Comments on: HBO Lands on iTunes (with Variable Pricing)

By: Michele Pineda

Michele Pineda — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:55:59 +0000

While I have iTunes myself, the idea of purchasing individual shows doesn’t appeal to me at all. Besides the music downloads (individual songs for me, as I hate buying complete albums-like being able to pick & choose my faves) I do have a few music videos, but really don’t find myself watching them all that much. For videos and series I want to watch, I find Netflix has been the best option for me.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:59:11 +0000

Fine, whatever. I cancelled HBO since there’s nothing on there I really want to watch anymore. If they offer Entourage on iTunes whenever it comes on again, that’ll keep me from renewing. Agree entirely on Showtime–their lineup is much better. All of these movie channels are doomed though as on-demand options bloom. They’re just too expensive for the occasional movie…

By: MHA

MHA — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:39:21 +0000

Not just spontaneity; people want to watch this year’s shows this year. Buying a season means last night’s show lands in iTunes today. That’s a nice feature.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:35:50 +0000

Dave, Thats why the night before the flight you just need to load up with tivo desktop…it has saved me from making that airport impulse purchase many times, well now that I think about it my slingbox has helped too.

I dont like the idea of paying 2.99 for one episode of a show. I think 1.99 is my limit and even then Its pushing it. I have basically stopped doing it. I bought VideoReDo TVSuite, and i now just auto transfer shows in tivo desktop and burn my own dvd’s faster then shows are posted to itunes with no commercals.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:52:44 +0000

For those watching it on the big screen or laptop, buying a DVD set from Amazon or renting via Netflix (as I usually do) makes more sense… especially at this higher rate. (Example: I watched the first season of Dexter on my MacBook while traveling with Netflix discs.) Unless, it’s a spontaneous purchase. Though my spontaneous airport purchases haven’t always finished downloading into iTunes before boarding the plane. And that’s when I often wish I had a Kindle.

By: MHA

MHA — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:39:50 +0000

I don’t think everyone buying TV from iTunes is doing it for handheld viewing. I think there’s lots of Apple TV or desktop/laptop viewing, too. I do know folks who think it’s a better deal to pay $2/episode for a few shows than to pay $40-80/month for cable.

The varied pricing is probably more a “What can we get away with?” situation than anything else. Just like black MacBook pricing. If they won’t lose many sales at $2.99 that they’d have had at $1.99, it’s worth it.

By: Brent

Brent — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:27:36 +0000

Nice to have the option, but my main source for already aired TV content is Netflix…

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:38:06 +0000

“…opens the door for the return of NBC material to iTunes.”

Ain’t gonna happen! That milk is spoiled, and even if you put the spoiled milk back in the refrigerator, it will never get any better! Disclaimer, I use this same “spoiled milk” analogy for the subject of divorce, too