Apple iTunes: Music Subscription No, Movie Subscription Yes
If Apple is even remotely thinking about offering iTunes Store subscriptions for its music, I really hope they don’t - and instead apply the subscription model to iTunes Movies instead.
I just read this Ars Technica article saying that the sales of downloadable movies through the iTunes store haven’t been so stellar. No big surprise there, from where I stand. Negatives are studios, content, access, price, and quality. I want to add extra emphasis to access.
I’m used to the rental model of movie watching. I don’t want to own the majority of movies I see. For the movies that I do want to own, I want high quality and a permanent format like a DVD. The Apple downloads don’t offer either.
But even if Apple goes with the rental model, they’ll be hard pressed to compete with Netflix, which offers DVDs in the mail for a price that’s pretty darned basement. For a little over ten bucks a month you get as many DVDs (one out at a time) as you can watch and mail. I figure I go through about seven to ten movies a month. You can do the math there, but it basically plummets the cost of a movie rental to a little more than an iTunes music track.
Yeah, I don’t think Apple will be allowed to sell Pirates of the Caribbean for that price, either.
The only way I see Apple competing is to have a subscription option. And even then, they lose to Netflix in terms of quality and selection by a mile.
I think the Apple Movie Store is a great idea and totally forward thinking, but I’m not cancelling my Netflix account any time soon. But I am using the iTunes Store to download video, for those Cylon-based television shows that aren’t on DVD yet.
Disclosure: I own a tiny amount of Apple stock.
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