiced]

What really gets me is 4.99 movie rentals. They're not even Bly-ray quality and they are almost twice as expensive as a blockbuster rental. I think they failed on the movies portion.

I thought blockbuster rentals where like $4.29 on new releases and that is without tax.
Now redbox is alot cheaper.

 

[goobot]

100 buys = 200 rents. most dont re-watch and you get double the amount

 

[m3coolpix]

Of course, this is just me. Many of you pay monthly for cable, therefore you have absolutely no need for this service.

The interesting comparison would be the monthly cost for someone who only rents shows versus someone who has 'whatever' cable/dvr/VOD HD setup ongoing monthly.

For us, our household is on a Verizon FIOS TV plan, with Tivo HD, and a Netflix account (and can get YouTube and Amazon VOD services). Broken out, it's ~$50/month (taking out the Verizon FIOS internet $$, which is a business expense for us). That $$ is not bad for the amount of content we get (severe overkill even), and we only have a fraction of time to watch what interests us, even with a DVR.

 

[Looon]

wow amazon lets you BUY hd episodes for 99 cents

I guess it depends on the show
some are a little more and some you cant buy at all apparently

 

[QuarterSwede]

For a buck, Ill pay to go back and catch up on it.

And not bother getting off the torrents. Before if I missed it on broadcast or my DVR didn't record it for some reason I didn't have a problem getting from a torrent because it's either I paid to watch the show through DirecTV or it's free OTA anyway. I'm going to skip the ads with my DVR anyway so no difference there.

Now it's so cheap and frustration free to rent why not?

 

[Salacion]

The interesting comparison would be the monthly cost for someone who only rents shows versus someone who has 'whatever' cable/dvr/VOD HD setup ongoing monthly.

For us, our household is on a Verizon FIOS TV plan, with Tivo HD, and a Netflix account (and can get YouTube and Amazon VOD services). Broken out, it's ~$50/month (taking out the Verizon FIOS internet $$, which is a business expense for us). That $$ is not bad for the amount of content we get (severe overkill even), and we only have a fraction of time to watch what interests us, even with a DVR.

Well, let's put it to perspective.

You pay $50 a month. For the nature of assumption, let's say you follow 10 shows (quite a bit). In one year, you pay $600 for television. Now with the 4-6 month run of your 10 TV shows, in one year, you're paying anywhere between $200-$300 a year. And remember, no ads and HD quality. Not too shabby.

Of course, the only problem now are sports. When can we have $1.99 HD NFL matches on here? That'll be the day...

EDIT: Something else to remember too. By using strictly the iTunes rental system, you're virtually eliminating any waste of time that typically stems from TV. I mean, how many times do you sit down and watch pure mindless crap on television, just because you're mildly bored? That time can be spent with more productive things. Now that's a concept to think about...

 

[emptyCup]

If you can just buy the show for another dollar and have it forever?

Because I don't want it forever, but if I've spent $25 for a season of ,say, Top Chef I feel obligated to keep it. Now my wife and I get to watch it on our TV instead of a computer screen and it costs us half as much. Works for us.

 

[Maverick1337]

$4.99 for HD movies. iTunes HD quality surpasses DVD quality and Cable provider's HD content. Just google it. It's still pricey though, I agree.

No. HD is 1080i and Blu-Ray is 1080p. Blu-Ray is the best quality you can watch on a TV at the moment. At the moment my Blockbuster sells blu-ray rentals for $2.99. That's what's on their sign or advertise. If anything, Netflix is still the best or Redbox in my opinion. It just sucks that you're paying more for less quality.

 

[weespeed]

What people don't understand is there is no downloading with amazon. When you buy, your account in the database gets updated to say this person owns this. So when you log in you just click it and stream anytime and as many times as you like.

Apple could do the same, but they don't. They just want to make more money on those that rented an episode and for some reason you don't finish in 48 hours you're out of luck, and have to re-rent it. It's all about money. And for movies its 24 hours to watch it before it's gone from your queue.

And for those who complain about space, there isn't anymore taken, it's already on the server. The database would get bigger, but it's not much.

 

[Looon]

They mean they take up space on their hard drive if they download. An hour I'm hd is at least 1gb I think

 

[weespeed]

They mean they take up space on their hard drive if they download. An hour I'm hd is at least 1gb I think

But that's not how it works. It's all done on the server side. There is no downloading except for buffering when you watch it.