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Mix: iTunes movies, Napster, Virgin, Boring podcasts
Technology Review says full-length iTunes movie downloads would not be efficient because of their large file size and current broadband speeds. “This is one of the reasons why there’s no activity taking place” in movie downloads, says Frank Casanova, director of QuickTime Product Marketing at Apple. With a 1.5GB movie file, “you could request a movie from Netflix [which delivers DVDs by mail] before this download gets to you.”
Napster has released two new Napster-branded portable music players. The company is offering a 256MB flash player for free with a Napster To Go year-long subscription, and a 1GB player that is $50 with the Napster To Go subscription. [via Gizmodo]
The Virgin chain in France has been found guilty of downloading and reselling a Madonna song without permission. “The store’s online portal was ordered by the Paris Tribunal of Commerce to pay €600,000, or $754,000, in damages for downloading [and reselling] the Madonna song ‘Hung Up’ from a France Telecom Web site. The Web site had exclusive rights to distribute the song for one week.”
Marketwatch’s Frank Barnako asks if podcasts are a waste of time, reporting that Waxxi.us aims to make podcasts more interesting by making them interactive. “We allow people from all across the globe to participate, rather than just listen,” said Waxxi’s Tracy Sheridan. “With the audience listening and commenting, we get a flow, not just questions and answers.”
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1
If I can download the 3.13gb Vista beta in 3 hours i’m sure a movie will be no problem…
Posted by Nesrual on June 29, 2006 at 8:01 AM (PDT)
2
With ADSL 2+, 1,5 Gb or even 8 Gb is not a problem…
Sure it can be a problem for people who are still using 56k modem :(
Posted by Steph on June 29, 2006 at 8:15 AM (PDT)
3
who uses 56k these days?
I can download >600kb/s
I think 1.5GB is NOT a problem
Posted by fxspec06 on June 29, 2006 at 8:35 AM (PDT)
4
I completely agree with you all. Who ever wrote this doesn’t have a clue. Besides I would think that the majority of itune users are on some sort of broadband anyway.
Posted by 3rdeye on June 29, 2006 at 8:40 AM (PDT)
5
It may not be quite as convient as doing it from your home, but since TV Shows, and it is assumed Movies will be, released in the US ONLY first, could not every Applestore become a convinient outlet for selling the videos as well, with the contents available on a local store server, The USB 2 transfer would be much faster taking maybe a few minutes. Apple however would have to change around their"authorised computer” system for DRM in order for this video to then be immediately available for viewing on the iPod Maybe this system will be in place when the new video iPod is released along with a movie service, that or they do resort to subscriptions for movies.
Posted by keyMACer on June 29, 2006 at 9:21 AM (PDT)
6
The average uncompressed movie is 5-6GB and the average american has either 56k or low speed broadband (256kbps). Although apple will provide a compressed and low resolution file which will probably be around 1-2gb, it will still present a problem to most people. For these people, who are in the majority it will be more convenient to just order a movie from netflix. It also makes more sense as well since you can get a higher res movie and watch it on your tv easily. (you could also copy it as well).
Posted by Victor on June 29, 2006 at 9:50 AM (PDT)
7
yeah downloading a 1.5 GB is not a problem for you by try that with the other million iTunes users =], if there are 20 ppl downloading movies at the same time that will kill the bandwidth unless apple assign several servers for them
Posted by slayer on June 29, 2006 at 10:02 AM (PDT)
8
Slayer, no it won’t. There are probably thousands of people downloading songs now. They download for less time each but there are probably many more than there would be for movies and it’s downloading at whatever bandwidth both ends can handle without any problem. It might require a little upkeep, but movies on iTunes is certainly feasible.
Posted by catboy17 on June 29, 2006 at 2:08 PM (PDT)
9
Then again Apple could always change the iPod firmware to support the DIVX/XVID codec allowing 2 hour movies to be excellent quality and less than 1gb.
Posted by Nesrual on June 29, 2006 at 4:42 PM (PDT)