First it was PlaysForSure, followed closely by the Zune. Now, Microsoft has just opened a video store within its Xbox Live service that features movie rentals and TV downloads. The interesting bit is that they are offering some of these videos in high-def. But the problem is that with the Xbox 360’s mini 20GB 13GB hard drive(real space reserved for user), you can’t keep much videos stored in there. And what’s worse, you can’t even sync them with a Zune — those videos will be stuck on that 360.
Video Rentals. The price of $3 seems good for standard-def movies that have been out for a while, and $4 for new ones. As for the high-def ones, it’s $4.50 and $6, respectively. But it’s hard to believe that these movie rentals will succeed, especially considering once you hit play, you have 24 hours to watch them. Their file sizes are on an average of one point something gigs for standard-def, and up to six point something for high-def. That’s a lot to download for a movie you’re going to watch for only 24 hours. At least it lets you start watching the movie when streaming is active.
At least on iTunes you get to keep the 1+ gig movie on a roomier hard drive and get to see it also on a video iPod (and perhaps a future widescreen iPod and iTV).
TV Shows. The pricing is on par with iTunes’ $2 purchase for a standard-def episode — but the high-def ones come at $3. That’s not much of a difference, so here the guess is that the good TV shows will benefit from an extra buck they’ve taken out of our pockets. Once again, the real problem is that we’re stuck with the tiny hard drive and the fact that these will only work with the registered Xbox. The download sizes are also comparable with iTunes’, except for the high-def ones that go at around two gigs for a 40-minute episode.
The TV catalog is also similar to iTunes’ except that many will notice that the popular Family Guy has found a home right here. Perhaps Family Guy will also find a home at iTunes soon? And I’m sure trekkies will apreciate that Star Trek is also there.
Zune. The fact that this service is not compatible with Microsoft’s newly released Zune is unacceptable. How can they push us content for the Zune via the computer, but not via the Xbox 360? Many are not happy with this. And because they’ve decided not to make the Zune compatible with the Macs for the moment, they only give their backs up on potential customers.
The HD-DVD Factor. With the recent release of the 360’s HD-DVD drive, perhaps that is the real reason why Microsoft won’t sell high-def movies or a bigger hard drive for the 360. But once the movie fans have picked this drive, what’s to stop them from not downloading the huge file size for a movie and instead subscribing to an Internet movie rental service, like NetFlix?
Stuck. Just as the 360 may become the new home for your home theater needs, that’s it — all content bought for it will stay there. No Zune, PC, or anything else. In comparison, Apple is pushing iTunes content for viewing in various computers, iPods, and the up-coming iTV (which will more likely find a home at your home theater than a 360). The key here is that your media does not become stuck in a single place — that you can take it anywhere. A good DRM should do that — or even better, no DRM?
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[tags]Microsoft,Zune,Xbox 360,Apple,iTunes,iPod[/tags]
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