We hooked up a new Apple TV over Christmas and after fooling around with it, I have some thoughts.
When you look at the scattered digital hellscape that is media consumption today, it really is a mess.
It used to be that you watched TV on cable, saw movies in a theater, and bought discs/tapes of stuff you really wanted. Now—you either need cable plus supplementary subscriptions (HBO, Showtime, NFL Sunday Ticket, other sports, etc.)
Or, if you go the cord cutter route, you need 10 different subscriptions to each network's service, then Netflix, and Amazon Prime. But even then, there are a ton of shows and movies that are left out (the quality ones), and you have to pay separately to rent or buy them from iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, or on Blu Ray.
The advent of 4K and its insane DRM and technical requirements makes it even more confusing and expensive.
Netflix makes and promotes their "original series" as well as Amazon, and now Apple is trying to get in on it. This is because they do not want to pay to license content, and want to go in the direction of you just liking what they have (and own).
This really screws the consumer. But if Apple really wants to compete in the streaming space (aside from music) why not take advantage of their almost unparalleled inventory of top shelf movies and shows and make a rival to Netflix? No video streaming service has the same inventory of top shelf programming that is found in iTunes.
Most streaming services (Netflix) consist of mostly crap you've never heard, with some name brand stuff mixed in. But if Apple took advantage of the fact they have almost everything, would this not be the most complete streaming service?
I assume the answer is that the licensing costs are tremendous, and thus the price would be ridiculous. Nonetheless, I ain't paying to stream crap. I'll keep my Verizon Fios and my Blu Rays and watch what I want.
Just my two cents.
When you look at the scattered digital hellscape that is media consumption today, it really is a mess.
It used to be that you watched TV on cable, saw movies in a theater, and bought discs/tapes of stuff you really wanted. Now—you either need cable plus supplementary subscriptions (HBO, Showtime, NFL Sunday Ticket, other sports, etc.)
Or, if you go the cord cutter route, you need 10 different subscriptions to each network's service, then Netflix, and Amazon Prime. But even then, there are a ton of shows and movies that are left out (the quality ones), and you have to pay separately to rent or buy them from iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, or on Blu Ray.
The advent of 4K and its insane DRM and technical requirements makes it even more confusing and expensive.
Netflix makes and promotes their "original series" as well as Amazon, and now Apple is trying to get in on it. This is because they do not want to pay to license content, and want to go in the direction of you just liking what they have (and own).
This really screws the consumer. But if Apple really wants to compete in the streaming space (aside from music) why not take advantage of their almost unparalleled inventory of top shelf movies and shows and make a rival to Netflix? No video streaming service has the same inventory of top shelf programming that is found in iTunes.
Most streaming services (Netflix) consist of mostly crap you've never heard, with some name brand stuff mixed in. But if Apple took advantage of the fact they have almost everything, would this not be the most complete streaming service?
I assume the answer is that the licensing costs are tremendous, and thus the price would be ridiculous. Nonetheless, I ain't paying to stream crap. I'll keep my Verizon Fios and my Blu Rays and watch what I want.
Just my two cents.
