last100 » iTunes

Vudu now offering Disney HD movies for purchase on same ‘day and date’ as Blu-ray

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:19:37 +0000

Disney HD content for purchase on Vudu

Vudu (U.S.-only) is to offer new Disney HD releases for purchase through its set-top box movie service on the same “day and date” as their competing DVD/Blu-ray release. It’s the first time that Disney has broadly licensed its content in HD for sale through an online video service, beyond one-off offerings or ‘rental-only’, says Vudu. Alongside new releases, 60 library films are also being added to Vudu’s ‘for purchase’ HD catalog. Disney chose to work with Vudu, says the company, “in large part because of the [picture] quality” offered by the service.

Interestingly, Steve Jobs, the guy who runs Apple, is also Disney’s majority shareholder after the motion picture company bought animation studio Pixar a few years back. Therefore, I wonder how long it will be before iTunes secures the same access to Disney’s HD library as Vudu, if it hasn’t already.

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Amazon MP3, Wal-Mart and Rhapsody just made buying music more confusing following iTunes’ lead

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:21:57 +0000

With the major labels cajoling Apple into upping the cost of the most popular tracks on iTunes, I wondered how long it would take other music download stores to follow suit. Not long it seems – less than a day in fact – with paidContent and Ars Technica reporting that Amazon, Wal-Mart, Lala and Rhapsody have followed Apple’s lead and introduced ‘variable pricing’.

Of course, none of this down to the stores in question. The major labels set wholesale prices for tracks, and each download store then follows suit, give and take varying margins and the odd, possibly loss making, promotion here and there. Some might argue that ‘variable pricing’ alone isn’t necessarily a bad thing, although it does sacrifice the simple buying experience that Apple first introduced with its 99c per track rigid pricing structure on iTunes. What’s certainly short sighted is to use ‘variable pricing’ as an excuse to raise the upper limit of price per track, especially in a time of recession and when less and less people still pay for music anyway.

There’s also a complete inconsistency in pricing across each store on a track by track basis. It’s not even as simple as paying more for the most popular tracks. For example, Amazon is cheaper than iTunes on some top 40 tracks and vise versa. As paidContent notes: “comparing like with like can be difficult”.

Update: ComputerWorld’s Seth Weintraub is reporting that the major labels are giving Amazon more favorable terms over Apple– cheaper wholesale prices — which would be consistent with past behavior.

Sources at Apple tell me that Apple is getting different prices than Amazon from the recording idustry. The record companies are, and have been for awhile, favoring Amazon. In fact, Amazon is selling songs for less than the price that Apple pays for them in some cases.

The motive: The majors are determined to weaken Apple’s power in the music industry, and with some success, punishing them for selling all those damn iPods.

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iTunes variable pricing has nothing to do with “supply and demand”, just record label greed and stupidity

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:52:58 +0000

Hoping to turn ’supply and demand’ economics on its head, at the request of the major record labels Apple has introduced ‘variable pricing’ to the iTunes Store.

Under the new pricing structure, announced back in January at Macworld, tracks cost either 69 cents, 99 cents or $1.29, depending on their popularity. Or as the LA Times recently reported:

True to supply-and-demand economics, the price of music downloads will be geared to the artist’s popularity. Releases from new artists would receive the lower pricing, while tracks from popular acts would get slapped with the higher rate. Even classics, such as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA,” could retail for the higher price. Most of the 10 million songs in the iTunes catalog are expected to remain at 99 cents.

Except, the new pricing model has nothing to do with “supply and demand” economics, which states:

The more customers want to buy something, assuming a constant supply, the more the price will go up, costing you more dollars, pounds, yen, or whatever.
If the supply cannot meet the demand for an item, the price will go up until manufacturers can make enough of the item to meet the demand.
If the supply is too great for the demand for an item, the price will go down until the manufacturers can get rid of their inventory and the supply equals the demand.

Sure, tracks from the most popular acts are in greater demand, but supply isn’t constant or scarce, so there’s no reason for the price to go up. Instead, supply in the digital domain is infinite, which should in fact drive the price down, theoretically to the prize of zero (give and take a little to cover server and bandwidth costs).

As Techdirt concludes: “The actual price [on iTunes] is based on an artificially limited supply and a made up demand” – the aim being to squeeze more cash out of consumers for the minority of music they do pay for rather than reducing prices in order to grow the overall pie.

Or to quote industry commentator Bob Lefsetz, “the key isn’t to get them to pay more for what they do buy, but to get them to pay for what they’ve stolen.” To do otherwise is just plain stupid.

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iPhone’s ‘In App’ purchases will be a boon to micro-payments

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:19:50 +0000

If it wasn’t already clear who owns the customer – Apple or its mobile carrier partners – yesterday’s announcement that ‘In App’ purchases will be a prominent feature of the next version of the iPhone’s OS suggests, once again, that power resides very much with Steve Jobs and co. in Cupertino.

When iPhone OS 3.0 is rolled out this summer, developers will be able to charge for additional content within their applications – so that, for example, an iPhone game could at anytime prompt a player to purchase additional levels or other in-game content, such as maps, without the user having to leave the app and billed through their existing iTunes account. For the privilege, Apple takes its standard 30% cut, once again bypassing the carriers. That in itself is disruptive enough. However, there’s another force at play.

Micro-payments. Or more broadly, in an era of free and ad-supported, getting consumers used to the idea once again of actually paying for content, albeit online.

Dave Zatz, over at Zatz Not Funny, has rightfully compared the iPhone’s ‘In App’ purchasing to Microsoft’s XBox Live service, which heavily relies on micro-payments — selling lots of add-on content for a few dollars at a time. So what kind of content will the iPhone’s ‘In App’ purchase feature spur?

The most obvious, as already noted, is game add-ons. Think additional levels, maps etc.

Next up are eBooks – leading the way to Kindle-like book stores, perhaps even one from Amazon itself.

It’s not clear if Apple would enable an iTunes Music store competitor, although technically that’s a possibility.

We know that turn-by-turn navigation is on its way, and so GPS maps, along with city guides, are another likely form of content.

And then there’s magazine and newspaper subscriptions – again Kindle-esque – as well as one-off or season tickets to sporting or live events – concerts or the Olympics maybe?

The possibilities, as they say, are endless – and all the time Apple takes a cut, leaving the carriers dumbfounded and further dumbed down.

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Concept: iPhone app management in iTunes done right

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:33:40 +0000

I have a fascination with all things usability, and when it comes to the art of user experience, Apple is second to none. But that’s not to say that they always get things right or that ideas from Cupertino can’t be improved upon. They can – just ask Palm with its Pre smartphone and webOS.

More proof comes via a concept video published on YouTube, demonstrating a much better way to manage iPhone apps via Apple’s desktop iTunes software. As Gizmodo explains:

The concept is simple, and wouldn’t require a change of habit by iPhone/iPod touch users: in iTunes, users see a representation of their various home screen(s), with which they can remove, move or sort apps. Sorting options are an obvious addition—sorting by most-used is what most people do manually (and imperfectly) anyway, so having a one-click option for that would be an immediate improvement. If custom sorting is your game, this will make the previously cumbersome process almost instant.

The result is simply brilliant and if the comments left on YouTube are anything to go by, Apple should hire this guy and get to work immediately putting his ideas into the next version of iTunes. As per usual, video demo after the jump…

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Apple caves to major labels in return for DRM-free iTunes

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:38:27 +0000

Major record labels to Apple: You can ditch DRM completely in return for higher prices.

That’s right, the major labels have finally got their way as, come this April, Apple’s iTunes will introduce “variable pricing”, with tracks costing either 69 cents, 99 cents or $1.29, depending on how popular they are likely to be. In return, Apple gets to move all 10 million tracks in its iTunes store over to a DRM-free format — 256 kbps AAC — including those from Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels, something that’s been partially lacking compared to rival stores such as Amazon MP3.

While Apple asserts that the majority of music sold will be at the new lower price of 69 cents (currently all tracks retail at a unified price of 99 cents), at the labels’ request, the most sort after songs will be priced at the higher $1.29. This is the crucial part, since if you follow the Long Tail of digital music downloads, naturally a significant amount of activity — think new releases from established and well backed artists — happens at the fat not thin end of the ‘tail’, where tracks will likely be priced highest.

As if to add insult to injury, Apple will offer iTunes customers “a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their entire library of previously purchased songs to the higher quality DRM-free iTunes Plus format for just 30 cents per song or 30 percent of the album price.” That’s right, those music fans who overpaid for the price of tracks crippled with DRM in the first place can pay once again to have those restrictions removed!

In other iTunes news, it looks like Apple has managed to win one battle, this time with its mobile carrier partners as over-the-air iTunes downloads are on their way. “iPhone 3G users can now preview and purchase the entire iTunes Store music catalog on their iPhone 3G over their 3G network, just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price…”. Or perhaps, like the major labels, the carriers are getting a kick back in return.

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Review: MySpace Music is perfect for those who like MySpace

Daniel Langendorf — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 02:20:58 +0000

The new MySpace Music is exactly what you’d expect from MySpace: organized clutter, lots of Flash movement, overwhelming advertising, banner ads, and everything screaming for your attention at once.

For some of us (read: older folks and those with no interest in MySpace), MySpace Music holds little interest. But to the tens of millions of kids and young adults who cruise through MySpace daily, MySpace Music might be just what they want.

Developing MySpace Music is an excellent strategic move by MySpace, but how successful it will be in the long run depends on its execution and relationship with Amazon’s MP3 store.

I spent the day playing around with MySpace Music, and this is what I found — besides a wonderful R&B album by Raphael Saadiq.

MySpace Music Basics

All four major music labels are participating, giving MySpace Music the world’s largest online catalogue available for streaming.

The catalogues from Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI Music includes full-length songs, the freedom to create playlists (see below), and the ability to buy DRM-free (yeah!) tracks from Amazon’s MP3 store.

There are not many indie labels participating just yet, a contentious point at the start of MySpace Music.

There is no subscription fee. MySpace Music is supported by an unbelievable amount of advertising.

Beyond selling advertising, MySpace Music is designed to attract its 120 million global users to a mix of unlimited free music and concert tickets, merchandising, and other social entertainment features.

About those 120 million global users, MySpace Music initially will be available only to those in the U.S.

Using MySpace Music

You must have a MySpace account and be logged in. Easy enough. Working your way around MySpace Music depends on your familiarity with MySpace. I find it frustrating, but The Kid has no problems with it.

You can create an infinite number of playlists, each containing up to 100 songs, and share these publicly or keep private. This works well, although the interface implementation could use some work — just like the rest of MySpace. Clicking on the plus sign adds a song to a playlist, but the UI doesn’t remember your last list, forcing you to re-select it each time. Painful.

Supposedly, every song will be searchable by title, artist, and album, unlike the current setup that requires you to go to each artist’s MySpace page in order to listen to or add songs to playlists. That alone is a great addition to MySpace Music. You can browse songs entered by friends and top songs from major artists, indies (limited), and unsigned talent (limited).

You will be able to follow friends’ playlists through a simple newsfeed interface.

The music only can be played on a computer connected to the Internet.

The MySpace Music player is quick to start but slow to load, depending on the amount of songs you’ve saved in playlists. It’s not bad quality, really, although the giant ad in the bottom right corner is annoying, but who’s really looking at it? A nice touch is the artist update (their MySpace activity) in the upper right corner, if the artist makes updates available.

As it is streaming content, you cannot fast forward or rewind to certain points in the song.

If you want to transfer a song to a portable device like an Apple iPod or Microsoft Zune, you must buy it through Amazon’s MP3 store. All tracks are free of DRM.

Supposedly, MySpace Music makes purchasing music from Amazon easy. Click on the Buy Album button or a Buy link and go to Amazon without leaving MSM (only works if you are logged in to Amazon). But I found this to work intermittently, but I expect this will improve over time.

MySpace Music vs. iTunes

Many pundits pit MySpace Music against iTunes, but after seeing MSM in action I’m not sure it will make a dent into iTunes’ success unless Amazon itself is involved. To learn more about this dynamic I went straight to the experts — kids, not tech media.

The majority of MySpace users are kids and young adults. Music and video fans of all ages pop in and out of the site to search for new artists and talent.

Before MySpace Music, kids would download free music from the site, if available, and if they really wanted it they’d hop over to iTunes to see if it was for sale there. Others would simply check Bit Torrent.

iTunes is noted for its downloads, whereas MySpace has been known for its streaming content. iTunes’ store is set up for music and video lovers of all ages. This is especially important for kids without credit cards, whose parents often buy iTunes Cards to fill up their “music bank,” so to speak. iTunes Cards are given for birthdays, Christmas, and other special events.

Amazon doesn’t have a program like this. You must have a credit card attached to the account to download music. Even if you have Amazon credit (which, sadly, I am without at the moment), I am not sure you can apply it to music purchases like you can books and DVDs.

Except for the well-off, I don’t know many parents who give their kids credit cards or free reign to download music on iTunes, Amazon or any other site. Paying for their text messaging and cell phones is bad enough.

Lack of indie bands and unsigned artists

Another point of contention for MySpace Music is a perceived lack of indie artists and self-produced music made available by unsigned bands — who, don’t forget, use MySpace to make their work available to fans and to be (hopefully) discovered. These are the ones kids say they are most interested in, not necessarily the established stars signed to one of the four big labels.

As it stands now, kids will continue to look for free downloads from indie artists and unsigned bands on MySpace, but if their work is not available through MySpace Music/Amazon, then they will continue to go to iTunes.

Conclusion

For those who like and are familiar with MySpace, MySpace Music is a strong beginning. These are the ones who will put up with the clutter, the claustrophobic ads, the clumsy interface. On this alone, MySpace Music should be successful as kids will stream music from their playlists as they surf the site and the Web.

But MySpace Music’s ultimate success depends on making not only music from the big four labels available but also content from indie artists and unsigned bands. That and having a kid-friendly, parent-approved, iTunes Card-like payment method will go a long way into taking a bite out of Apple and iTunes.

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Amazon’s Video on Demand service poised to give Apple’s iTunes a run for its customers

Daniel Langendorf — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:49:46 +0000

Say goodbye (and good riddance) to Amazon Unbox and say hello (and welcome) to Amazon Video on Demand.

Amazon launched its new video streaming service Thursday. After a quick downloading and viewing of the TV show “Eureka,” we say Amazon Video on Demand is a worthy contender to Apple’s iTunes.

For one, Amazon’s new video service works where Unbox failed — it plays on Macs. And, another plus, the video starts steaming instantly. A big improvement over the boxy Unbox.

Like Apple’s iTunes, Amazon Video on Demand will offer rentals for $3 to $4 and movie purchases for $10-$15. Most TV episodes are $2 each, with season passes available at a small discount.

A big advantage Amazon Video on Demand has over iTunes is that it offers NBC content, some of which is available free on Hulu, the joint venture between NBC and Fox. The VOD content, however, does not have commercials and is more consistently available, depending on the show.

Another semi-advantage Amazon Video on Demand has over iTunes is that content will play on some Sony TVs and TiVo DVRs, as well as on Windows Media Center PCs and Microsoft’s Xbox. iTunes TV shows and movies only play on Apple devices like the iPhone, iPod touch, iPod with video, and the AppleTV.

Of course, that advantage is also a disadvantage for the millions who own those Apple devices. Another downer is that Amazon Video on Demand lacks HD content, a deal-breaker for many living rooms and home theater aficionados.

The question is this: Does Amazon Video on Demand have enough sizzle to rock the video side of the iTunes Store? Maybe, maybe not. We give it a decent shot, however, as video on iTunes hasn’t dominated like music on iTunes.

Amazon’s music store, MP3, has steadily moved up the ladder to become one of the top online downloading services, but it’s far from unseating iTunes from its lofty perch.

Video is a different story. As it stands today, Amazon Video on Demand isn’t enough to rewrite the rules, rerouting viewers from physical disks to online downloading. But Amazon’s presence — and its consumer muscle and brand — is certainly enough to keep the video streaming business model moving forward and give iTunes a run for its customers.

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Report: iTunes still leading music store in the U.S.

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:54:19 +0000

Apple’s iTunes remains number one in the U.S. amongst all music retailers according to the latest NPD MusicWatch figures. Based on purchases of CDs and a-la-carte digital music downloads from January through to June of this year, the league table is as follows:

iTunes
Wal-Mart (Walmart, Walmart.com, Walmart Music Downloads)
Best Buy (Best Buy, Bestbuy.com, Best Buy Digital Music Store)
Amazon (Amazon.com, AmazonMP3.com)
Target (Target and Target.com)

NPD says the results reflect “the ongoing consumer shift from physical CDs to digital music”, which has helped iTunes to consolidate the lead it established earlier this year.

Most notably, Amazon has moved from fifth place to fourth, which NPD attributes to stronger CD sales online compared to competing brick-and-mortar stores, along with the launch of the company’s own music download store, AmazonMP3, last year. As a result, we shouldn’t be surprised to see Amazon overtake Best Buy in the not too distant future.

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Coming soon: iTunes remote control app for iPhone and iPod touch

Steve O'Hear — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:00:29 +0000

This one is obvious but cool nonetheless.

With the launch of the App Store next month, Apple will release free software that lets you control iTunes on your Mac (or PC, we presume) via an iPhone or iPod touch. MacRumors notes the discovery in a pre-release version of iTunes 7.7 seeded to developers last night. “In the Read Me of the iTunes installer is a hint at a previously unannounced iPhone/iPod Touch application”:

… the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store.

Also see: How-to: Stream media from a Mac to PlayStation 3

To keen followers of all things Apple, the new iTunes remote software will come as no surprise. A patent application highlighted last July but filed in 2005 describes the possibility of the use of an iPod or iPhone as a media remote control for a home entertainment system.

A portable multimedia player (such as the iPod. manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.) is used to wirelessly access and control a media server (such as a personal computer running iTunes software) that is streaming digital media by way of a wireless interface to a media unit (such as a stereo/speakers in the case of streaming digital audio).

Of course, the iPhone/iPod touch’s Multi-Touch UI is perfectly suited to such an application. One of the main advantages of Apple’s reliant on virtual keys for its device is the ability to reconfigure the interface contextually for different purposes. It also helps – once again – that Apple controls both the software and hardware in the iTunes eco-system, even if, at times, it would be better if the company embraced industry standards for media streaming and control. That way, for example, iTunes could talk to my PlayStation 3 without the need for third-party software.

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iTunes UK adds movie purchases and (48 hour) rentals

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:35:14 +0000

Six months after their U.S. debut, Apple has finally made movies rentals, along with purchases, available to iTunes customers in the UK.

On the plus side, new film releases for purchase will be offered the same day as their DVD release and, in a near industry-first, the viewing window for rentals has been extended to 48 hours (from 24), whereby customers have up to 30 days to start watching a rented download, and once the movie starts they have two days to finish it or watch it multiple times. As we wrote in our earlier analysis of Apple’s U.S. iTunes movie offering (Content, pricing and convenience. How do movie rentals on iTunes fare?), a 24 hour limit “makes it impossible to split a film over two nights, a requirement that is more common than you’d think, especially for those with kids”.

The range of content isn’t too bad and now that things have kicked off, should steadily improve. As of today, 700 movies are available in standard definition from major film studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., MGM, and Sony Pictures, with around 100 HD titles for rental via the the company’s set-top box AppleTV. However, on the downside, pricing is off-puttingly high, especially for purchases — £6.99 for back catalog titles and £10.99 for new releases. While rentals are £2.49 for older films and £3.49 for new releases, with high definition versions costing a pound more.

Update: Canada also gets its iTunes movie fix today, with 1,200 films available for rent or purchase (see press release).

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HBO offers six shows on iTunes; even with higher prices, savings are considerable

Daniel Langendorf — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:51:40 +0000

A quick update to the iTunes-HBO post from yesterday. Six of HBO’s most popular shows are now available for purchase on iTunes, ranging from $1.99 to $2.99 an episode. They are:

“The Wire”: $1.99
“Flight of the Conchords”: $1.99
“Sex and the City”: $1.99
“Deadwood”: $2.99
“Rome”: $2.99
“The Sopranos”: $2.99

(Apple release)

This translates to considerable savings, especially for those who 1) don’t subscribe to HBO; 2) are interested in the series but are not sure if they want to spend the money on the boxed sets; 3) would buy the boxed sets if they were a little cheaper.

For example, there are 13 episodes in the first season of “The Wire.” This boxed set costs, depending on where you purchase, between $55 and $60. You can find it on sale periodically at places like Best Buy for around $35. At $1.99 an episode, the total cost for the season at iTunes: $25.87, without tax.

Even at $2.99 an episode, there are significant cost savings to downloading the content from the Web. “Rome” and “Deadwood” both cost $35.88, without tax, for a season. To buy the physical discs at the store or off Amazon, the regular price would range between $55 and $80, again depending on where you shop.

Of course, you don’t get all the extras like commentaries and deleted scenes that come with boxed sets, but to some of us that doesn’t matter. All we want is to see the shows and not spend a fortune on boxed sets for programs we may or may not want to collect.

The difference is astounding. To buy all four seasons of “The Wire” on iTunes (when they are all available), you’d pay $129.40 without tax. To buy the four boxed sets (season five is not yet available), you’d pay about $220 regular price.

Even with an increased price for some of the shows, it looks like everybody wins.

Apple: more premium content (and maybe this will open up NBC’s return to iTunes)

HBO: an online presence, at a price they’re comfortable with; extending HBO content beyond its 40 million subscribers; giving life to older programs no longer on the air.

The consumer: easy access to premium content that was once unavailable online; considerable savings if you don’t care to own the boxed sets.

Sadly, second seasons and beyond of these show are not available yet, but we expect they will be in time. HBO says it will be adding more original programming.

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” anybody

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