Doctor Q
Sep 6, 07:50 PM
Why exactly is fixed pricing so important? isn't that.. well.. a bit anti supply/demand? Anyone have any stats on the percentages that bestbuy, a local music/video store, and apple are making on a normal purchase?You are correct that "market pricing", where the price of a movie is based on what that particular movie might be worth to people, and possibly on the relative cost of bringing it to you, would better follow the principles of supply and demand.
The other side of the story is that Apple wants to keep things as simple as possible, and fixed pricing is very easy for consumers to understand. It changes a tricky buying decision (is this movie worth this price?) to a simpler buying decision (which movies are worth the standard price?). It may not seem that complicated either way, but it makes a difference with skittish first timer buyers. It's like not having to haggle when the price of something isn't negotiable. Less flexibility, but less decisionmaking.
Among the general public, there has been a much larger resistance to these download services than you'd know from reading posts from tech-minded people in forums like these. I think fixed pricing for iTunes music was one of the keys to the success of the iTunes Music Store. Remember that only a small percentage of music buyers buy online, and movies are going to start out the same way.
The other side of the story is that Apple wants to keep things as simple as possible, and fixed pricing is very easy for consumers to understand. It changes a tricky buying decision (is this movie worth this price?) to a simpler buying decision (which movies are worth the standard price?). It may not seem that complicated either way, but it makes a difference with skittish first timer buyers. It's like not having to haggle when the price of something isn't negotiable. Less flexibility, but less decisionmaking.
Among the general public, there has been a much larger resistance to these download services than you'd know from reading posts from tech-minded people in forums like these. I think fixed pricing for iTunes music was one of the keys to the success of the iTunes Music Store. Remember that only a small percentage of music buyers buy online, and movies are going to start out the same way.
vvebster
Nov 23, 10:58 PM
ROFL, tell me about it :D
Psht. I can get that up here for free.
Psht. I can get that up here for free.
hunkaburningluv
Mar 26, 08:18 PM
You clearly lack any sort of vision. You couldn't be more wrong about the future of gaming.
that's awfully nice of you.
Methinks you need yo get your head out of the clouds when it comes to hardcore gaming.
I'll agree that the future of casual games may be going in this direction, but core gamers will use this to supplement their gaming.
Come back when you can play gears, modern warfare or Uncharted and have the same or better tactile experience and I'll gladly eat my own words. Until then it's all a pipe dream.
You need a real dose of reality.
Whilst tablet gaming will never overtake console gaming, unless a TV dock and controller is introduced, its always fun to see a portable device that is capable of outputting games at 1920x1080, where the xbox 360 and ps3 (retail games only) can not.
They seriously think the 360 can last another 5 years? Considering this is only the iPad's 2nd release, I wouldn't bet on it.
Not exactly true:
PS3 games running in 1080p
Fifa Street 3 = 1920x1080 (no AA)
Full Auto 2 (demo) = 1920x1080 (4x AA)
GT5 Prologue (demo) = 1080p mode is 1280x1080 (2xAA) in-game while the garage/pit/showrooms are 1920x1080 with no AA. 720p mode is 1280x720 (4xAA)
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance = 1280x720 & 1920x1080 (no AA)
MLB09: The Show = 1280x720 (2xAA) or 1920x1080 (no AA)
NBA07 (demo) = 1920x1080 (no AA)
NBA08 (demo) = 1920x1080 (no AA)
NBA Street Home court (screenshot) = 1920x1080 (no AA
Ridge Racer 7 (demo) = 1920x1080 (no AA)
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel = 1280x720 when sub-HD output selected, 1920x1080 for any HD output (no AA)
Virtua Tennis 3 = 1920x1080 (2x AA)
World Series Of Poker 2008 = 1920x1080 (2xAA)
there's probably a few more for the 360 - BUT, IMO resolution isn't the be all and end all of visuals, take the uncharted series, it isn't 1080p, but it's spectacular looking where as Sacred 2 looks like crap.
If Kinect wasn't the run away success it was, then yeah, I would have expected some announcement this or next e3 for the 360, but it looks like the Wii 2 will probably be announced first.
The PS3 will probably have some legs actually, as people get more and more used to the developer tools (as they are now) then we'll see more and more impressive titles graphically.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
Yeah, and you can unplug it, put it in your bag, play it on the train, surf the web, check your email, edit your movie ...bit more than a $400 controller
you make a good point, but to really excel at gaming, you can't have a jack of all trades device - look at the PSP for instance- great wee machine, but it was far too spread, functionality wise to be a great success. For this device to appeal to the core gamer it needs to be designed specifically for core gaming, as it is the now (and there's nothing wrong with it this way) it's for casual gamers or 'pick up for 5 mins' kinda games
that's awfully nice of you.
Methinks you need yo get your head out of the clouds when it comes to hardcore gaming.
I'll agree that the future of casual games may be going in this direction, but core gamers will use this to supplement their gaming.
Come back when you can play gears, modern warfare or Uncharted and have the same or better tactile experience and I'll gladly eat my own words. Until then it's all a pipe dream.
You need a real dose of reality.
Whilst tablet gaming will never overtake console gaming, unless a TV dock and controller is introduced, its always fun to see a portable device that is capable of outputting games at 1920x1080, where the xbox 360 and ps3 (retail games only) can not.
They seriously think the 360 can last another 5 years? Considering this is only the iPad's 2nd release, I wouldn't bet on it.
Not exactly true:
PS3 games running in 1080p
Fifa Street 3 = 1920x1080 (no AA)
Full Auto 2 (demo) = 1920x1080 (4x AA)
GT5 Prologue (demo) = 1080p mode is 1280x1080 (2xAA) in-game while the garage/pit/showrooms are 1920x1080 with no AA. 720p mode is 1280x720 (4xAA)
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance = 1280x720 & 1920x1080 (no AA)
MLB09: The Show = 1280x720 (2xAA) or 1920x1080 (no AA)
NBA07 (demo) = 1920x1080 (no AA)
NBA08 (demo) = 1920x1080 (no AA)
NBA Street Home court (screenshot) = 1920x1080 (no AA
Ridge Racer 7 (demo) = 1920x1080 (no AA)
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel = 1280x720 when sub-HD output selected, 1920x1080 for any HD output (no AA)
Virtua Tennis 3 = 1920x1080 (2x AA)
World Series Of Poker 2008 = 1920x1080 (2xAA)
there's probably a few more for the 360 - BUT, IMO resolution isn't the be all and end all of visuals, take the uncharted series, it isn't 1080p, but it's spectacular looking where as Sacred 2 looks like crap.
If Kinect wasn't the run away success it was, then yeah, I would have expected some announcement this or next e3 for the 360, but it looks like the Wii 2 will probably be announced first.
The PS3 will probably have some legs actually, as people get more and more used to the developer tools (as they are now) then we'll see more and more impressive titles graphically.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
Yeah, and you can unplug it, put it in your bag, play it on the train, surf the web, check your email, edit your movie ...bit more than a $400 controller
you make a good point, but to really excel at gaming, you can't have a jack of all trades device - look at the PSP for instance- great wee machine, but it was far too spread, functionality wise to be a great success. For this device to appeal to the core gamer it needs to be designed specifically for core gaming, as it is the now (and there's nothing wrong with it this way) it's for casual gamers or 'pick up for 5 mins' kinda games
kobyh15
Apr 2, 09:39 PM
Just saw it on tv. Fantastic.
Gatesbasher
Mar 24, 02:42 PM
All of what you said! Especially the part quoted -and the true nut of it that I took the liberty of bolding. The "dumbing down" of our ears continues apace.
And I forgot to mention things like what (even "HD") radio stations are doing to the signal - e.g., compressing nearly all popular music to a 20 db maximum dynamic range, and in some cases even speeding up the play (while "correcting" for frequency), allowing a better fit with their commercial breaks.
I wasn't aware of that. I suppose in a car, for example, where there's a high noise floor, reducing the dynamic range might be a good idea—but that should be a knob on your unit, not theirs!
Edit: The frequency thing kind of reminds me of the old days, when the electric utilities used to bitch and moan that: "We're not selling a timekeeping service!" Even so, while there might not be exactly 60 cycles in every second all day, they'd speed up or slow down a little bit towards midnight to make sure there was exactly 5,184,000 cycles in a day. If your TV picture started rolling late at night, that was probably why!
And I forgot to mention things like what (even "HD") radio stations are doing to the signal - e.g., compressing nearly all popular music to a 20 db maximum dynamic range, and in some cases even speeding up the play (while "correcting" for frequency), allowing a better fit with their commercial breaks.
I wasn't aware of that. I suppose in a car, for example, where there's a high noise floor, reducing the dynamic range might be a good idea—but that should be a knob on your unit, not theirs!
Edit: The frequency thing kind of reminds me of the old days, when the electric utilities used to bitch and moan that: "We're not selling a timekeeping service!" Even so, while there might not be exactly 60 cycles in every second all day, they'd speed up or slow down a little bit towards midnight to make sure there was exactly 5,184,000 cycles in a day. If your TV picture started rolling late at night, that was probably why!
Gatesbasher
Mar 23, 10:58 AM
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the blind. The Classic is the only iPod (other than the tiny Shuffle) that would be of any use to them. The 128,000 bps that's suicide-inducing for music is (sort of) OK for voice, and 220 GB would hold a LOT of Books on "Tape"�Hell, record your lectures too and you could carry a college education in your pocket! I expect quite a negative reaction from handicapped activists if they discontinue the iPod Classic.
RebootD
Apr 12, 09:59 PM
I hope they don't consider this a all new program and not offer upgrades.
But then again it might be offered for cheap on the App Store anyway.
It will be interesting if they sell it stand alone and drop motion/livetype etc.
But then again it might be offered for cheap on the App Store anyway.
It will be interesting if they sell it stand alone and drop motion/livetype etc.
HecubusPro
Sep 6, 06:57 PM
Don't be so sure. The iTunes 6 audio DRM has only just been broken after almost 11 months of fervent effort, and as far as I know the video DRM has yet to be broken.
Just in time for iTunes 7. :p.
The current DRMed files are useless when backed up to a DVD unless you have the correct iTMS username/password.
B
Oh, I'm not sure. That's why I always say "I think" instead of "I'm sure." :)
I just think (see ;) ) that a DL rental program woudn't be that popular because most people still don't use broadband. Unless they can really compress a movie down enough so that it's enticing to people who don't use broadband, while maintaining a certain degree of quality, a rental system from Apple's point of view, IMO, would not be worth attempting.
Conversely, I could see them offering different quality versions for those broadbandless people similar to different quality versions of trailers, so who knows. I'm just anxious to see what they'll be offering on the 12th. It's very exciting.
Just in time for iTunes 7. :p.
The current DRMed files are useless when backed up to a DVD unless you have the correct iTMS username/password.
B
Oh, I'm not sure. That's why I always say "I think" instead of "I'm sure." :)
I just think (see ;) ) that a DL rental program woudn't be that popular because most people still don't use broadband. Unless they can really compress a movie down enough so that it's enticing to people who don't use broadband, while maintaining a certain degree of quality, a rental system from Apple's point of view, IMO, would not be worth attempting.
Conversely, I could see them offering different quality versions for those broadbandless people similar to different quality versions of trailers, so who knows. I'm just anxious to see what they'll be offering on the 12th. It's very exciting.
Cosmo M3
Nov 27, 07:40 AM
It was my annual Black Friday "Buy a ton of video games" day today. Most of them on sale quite a lot, so it worked out nicely. I got 6 really awesome games for just over $100....
Fallout: New Vegas - $35
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit - $30
Need For Speed: Shift - $10
Plants vs Zombies - $15
Pac Man: CE-DX - $10
'Splosion Man - $2 :eek:
http://imgur.com/S5am1.jpg http://imgur.com/SPJU3.jpg http://imgur.com/FTmDy.jpg
http://imgur.com/67VbI.jpg http://imgur.com/9eJ7v.jpg http://imgur.com/i7KPZ.jpg
SHIFT was a terrible game.
Fallout: New Vegas - $35
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit - $30
Need For Speed: Shift - $10
Plants vs Zombies - $15
Pac Man: CE-DX - $10
'Splosion Man - $2 :eek:
http://imgur.com/S5am1.jpg http://imgur.com/SPJU3.jpg http://imgur.com/FTmDy.jpg
http://imgur.com/67VbI.jpg http://imgur.com/9eJ7v.jpg http://imgur.com/i7KPZ.jpg
SHIFT was a terrible game.
Krizoitz
Mar 21, 08:13 AM
and since Apple is missing the market so bad its sales have sunk to the lowest % in its history. there will come a point that it wont matter how much money is in their bank because no one will be buying the stuff. Look at iJon even he uses a PC for gaming. most people dont have a pc and a Mac so what do they buy? a PC.
It doesn't matter if they sell to a market where the won't be able to make money and will likely lose money. Apple isn't a commodity PC dealer like Dell, they dont' sell in quantity, they sellin quality. As for gaming, sorry gamers make up a small percentage of the market, and since most games are PC first/PC only it doesn't make sense for them to buy a Mac anyway. Is it getting better? Yes and maybe that will change someday, but that doesn't mean squat right now. I think Apple is doing a fine job. What frustrates me is no matter how good they do for some people its never enough, they seem to want Apple to sell a 9Ghz Quad proccesor G6 with a terabyte of ram and a 200 petabyte harddrive with dual 30" plasma screens for $299. Give me a break.
It doesn't matter if they sell to a market where the won't be able to make money and will likely lose money. Apple isn't a commodity PC dealer like Dell, they dont' sell in quantity, they sellin quality. As for gaming, sorry gamers make up a small percentage of the market, and since most games are PC first/PC only it doesn't make sense for them to buy a Mac anyway. Is it getting better? Yes and maybe that will change someday, but that doesn't mean squat right now. I think Apple is doing a fine job. What frustrates me is no matter how good they do for some people its never enough, they seem to want Apple to sell a 9Ghz Quad proccesor G6 with a terabyte of ram and a 200 petabyte harddrive with dual 30" plasma screens for $299. Give me a break.
Canerican
Jan 11, 09:07 PM
Everything that Mac makes sells like hotcakes... MS should stick to their defective OS if they want to make their stakeholders happy.
Mr Ikasu
Jan 7, 06:45 PM
Lunja, people actually use media buttons? :eek: I wonder, do other people here want this? I specifically don't want it. I like the way my wireless kb looks now.
Definitely agreed here. My Apple KB is great in that it doesn't take up much space compared to the bloated offering from the likes of Mircrosoft and Logitech.
Ah well not long to wait now. What I like is that unlike previous years there is very little indication of what we will actually see. Loads of rumours but nothing very solid apart from iTV which is a given.
Definitely agreed here. My Apple KB is great in that it doesn't take up much space compared to the bloated offering from the likes of Mircrosoft and Logitech.
Ah well not long to wait now. What I like is that unlike previous years there is very little indication of what we will actually see. Loads of rumours but nothing very solid apart from iTV which is a given.
~Shard~
Sep 6, 08:48 PM
PS - please stop whinging about your MB & MBP in the iMac thread, I'm sure there's more appropriate venues...
Please stop whinging about iMacs, AIOs, minitowers, etc. in the Mac mini thread. :p :cool:
Please stop whinging about iMacs, AIOs, minitowers, etc. in the Mac mini thread. :p :cool:
ssspinball
Sep 14, 10:17 AM
I'm a satisfied iPhone 4 owner, but what CR is doing is perfectly reasonable/logical. Kudos to them.
Steven1621
Mar 18, 11:09 PM
i question the need for this since apple did make quite a bit of money last quarter.
atticus18244fsa
Mar 22, 10:52 PM
lots, Bluetooth, WIFI (for internet radio), design..
Here's my classic mockup
http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=277273&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1300734199
I would buy this if it was 220gb. Great mockup
Here's my classic mockup
http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=277273&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1300734199
I would buy this if it was 220gb. Great mockup
Steve121178
Apr 20, 08:49 AM
I would also hope for the 3.4ghz i7-2600 sandy bridge processor.
I have the new i5-2500k in my new PC and this CPU will be suitable for the vast majority of people (obviously Apple would offer the i5-2500 rather than the 'k' varient). I think the premium charged for the minor performance gain for the i7-2600 simply isn't worth it.
I did a lot of research before settling on the i5-2500k and I'm very happy with the performance.
Worth reading:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/processors/363982/intel-sandy-bridge
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/processors/intel-core-i5-2500k-917570/review
http://i.imgur.com/RMdSq.png
I have the new i5-2500k in my new PC and this CPU will be suitable for the vast majority of people (obviously Apple would offer the i5-2500 rather than the 'k' varient). I think the premium charged for the minor performance gain for the i7-2600 simply isn't worth it.
I did a lot of research before settling on the i5-2500k and I'm very happy with the performance.
Worth reading:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/processors/363982/intel-sandy-bridge
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/processors/intel-core-i5-2500k-917570/review
http://i.imgur.com/RMdSq.png
archer75
Apr 19, 11:27 AM
6950 6950 6950 6950 6950 6950 6950 6950 6950!
For heavens sake give it a nice GPU!!!!!!!!:eek:
Current imac with the 5750 is technically a 5850m. A 6850m is a slight downgrade from the 5850m. The 6950m is only a slight upgrade from the current imac.
Let's hope for a 6970m. Temps and power requirements are similar between the two but the performance gain is decent. It's the best we can hope for. And given the higher resolution of the 27" I would say it needs it.
I think it's safe to say they will get sandy bridge and thunderbolt but what I would also like to see is better speakers.
For heavens sake give it a nice GPU!!!!!!!!:eek:
Current imac with the 5750 is technically a 5850m. A 6850m is a slight downgrade from the 5850m. The 6950m is only a slight upgrade from the current imac.
Let's hope for a 6970m. Temps and power requirements are similar between the two but the performance gain is decent. It's the best we can hope for. And given the higher resolution of the 27" I would say it needs it.
I think it's safe to say they will get sandy bridge and thunderbolt but what I would also like to see is better speakers.
TelegraphRoad
Sep 14, 09:24 PM
I subscribed to their magazine for about 10 years. I bought into the whole thing ... raffle, website subscription, donations ... the whole bit. I finally got smart after being burned on riding mowers, washing machines, hotels, hand-held vacuums and most other crap. I religiously purchased their recommendations, except for cars since I worked in that business and they were too biased against some brands. I found their recommendations so unreliable, that I started shopping from the bottom of this. Anyway, I can't recommend them and perhaps we can get publicity for making that statement.
celticpride678
Apr 3, 01:03 AM
Ooh. Thought you were talking about the installs for both previews. I installed developer preview 2 over the first, so I didn't realize. It still doesn't sound very accurate to me.
Forgive me -- this is what I'm understanding from you:
DP1 can install onto a blank disk/partition.
DP2 can't install on a blank disk/partition. Needs to install as an update on top of DP 1 or Snow Leopard. (?)
That's right (at least from my personal experience). Lion currently uses system files and services from Snow Leopard to reduce its size.
Forgive me -- this is what I'm understanding from you:
DP1 can install onto a blank disk/partition.
DP2 can't install on a blank disk/partition. Needs to install as an update on top of DP 1 or Snow Leopard. (?)
That's right (at least from my personal experience). Lion currently uses system files and services from Snow Leopard to reduce its size.
relimw
Sep 6, 08:51 AM
Still cant see any sign of MBPs.*weeps*
Maybe next tuesday...
Dude, the MBP was updated in late April of this year, why would you think it'll be updated four and a half months later??
Maybe next tuesday...
Dude, the MBP was updated in late April of this year, why would you think it'll be updated four and a half months later??
powerbook911
Sep 6, 09:04 PM
I just don't see the point in buying a crappy low resolution movie. I don't see who wants to watch a movie on a handheld either.
I think a movie store should be selling movies to watch on your computer and living room television. They need at least 480p resolution, for that.
I think a movie store should be selling movies to watch on your computer and living room television. They need at least 480p resolution, for that.
rjohnstone
Apr 26, 01:31 PM
It mostly has to do with if it is confusing. Apple has a trade mark on "App Store" to sell applications through an online store. Amazon is using "Appstore" and is selling applications through an online store. Apple has a pretty strong case that Amazon is infringing on their trademark. If Amazon used "Appstore" for a chain of tire rotating store, Amazon could probably be in the clear. As it stands they are too close in intended use. Microsofts strategy is to invalidate the trademark. It's up to the USPTO to decide on the trademark.
Apple doesn't have the trademark yet.
It's still in the opposition phase. ;)
Apple doesn't have the trademark yet.
It's still in the opposition phase. ;)
Stetrain
Apr 2, 08:18 PM
While you may think your sarcasm-laden post witty, the fact remains that you have not stated any kind of revelation.
They do not care about ONE consumer...but they certainly are going to care about the thousands of units that are being returned and exchanged in hopes of finding one good unit.
I would tell you to review the iPad forum but I have a feeling that message would be lost on somebody so insistent on keeping their head in the sand.
I like how you continue to respond to this one person and ignore the posts about actual personal experience with iPads and those who own them, and those who have seen plenty of others' iPads, all without defects.
They do not care about ONE consumer...but they certainly are going to care about the thousands of units that are being returned and exchanged in hopes of finding one good unit.
I would tell you to review the iPad forum but I have a feeling that message would be lost on somebody so insistent on keeping their head in the sand.
I like how you continue to respond to this one person and ignore the posts about actual personal experience with iPads and those who own them, and those who have seen plenty of others' iPads, all without defects.
