iTunes gripes and MacWorld hype
Since I've started using the iTunes Store, it's become something of an addiction. However, one really irritating non-feature is the lack of any rebate if you purchase a full album or TV season after having bought individual songs or episodes. In many cases, it's been a deterrent to my buying stuff - either I avoid buying the album or season because I refuse to pay twice for the episodes I've already purchased, or I hold off buying an individual item because I might want to buy the whole package eventually.
Late last year, there were some rumors from the usual sites that Apple was going to do something about this. But it would cause tremendous problems with people who have succumbed to this iTunes 'double-dipping' in the past. Also, while I'm sure they could re-jig their systems to handle the calculations, it might be more trouble than it's worth.
Another really dumb iTS move recently was to price the first season of Star Trek : The Original Series at US$57, more or less the price of buying all 29 episodes individually. Virtually every other series on the store is available at a (slight) discount for season passes. More importantly, all three seasons of TOS can be bought for about US$100 altogether on much-higher-quality DVD. The episodes for sale on iTS aren't even the new remastered 'enhanced' versions!
Dumb. Hope Steve mentions something about the first complaint during his Expo keynote next week.
Man...if he does take a leave of absence and/or Apple doesn't announce some kind of 'iPhone' - or a product so surprising that it eclipses that expectation - my AAPL shares might be in for a serious pounding.
Given Apple's aggressive 'first 30 years was only the beginning' pre-MacWorld campaign, they must have something huge up their sleeves. It can't just be the iTV, because they already announced that, and stuff like dual-quadcore (that's eight cores) Macs aren't mainstream-friendly. More movies on iTunes or a new widescreen iPod are also incremental, rather than earth-shattering. Even an instantaneous Leopard release would be no big deal.
What would be earth-shattering?
(1) iPhone. Actually, given the expectations, this would be more of a relief than a sensation. I'm sure Apple can pull of a great design, but it's the distribution/business model that is really going to determine this. Knowing Apple's style, I'd expect them to take a 'disruptor' approach and do an end-run around the traditional distribution channels.
(2) Unexpected iTV features. Things like recording. At the price that Steve mentioned previously, it would seem pretty difficult. As it stands, the iTV is probably just a video Airport Express. However, one thing I can imagine is a new range of HT-friendly displays (already rumoured) that fit with the iTV, with built-in iSights to allow iChatting through the iTV - but that's niche appeal, at best.
(3) Subnotebook-sized MacBooks or MacBook Pros. New notebooks hardly seems earth-shattering, but every 12" PowerBook or iBook user I know is dying to replace their machines with Intel-based equivalents. The 13" iBooks are still too bulky, and also aren't in sexy aluminium. Tablet functionality would be interesting, but not vital. If Apple were to announce 12" subnotebooks, they'd have a huge hit on their hands.
(4) Something else so cool and unexpected that only Apple could've come up with it.
These aren't predictions, they're wishes.
For the sake of my Mac fetish and the AAPL share price, I hope Steve doesn't disappoint, and I certainly hope he isn't taking any leave of absence...
Comments
Still, how would it hurt to have a sane price, just in case there are people who might want to buy the whole season off iTunes? Even taking into account that the average television season was several episodes longer back then (26-29 as opposed to the usual 22-24 nowadays), it's hard to justify the price compared to the DVDs.
By contrast, season 2 of BSG would cost US$26 on iTunes, as compared to a total cost of about US$70 for the season 2.0/2.5 sets on Amazon. That sort of price differential reflects the difference in formats.
Oh well, given the novelty of digital distribution of TV and movies, I guess it'll take time to sort out all these inconsistencies.