[Eug Wanker]

Variety: Film exex want to tap into Jobs' savvy but worry about his growing clout

Studios have resisted Jobs' initial insistence that feature films be priced at the easy-to-remember $9.99. After all, library titles are typically sold to Wal-Mart and Best Buy significantly cheaper than new releases. Studios now are trying to convince Apple to sell similar content at multiple price points, something the company has never done.

I would most definitely not pay US$9.99 for a lot of old releases. Hell, I can buy some (legal) content right now for CAD$6.99 (US$6.25), complete with the DVD, case, and insert. $9.99 seems reasonable for some new releases though.

[Dakar]

I think you gotta go with price points on this... All albums at the iTMS aren't priced the same, correct?

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by Dakar

I think you gotta go with price points on this... All albums at the iTMS aren't priced the same, correct?

They are not. eg. $9.99, $10.89, $11.99 etc.

Thus I suspect Apple will indeed offer movies at different price points.

[Gossamer]

Yeah, but there needs to be a definite limit, eg 9.99 for new releases, then down from there for older stuff. I've bought most of my movies off eBay for much less than $10 shipped, they're dvd quality and everything.

[Eug Wanker]

I hope this means we will see a true video iPod very soon: 640x360 H.264, with video out.

I'm not interested at all in 320x240 movie downloads.

[production_coordinator]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

I hope this means we will see a true video iPod very soon: 640x360 H.264, with video out.

I'm not interested at all in 320x240 movie downloads.

I guess I just don't see it being at all popular. Even at 640 x 360, that's considerably less than a DVD. I would hope Apple would try HD, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Dakar]

Originally Posted by production_coordinator

I would hope Apple would try HD, but I'm not holding my breath.

Considering they tout their iMac & Apple Display as HD, the logic would certainly follow.

[production_coordinator]

Originally Posted by Dakar

Considering they tout their iMac & Apple Display as HD, the logic would certainly follow.

Well, considering Blu-Ray players will retail for big $$$, this could be a cheap alternative (Mac mini + iTunes)

[ort888]

$9.99 is way to high if the videos are less then DVD quality and next to impossible to export onto other media options.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by production_coordinator

I guess I just don't see it being at all popular. Even at 640 x 360, that's considerably less than a DVD. I would hope Apple would try HD, but I'm not holding my breath.

Well, perhaps, but I don't see Apple releasing 854x480 videos, and 640x360 makes sense in terms of a widescreen iPod screen size. I don't really see Apple releasing a 720x480 iPod with non-square pixels, but I suppose it's possible. I suppose it's also possible that Apple will make it completely incompatible with the iPod, but I don't think that will happen either. Actually, I think that if Apple really wanted to up the resolution, 640x480 would make more sense. It would be 640x480 for TV shows, and 640x360 (with black bars) for movies.

640x360 H.264 can look pretty darn good actually, if the source is good, and the encode is done properly. It certainly looks way better than what they have now, and it can look as good or sometimes even better than some of the cheaper DVDs, at least on up to mid-sized TVs.

[Obi Wan's Ghost]

It will happen. Oh yes it will happen. iPod movies for download and on Blu-ray

http://ipodhub.net/articles/20060424...d_content.html