<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<channel>
<title>Switched - Comments for Movie Rentals Hit iTunes (Plus, a New Apple TV)</title>
<link>http://www.switched.com/2008/01/15/movie-rentals-hit-itunes-plus-a-new-apple-tv/</link>
<description>Switched Comments for Movie Rentals Hit iTunes (Plus, a New Apple TV)</description>
<image>
<url>http://www.switched.com/media/feedlogo.gif</url>
<title>Switched</title>
<link>http://www.switched.com</link>
</image>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.</copyright>
<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Comments on Movie Rentals Hit iTunes (Plus, a New Apple TV)]]></title><link>http://www.switched.com/2008/01/15/movie-rentals-hit-itunes-plus-a-new-apple-tv/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.switched.com/2008/01/15/movie-rentals-hit-itunes-plus-a-new-apple-tv/</guid><description><![CDATA[I personally do not think download and/or streamed movie formats will ever have the popularity as compared to rental of DVD or HD disc formats.  How the consumer listens to music is very different from how movies are watched.  Downloadable music services capitalized on convenience and portability.  Consumers have shown that they want to be able to buy music in fast and convenient way, and that they can listen to the purchased music later on whenever and where ever they are, over and over again, while exercising, waiting for the plane, doing laundary, etc, even if the audio quality is inferior.  Why would one care if music is listened through crappy ear buds?  Music is not enjoyed with super high audio quality by most consumers, but rather serves its purpose as an enjoable distraction while another boring task is performed.  This has been shown by the failure of high quality audio mediums such as DVD Audio and SACD.  The consumer is ready to ditch SACD's, or even CD's, and pay for an inferior sounding iPod or any portable MP3 player.  Higher quality audio systems for home use are now all marketed for surround sound applications for movie and film watching. This trend towards home surround sound systems is indicative that when it comes to films and movies, the consumer IS indeed interested in higher quality. Another indication of this trend is that the consumers are begining to buy larger and larger HDTV's. Poor video quality is less apparent on a small screen or on a laptop computer, but terribly exaggerated and unwatchable on a large HD screen. This is the exact opposite from the music industry, where quality is not all that important as compared to convenience and portability.  You just cannot fully enjoy watching a movie while you exercise or do laundary.  Movies are more enjoyable on a large hi-def screen with surround sound as a dedicated experience.  Downloadable hi-def video formats with video and surround sound quality that is comparable to Bluray are currently not available, and inherently too slow. Furthermore, unlike music, not many consumers are interested in watching a movie over and over again, like how we sometimes want to hear certain songs over and over again from an iPod.  So the incentive of enduring the slow dowloading a movie for one time dedicated viewing is not all that high.  If downloadable movies were the trend, DVDs would have already gone the way of CDs...]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[nycmuscleasian]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mar 11th 2008 9:11AM</pubDate></item></channel></rss>