Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

This is why I rip rather than buy from iTunes

CrAkD

CrAkD

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 15, 2010
3,180
255
Boston, MA
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

3d52d821.jpg


9 movies on bluray $52
iTunes equivalent? $40 for the 3 that are available and one is only available in SD.
so for $10 more you get 5 more movies ALL in 1080p. AND you have the disks as backups.
 
Last edited:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

Exactly! I got 2 seasons of big bang theory for 20 each.
 
CrAkD said:
...
10 movies on bluray $52
iTunes equivalent? $40 for the 3 that are available and one is only available in SD.
so for $10 more you get 6 more movies ALL in 1080p. AND you have the disks as backups.
Click to expand...


Yep, Apple should go to a Netflix model, where you pay monthly for all an "you can stream" deal.

I suppose it's the content providers, who for some reason think that streaming should bring in more money than physical media. Of course, such thinking only drives people to piracy.

BTW, dude, you watch some real cr@p....
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Lol all movies I liked except the crazies which I've never seen from the $6-7 bin at best buy.
 
Too bad iTunes doesn't do sales like Steam does, except with movies and tv shows. Otherwise I'd buy from them more often than physical media distributers.
 
Those are in the discount bin for a reason. Nobody will buy them so they have to dump the stock.

Perhaps iTunes is expensive but it's silly to compare to close out junk.
 
Sure would be nice if I knew how to rip those things. I mean I've seen the posts on doing it, but it's a lot more complicated than DVD -- especially since I would have to buy an external BD drive. I just want an HD digital copy of movies I legally purchased!
 
brentsg said:
Those are in the discount bin for a reason. Nobody will buy them so they have to dump the stock.

Perhaps iTunes is expensive but it's silly to compare to close out junk.
Click to expand...

He's not comparing the price of those films to the price of content in iTunes in general, but the price of those films compared to the price of the same films in iTunes. So no, it's not silly. It's a perfectly valid comparison.

Going through "discount bins" is always a good idea, sometimes you find a movie you really like, sometimes you find something you'd forgotten about, sometimes you find something you've had a hard time finding before... Ignoring these types of deals because "no one wants those movies" is just being plain stupid.
 
I've thought about the cheapy bluray stuff before. I guess from where I stand the cost of the bluray drive for Mac and hassle of keeping up with lots of discs offsets a lot of the iTunes issues. Plus with iCloud iTunes does have some nifty features of its own.

I don't do bluray but the biggest reason why I'd consider it is resale.
 
I picked up my bluray drive for $70. Only thing I don't like is there is a rip lock on it and I can only get it to rip up to like 4x out of 12x. Other then that working great. I have a hackintosh so it was as easy as swapping it with my DVD drive.
 
I acquire movies from half.com. one run I purchased 22 blu-rays for $90.

blurays take some time to rip. I simply rip over night and while I am are work using two older XP computers.

I looked at some rentals on itunes. one was $10? Really I could buy it for $18 and do what I want with it.

itunes is very costly for the convenience.
 
bruinsrme said:
I looked at some rentals on itunes. one was $10? Really I could buy it for $18 and do what I want with it.

itunes is very costly for the convenience.
Click to expand...
There's another way of looking at it though. We used to buy loads of DVDs back in the day but the majority only ever got watched once, and a minority twice. I would rather rent movies for $10 a time and never have to keep them now. If you only watch the movie once it's much cheaper, and if you only ever watch it twice it's only a small amount more. Plus you don't need to worry about ripping and storage. That is quite convenient IMO. The biggest drawback with that model is that movies have a habit of disappearing from iTunes and so are no longer available for rental, so it's far from perfect.
 
Physical movie purchases are cheaper than digital ones. But where the HUGE digital rip off is most evident is TV Shows.

TV Shows are constantly going on sale on DVD so finding an entire 23 episode season of a show for $10-20 is common. Compare that with iTunes and you've got $2-3/episode or $30-40/season.

It's ridiculous that old seasons of TV dont go on "digital clearance" or something because charging full price for everything is going to keep most of us from ever going completely digital.
 
urkel said:
Physical movie purchases are cheaper than digital ones. But where the HUGE digital rip off is most evident is TV Shows.

TV Shows are constantly going on sale on DVD so finding an entire 23 episode season of a show for $10-20 is common. Compare that with iTunes and you've got $2-3/episode or $30-40/season.

It's ridiculous that old seasons of TV dont go on "digital clearance" or something because charging full price for everything is going to keep most of us from ever going completely digital.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. Tv shows on iTunes are completely unreasonable.
 
I think this is where the studios are screwing up. Seriously, they don't get it, that their pricing model is what is keeping piracy alive. If they would sell HD movies on iTunes for $9.99, they would get a TON more sales then trying to get $30 for it. Same thing with TV shows. 20 episode season for $0.99 per episode for SD, and $1.99 for HD. Make it $0.99 for HD (drop SD completely) and $15 for the season. Guess what, sales will go WAY up.

Steam learned this; they started experimenting with game costs; and found huge upswings when they started having sales. 2009 Gabe Newell on Game Prices. The same thing is true for movies and TV shows. Start offering things at a realistic value and people will buy them. As it is, prices of movies are way too damn expensive, and thus piracy is alive and well.

Apple doesn't really have any say in this, they take their percentage and distribute the content, they have no say over how much something sells for.
 
brentsg said:
Those are in the discount bin for a reason. Nobody will buy them so they have to dump the stock.

Perhaps iTunes is expensive but it's silly to compare to close out junk.
Click to expand...

There are a couple of good movies there and one classic silly movie but it is still watch-worthy.

I wouldn't call them all junk but given the right place/right time you can buy a new release for less than you pay in the iTunes store and keep the physical copy.
 
CylonGlitch said:
Apple doesn't really have any say in this, they take their percentage and distribute the content, they have no say over how much something sells for.
Click to expand...

Eh, not exactly. If the studios came to Apple and said new movies would be $39.99 each I believe Apple would tell them to take a long walk (off a short cliff). Being removed from the iTunes Store is the digital equivalent to having your item(s) taken off the shelves of Wal-Mart. Your sales disappear.

And of course it is naturally in Apple's best interest for the average selling points of the content to remain high - as their 30% cut is higher as well. :D

I agree content on the iTunes Store is overpriced, but there is something to be said for the convenience and simplicity. Some folks are willing to pay a premium for that, some aren't. Such is life...
 
CylonGlitch said:
Apple doesn't really have any say in this, they take their percentage and distribute the content, they have no say over how much something sells for.
Click to expand...
I think they must have some say in it. What if the studio decided an HD season of a show with a lot of episodes should be sold really cheap. That's a lot of GB of bandwidth at Apple's end that someone has to be paying for.
 
CylonGlitch said:
I think this is where the studios are screwing up. Seriously, they don't get it, that their pricing model is what is keeping piracy alive. If they would sell HD movies on iTunes for $9.99, they would get a TON more sales then trying to get $30 for it. Same thing with TV shows. 20 episode season for $0.99 per episode for SD, and $1.99 for HD. Make it $0.99 for HD (drop SD completely) and $15 for the season. Guess what, sales will go WAY up.

Steam learned this; they started experimenting with game costs; and found huge upswings when they started having sales. 2009 Gabe Newell on Game Prices. The same thing is true for movies and TV shows. Start offering things at a realistic value and people will buy them. As it is, prices of movies are way too damn expensive, and thus piracy is alive and well.

Apple doesn't really have any say in this, they take their percentage and distribute the content, they have no say over how much something sells for.
Click to expand...

So true. The studios need to realize if they sell 2 at $30 and 20 at $15 there's a way to make MORE at a cheaper price.
 
brentsg said:
Those are in the discount bin for a reason. Nobody will buy them so they have to dump the stock.

Perhaps iTunes is expensive but it's silly to compare to close out junk.
Click to expand...
I buy most of my movies from stores like the local Blockbuster and rip them. They're not junk that they're trying to dump. They're new releases. When a movie is first released, Blockbuster buys a large quantity in anticipation of high rental demand. After the initial demand is passed, they put the excess on sale, usually at 4-for-$20 or 5-for-$20. As a result, I have over 600 movies at an average cost of less than $5. I do this from other stores, as well, which I'll have to do more of, since the local Blockbuster is closing. There will be some great close-out specials there, too.

These are movies like Avatar, AVP2, Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man 2, Predators, The Losers, the Bourne series, Eagle Eye, G.I. Joe, Killer Elite, Limitless, Priest, Real Steel, Salt, Transformers, the Resident Evil series, Star Trek, Disturbia, Kill Bill, Knight and Day, The Replacement Killers, etc. While those titles may not appeal to some, they're not bottom-of-the-barrel junk. I've never bought a single movie or song from iTunes, as I've also been ripping CDs and vinyl for many years, and I'm still not done.
 
If the studios would do this :
First run movies (new) $9.99
1 year or older movies $4.99

Current Season TV show $14.99
Previous season TV show $7.99

I'd never buy another Disc again; everything would be downloaded directly from iTunes. I'd buy 10x the number I do now, and still want more. I'd no longer think twice about buying something, I'd just do it.
 
CrAkD said:
So true. The studios need to realize if they sell 2 at $30 and 20 at $15 there's a way to make MORE at a cheaper price.
Click to expand...

On what do you base your assumption that the price elasticity is greater than one and that an increase in digital sales won't cannibalize other, more lucrative sales?

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back