I see Apple is trying to get TV shows priced at $1. Current pricing is not competitive. Fifty cents per show would be ideal, but this is a step in the right direction. At $2 per show or more, ITunes is not competitive with basic cable for most people.
I see Apple is trying to get TV shows priced at $1. Current pricing is not competitive. Fifty cents per show would be ideal, but this is a step in the right direction. At $2 per show or more, ITunes is not competitive with basic cable for most people.
Netflix is $9 a month for the cheapest plan. If you watch 1 TV episode a day, that's 30 cents per episode. Most people watch more than one episode per day, it's a country of couch potatos. If you watch two episodes per day, that's fifteen cents per episode and so on.
Hulu's commercials take about the same amount of time per episode as it takes to find and start a torrent download. I'm assuming you are smart enough to go do something else while the download is happening.
By that math, even 50 cents per episode is outrageously high.
Hulu's commercials take about the same amount of time per episode as it takes to find and start a torrent download. I'm assuming you are smart enough to go do something else while the download is happening.
However, if it's an old series you will only need to download one torrent for the whole series, while if it's new you can setup RSS downloading once in order to automatically download each episode on release. That's far less time per episode.
I agree. 50 cents is still high. But it's not that high. Netflix is not that convenient if using DVDs. Netflix has less streaming content, unless things have changed since I last looked.
Hulu won't work on the iPad since it is flash.
The biggest problem with the $1 price point is that torrenting is still worth it to most people. Something in the 25-50 cent range makes the pain of torrenting a show not worth it.
50 cents per episode is $12 for a 24-episode series. $12 is easily worth it to download a batch torrent of an entire series, or setup RSS downloading. I'd say the price would have to be 10 cents per episode to offer reasonable competition with torrents.
"The author of the piece seems to think Apple has invented a new class of devices. Well, no, that class has been around for a while, they just haven’t really worked. Apple’s works, but it’s not really in the class. Think of laptops as “formal†and smartphones as “casual†— what we want is semi-formal or business casual, but instead we have the iPad: a tuxedo t-shirt."
50 cents per episode is $12 for a 24-episode series. $12 is easily worth it to download a batch torrent of an entire series, or setup RSS downloading. I'd say the price would have to be 10 cents per episode to offer reasonable competition with torrents.
It depends if the series is complete. If an individual downloads a show's torrent every week, as episodes are aired, is it worth 50 cents per download to avoid the hassle of a torrent? For most people, probably not, but it's close. And this assumes that Hulu is not desirable and/or available.
It depends if the series is complete. If an individual downloads a show's torrent every week, as episodes are aired, is it worth 50 cents per download to avoid the hassle of a torrent? For most people, probably not, but it's close. And this assumes that Hulu is not desirable and/or available.
This is why I made the point of saying that to take the Steam route you need to go international immediately. Valve had a big problem with piracy in Russia. They found out this is because their prices were too high, and also they released their games in Russia way way after they were available in the rest of the world. By releasing in Russia on the same day as everywhere else at a reasonable price, sales skyrocketed. Yes, even in Russia, a country that allowed AllofMP3 to operate for so long (remember that?) people will buy things if the price and service are right.
Hulu and BBC are really hurting themselves by limiting their geography. The same goes for DVD regions. If you are selling digital products, there is no reason not to sell to the entire world immediately. It doesn't cost more to distribute a movie to the other side of the world than it does to your next door neighbor. You're just giving up sales for nothing.
50 cents per episode is $12 for a 24-episode series. $12 is easily worth it to download a batch torrent of an entire series, or setup RSS downloading. I'd say the price would have to be 10 cents per episode to offer reasonable competition with torrents.
It depends if the series is complete. If an individual downloads a show's torrent every week, as episodes are aired, is it worth 50 cents per download to avoid the hassle of a torrent? For most people, probably not, but it's close. And this assumes that Hulu is not desirable and/or available.
Didn't you read the part where I mentioned RSS downloading?
Jesus - It appears that WIRED has a serious Hard-on for the iPad - So far, I've seen the people who criticize it being told that they just don't get it and they're wrong, including an entire article written specifically for the purpose of telling Bill Gates that he's wrong and doesn't get it, because he essentially said he likes it, but it could be improved.
The iPad will be able to load and view RAW format images. If this is the case I'll be buying one to load up my photos as an extra backup while on the road.
Infantalizing hardware Then there's the device itself: clearly there's a lot of thoughtfulness and smarts that went into the design. But there's also a palpable contempt for the owner. I believe -- really believe -- in the stirring words of the Maker Manifesto: if you can't open it, you don't own it. Screws not glue. The original Apple ][+ came with schematics for the circuit boards, and birthed a generation of hardware and software hackers who upended the world for the better. If you wanted your kid to grow up to be a confident, entrepreneurial, and firmly in the camp that believes that you should forever be rearranging the world to make it better, you bought her an Apple ][+.
Yawn. These days hacking with computers doesn't just equal working with circuit diagrams and schematics, instead it's a lot about working on the level of web apps and mashups. No matter what kind of hardware is available, you'll probably want to do this on a desktop computer, or at least a laptop. What has this got to do with a tablet? Nothing.
The model of interaction with the iPad is to be a "consumer," what William Gibson memorably described as "something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth... no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote."
Well done for William Gibson. You know how I describe a consumer? "Someone who loves to travel, and does so for his job, and would love a portable device with a large screen to read, watch movies, and backup photos on the move. Someone who creates all the time, hours of podcasts and videos per week, loads of writing too..." Yeah, I'm a consumer. Fuck off, Doctorow. I read your last novel on my iPod Touch. It sucked. Not the reading experience, just the content.
The way you improve your iPad isn't to figure out how it works and making it better. The way you improve the iPad is to buy iApps.
Thank fuck for that. I spent years with various PC towers, learning how to make them better. What a pain in the arse. Then I bought a macbook. And, for your information, I learned python scripting on my macbook and hack together new functionality all the time (Apple's Automator app is also awesome).
It uses DRM to control what can run on your devices, which means that Apple's customers can't take their "iContent" with them to competing devices, and Apple developers can't sell on their own terms.
The only DRM media on my iPhone is an Audible book. That DRM is from Audible, not Apple. I don't buy any DRM media at all (aside from Audible), and yet consume 99% of all media using my macbook and iPhone and iPod Touch. No problems so far, and if I find any, I'll let you know.
I think that the press has been all over the iPad because Apple puts on a good show, and because everyone in journalism-land is looking for a daddy figure who'll promise them that their audience will go back to paying for their stuff.
I don't give a shit about the press.
In summary: Cory Doctorow wrote a piece about how he won't be buying an iPad, and why the readers of Boing Boing may not want to buy one either. Meanwhile, over here in reality-land, there are about a billion people who don't give a shit about hacking, and just want a cool and useful gadget. These are the same billion people who don't give a shit about hacking, and have purchased any nintendo product. I'll probably buy an Apple iPad as soon as I can. Then, next year, if another company manages to make a product just as capable in every way, but uses all open source software (maybe the Adam), I'll buy that tablet too. But I'm not going to not buy an iPad just because Cory Doctorow likes unscrewing shit.
I'll wait for the google device comes out. I'm sure the Ipad is a great device I always find apple products to be too expensive with cheaper products that do pretty much the same thing (Why I have a sandisk MP3 player).
I know luke hated it, but For the Win is out now, and he may have been speaking about that - after all, he might have read it but not reviewed it, or told us about it yet.
I know luke hated it, but For the Win is out now, and he may have been speaking about that - after all, he might have read it but not reviewed it, or told us about it yet.
I'm pretty sure you could get a copy by asking, and he was sending out reviewer copies, and copies to students, teachers and librarians, but you are right, it wasn't public release then.
I quite enjoyed Little Brother. It wasn't a great novel, but I enjoyed reading about the technology and stuff. It was "Boing Boing The Novel" and while I don't read Boing Boing, it has a lot good material. Makers was just shit. I might read For The Win, but if I'm going to read more Doctorow I'll probably go back to some of his earlier work.
I don't do reviewer copies, advanced or otherwise, I don't ask for free books and I don't take review requests from authors. All of the reviewers I've seen who do become marketing divisions for the publishers, and end up reading something just because it is new and out now. I read whatever I want, and I think my book selection is better for it.
I quite enjoyed Little Brother. It wasn't a great novel, but I enjoyed reading about the technology and stuff. It was "Boing Boing The Novel" and while I don't read Boing Boing, it has a lot good material. Makers was just shit. I might read For The Win, but if I'm going to read more Doctorow I'll probably go back to some of his earlier work.
From what I've read so far, For the Win seems to be the Good Bits of makers, Mixed with the good bits of Little Brother, with a touch of his earlier work. Though, as usual for any one of his writings, I'm currently just waiting for one of the main female characters to utterly screw someone over. I'll be surprised if it doesn't happen - this is Doctorow after all. I've actually taken to calling it "The Doctorow Twist".
I might do my own mini-review here when I finish it.
I know you don't ask for Reviewer copies or any of that business - but it's far from impossible that corey is a SFBRP listener, it seems right up his alley to the point it's climbing the fire escape and peeking at his girlfriend changing - and it's certainly possible he might send you an advance copy just because he likes your podcast - certainly seems the sort of thing he'd do, I'd be far from surprised, even after your makers review.
I really doubt any authors are listeners of my podcast. I mean, what are they going to enjoy about it?
Don't ask me, I'm not an author. They might just genuinely enjoy science fiction and listening to things about it, and science fiction books in particular. It's like saying "Why would a Director read Roger Ebert's Reviews?" - Again, I don't know, not a director, but maybe they just love film, and watching films, reading about films, etc, etc.
Sure. Actually some authors have listened to and responded to my reviews by email. Not because they are listeners, but because someone (sometimes me) told them about the review. It's great to have those email conversations, but I'm not kidding myself about the impact of my podcast on anyone's writing. Except my own, of course.
I'll probably buy an Apple iPad as soon as I can. Then, next year, if another company manages to make a product just as capable in every way, but uses all open source software (maybe the Adam), I'll buy that tablet too.
I said in the impromptu geekchat last night that I wasn't going to buy an iPad, and instead I'd get a WeTab. Bad news! The WeTab release date has been pushed back 3 months, from June to September. Boo!
Comments
Hulu's commercials take about the same amount of time per episode as it takes to find and start a torrent download. I'm assuming you are smart enough to go do something else while the download is happening.
By that math, even 50 cents per episode is outrageously high.
Hulu won't work on the iPad since it is flash.
The biggest problem with the $1 price point is that torrenting is still worth it to most people. Something in the 25-50 cent range makes the pain of torrenting a show not worth it.
"The author of the piece seems to think Apple has invented a new class of devices. Well, no, that class has been around for a while, they just haven’t really worked. Apple’s works, but it’s not really in the class. Think of laptops as “formal†and smartphones as “casual†— what we want is semi-formal or business casual, but instead we have the iPad: a tuxedo t-shirt."
Tuxedo t-shirt! Awesome.
Hulu and BBC are really hurting themselves by limiting their geography. The same goes for DVD regions. If you are selling digital products, there is no reason not to sell to the entire world immediately. It doesn't cost more to distribute a movie to the other side of the world than it does to your next door neighbor. You're just giving up sales for nothing.
In summary: Cory Doctorow wrote a piece about how he won't be buying an iPad, and why the readers of Boing Boing may not want to buy one either. Meanwhile, over here in reality-land, there are about a billion people who don't give a shit about hacking, and just want a cool and useful gadget. These are the same billion people who don't give a shit about hacking, and have purchased any nintendo product. I'll probably buy an Apple iPad as soon as I can. Then, next year, if another company manages to make a product just as capable in every way, but uses all open source software (maybe the Adam), I'll buy that tablet too. But I'm not going to not buy an iPad just because Cory Doctorow likes unscrewing shit.
I don't do reviewer copies, advanced or otherwise, I don't ask for free books and I don't take review requests from authors. All of the reviewers I've seen who do become marketing divisions for the publishers, and end up reading something just because it is new and out now. I read whatever I want, and I think my book selection is better for it.
Though, as usual for any one of his writings, I'm currently just waiting for one of the main female characters to utterly screw someone over. I'll be surprised if it doesn't happen - this is Doctorow after all. I've actually taken to calling it "The Doctorow Twist".
I might do my own mini-review here when I finish it.
I know you don't ask for Reviewer copies or any of that business - but it's far from impossible that corey is a SFBRP listener, it seems right up his alley to the point it's climbing the fire escape and peeking at his girlfriend changing - and it's certainly possible he might send you an advance copy just because he likes your podcast - certainly seems the sort of thing he'd do, I'd be far from surprised, even after your makers review.