LOL. I was getting into a movie-watching mood today. I was busy using my "Watch Instantly" service via Netflix (over VMWare)... but the selection is fairly pathetic (and not likely to improve as far as I know), so I'm finding myself curiously anxious to see iTunes really get a nice store of chock-full of movies. For instance, I just used "Watch Instantly" to view Alfred Hitchcocks' "Dial M for Murder". Almost immediately after, I wanted to watch another Hitchcock film while I worked... but, best I could do was find an Agatha Christie film ("Witness for the Prosecution"). I then went over to iTunes and ran a Hitchcock search. --I got "To Catch a Thief" and nothing more.
I thought, "well, ok..." but then surprisingly realized that the film was only available for "purchase" at $9.99. --Well. No thanks? I then realized I'd like to see "The Namesake" (interesting film with Kal Penn, or non-speaking thug #3 from Superman Returns), which I'd heard good things about. A quick search revealed nothing.
Something bothers me though. I remember with TV shows when they came to iTunes, its been years and we're still getting back-catalog content that pops up every so often. A "Battlestar Galactica" here, a "Wonder Woman" there (and where the blood hell is Steve Austin fighting bigfoot?)
Maybe next week, a new season of Knight Rider. You look at Windows PC ONLY services like Vongo that regularly rotate their catalog... so you can never be sure when something will no longer be available (unless you're an expert at keeping a rolling series of expiration dates in your head). It sounds like iTunes will be changing that paradigm by stepping back from the monthly subscription, and embracing the per-rental charge model. --Not too bad in my opinion. Pricing could be better, but I'm not that bothered by it.
What I AM bothered by, is the wait. The seemingly never-ending, indeterminate WAIT for movies to make their way to iTunes, and the unknown... which movies will remain off the shelf, which movies have been prioritized for immediate availability? Will some movies be surreptitiously removed from searches at random? I wish someone with Apple's ear could get some real answers on what to expect.
For now, we have to believe Apple is hustling like mad to get movie content onto the service following, no-doubt, last minute negotiations with some of the major studios (you could almost hear the heel dragging, almost as loudly as Cisco and its "iPhone" trademark at last years MacWord... and that just turned out to be a minor slap-fight).
When will we get that Holy Grail? Having some friends over for dinner, games and a movie, you ask then "What Would you like to See?" they say, "What do you have?" and you smile and say, "Name it". You can't get to sleep and you want to finally get around to watching, "Seven Samurai", and within a minute, you are... even though you'd never so much as seen it in the store. --Or, you listen to a Filmspotting Marathon on a topic like "Anime", and you want to watch "Grave of the Fireflies" THAT night.
When will THAT be reasonable... and from the comfort of your own home? Will it take a couple of months? Several? A couple of years? Will it always lack JUST that film you wanted, even though they've got plenty others?
Hopefully Apple gets on the ball and makes it so that searching on iTunes for movies doesn't feel as pointless as it does right now. Hopefully it gets to the point where its "successful hit" average is more like searching on RottenTomatoes or even IMDB. The sooner that happens, the sooner I'll be cancelling my Netflix subscription, and glorifying in the fact that I don't have or need cable. My movie watching needs are modest and not that frequent. But, when I want to watch a film... I'm left still wondering... when will I be able to concentrate more on which film I want to watch... and not where I'll be able to get it from?
Is it next month? Next year?
The wait continues.
~ CB
I thought, "well, ok..." but then surprisingly realized that the film was only available for "purchase" at $9.99. --Well. No thanks? I then realized I'd like to see "The Namesake" (interesting film with Kal Penn, or non-speaking thug #3 from Superman Returns), which I'd heard good things about. A quick search revealed nothing.
Something bothers me though. I remember with TV shows when they came to iTunes, its been years and we're still getting back-catalog content that pops up every so often. A "Battlestar Galactica" here, a "Wonder Woman" there (and where the blood hell is Steve Austin fighting bigfoot?)
Maybe next week, a new season of Knight Rider. You look at Windows PC ONLY services like Vongo that regularly rotate their catalog... so you can never be sure when something will no longer be available (unless you're an expert at keeping a rolling series of expiration dates in your head). It sounds like iTunes will be changing that paradigm by stepping back from the monthly subscription, and embracing the per-rental charge model. --Not too bad in my opinion. Pricing could be better, but I'm not that bothered by it.What I AM bothered by, is the wait. The seemingly never-ending, indeterminate WAIT for movies to make their way to iTunes, and the unknown... which movies will remain off the shelf, which movies have been prioritized for immediate availability? Will some movies be surreptitiously removed from searches at random? I wish someone with Apple's ear could get some real answers on what to expect.
For now, we have to believe Apple is hustling like mad to get movie content onto the service following, no-doubt, last minute negotiations with some of the major studios (you could almost hear the heel dragging, almost as loudly as Cisco and its "iPhone" trademark at last years MacWord... and that just turned out to be a minor slap-fight).
When will we get that Holy Grail? Having some friends over for dinner, games and a movie, you ask then "What Would you like to See?" they say, "What do you have?" and you smile and say, "Name it". You can't get to sleep and you want to finally get around to watching, "Seven Samurai", and within a minute, you are... even though you'd never so much as seen it in the store. --Or, you listen to a Filmspotting Marathon on a topic like "Anime", and you want to watch "Grave of the Fireflies" THAT night.
When will THAT be reasonable... and from the comfort of your own home? Will it take a couple of months? Several? A couple of years? Will it always lack JUST that film you wanted, even though they've got plenty others?
Hopefully Apple gets on the ball and makes it so that searching on iTunes for movies doesn't feel as pointless as it does right now. Hopefully it gets to the point where its "successful hit" average is more like searching on RottenTomatoes or even IMDB. The sooner that happens, the sooner I'll be cancelling my Netflix subscription, and glorifying in the fact that I don't have or need cable. My movie watching needs are modest and not that frequent. But, when I want to watch a film... I'm left still wondering... when will I be able to concentrate more on which film I want to watch... and not where I'll be able to get it from?
Is it next month? Next year?
The wait continues.
~ CB
