Apple Movie Service Survey?

AppleInsider has the scoop on a survey that is probably from Apple regarding an iTunes movie download service.

"You would have access to 1,000 movies including new releases like 'The Incredibles', 'The Pacifier', and 'Fightplan' as well as your favorites from the past," the description went on to read. "Watch as many movies as you want, as often as you want -- all commercial free with no charge per view." Each month, the potential service would reportedly add new movies for users to choose from.

The survey asked participants to rate the described service on a scale of 1 to 10. Based on the same scale, it also asked that participants indicate how likely they would be to subscribe to the new iTunes service for a monthly fee of $9.99.

The survey also asks a very interesting question about a "$12.95-per-month subscription model if it allowed DVD burning." The iTunes music store lets you burn a CD with your purchases, so this would be a logical move if they allowed movies to be downloaded.

Thanks to Scott for sending this in.

Comments

[Super-Bat-Man]

this whole thing of watching movies on the computer seems weird. Are they lo-res?(I couldn't imagine downloading a 7 gig file)

Why would I pay 9 or 12 or 25 bucks a month to watch movies on my computer or lo-res on my tv.? when I can pay the same amount to have the DVDs delivered to my door.

too much downloading time. but whatever I guess if companies do this it will free up some dvds that I am waiting for.

[gir]

When average broadband speeds get to 10 Mbps, it'll take about the same amount of time to download a DVD as it takes to watch it (actually a bit quicker).

Also they aren't constrained to use MPG2 (the format used on DVD - which is inefficient by today's standards), so download files will be smaller. However, converting them and burning them to DVD requires time and effort.

One way or another, this is coming.

[YKdvd]

An article today on the Think Secret (an often-accurate) Apple rumour site):

http://thinksecret.com/news/0603movies.html

claims that the survey was commissioned by the Starz Entertainment Group (the Vongo people), not Apple. Makes sense - Apple is secretive enough that they would have used those "Men In Black" memory erasers on anyone _they_ surveyed!

[DKB]

Wow. This is so not Apple. Trust me, I have been an apple customer on/off since 1979. They don't work like this at all. And this is not something they would pursue. They don't want to rent movies. iTunes is there to sell content, not rent it. If they come with a video download service, it'll be sales. But they also know that selling tv shows for iPods is a far cry from selling movies to view on a larger screen. I bought a music video from iTunes out of curiosity and on my 17" iMac screen - it looked horrendous. However, I loaded a couple of DVD movies into my computer and shrank them using handbrake for a long trip to Vegas. Also out of curiosity, I played them from the iPod to my 36" Vega and they looked great!! I'm extremely picky when it comes to video and I couldn't believe how good they looked.

It is obvious that Apple will move to Movies sooner or later, but they always know when to do it. Technology is flying and someday soon it will be reasonable to send 4-5 gigs of info via download. (Most movies are only that size. The other 4 gigs on commercial DVDs is garbage.)