[adam_tj]

My iDea-

Jan 05'-Apple renames iTunes to 'iMedia' and shows off it's new movie-selling capability. Movies sell for 4.99 apiece. The iPod Photo gets a firmware update to allow movie playing.
Other MWSF Announcements-
iPod Flash
iPhone
iMac mini
iWork
iLife 05'
G5 3gHz
Mar 05'-Tiger introduced

June 05'-eMac Dropped, Powerbooks go G5, iPod gets Bluetooth

Oct.05'-G5 iBooks, 1 barebones iBook left G4 as the notebook version of iMac Mini

Dec. 05'-TabletMac introduced, iPod gets AirPort
---------------
Jan 06'-G5 @ 4gHz, AirFire connectivity put into Powerbook and G5(wireless firewire), iLife 06', and more.....

[BlueRabbit]

Originally Posted by adam_tj My iDea- Jan 05'-Apple renames iTunes to 'iMedia' and shows off it's new movie-selling capability. Movies sell for 4.99 apiece. The iPod Photo gets a firmware update to allow movie playing. Other MWSF Announcements- iPod Flash iPhone iMac mini iWork iLife 05' G5 3gHz Mar 05'-Tiger introduced June 05'-eMac Dropped, Powerbooks go G5, iPod gets Bluetooth Oct.05'-G5 iBooks, 1 barebones iBook left G4 as the notebook version of iMac Mini Dec. 05'-TabletMac introduced, iPod gets AirPort --------------- Jan 06'-G5 @ 4gHz, AirFire connectivity put into Powerbook and G5(wireless firewire), iLife 06', and more.....

iTunes is definitely not going to be renamed. Apple's put a lot of effort into branding it along with the iPod (even down to the iPod+iTunes at the end of every silhouette ad), so renaming it would be pretty pointless. If they do make a movie store, I think it'll be tied into Quicktime somehow – Quickrime Movie Store maybe?

Also, I highly doubt that the iBook is going to move to G5 so soon, especially with all of the problems they're having fitting it in there. Remember how long it took for the iBook to get to a G4 after the PB? It was about 3 1/2 years. And from the original PB G3 to the iBook, it was about 2 years.

[adam_tj]

Both are good points. I had forgotten about iPod+iTunes. okay, then build it into iMovie, Apple

[adam_tj]

1)Integrate iMovie into iDVD.
2)Drop DVD Player
3)Make iMovie into a movie version of iTunes that plays DVD's, buys DVD's off the iMovie Film Store, and exports them to iPod.

Prices
--------------------
$4.99 for DVD
free DVD burning
free iPod export

[Luca]

Just $4.99 for a DVD? That seems like too low a price. Oh, I'd love it, but... yeah.

Besides, movies are different from music in that once you've seen a movie, you probably won't be interested in seeing it again. With music, it's nice to own a song because you will play it over and over again, but I'd prefer to rent a movie rather than buying it. Then again, the times when I'm within walking distance of a movie rental place and when I'm itching to watch a movie almost never coincide within the rental period. Hell, I rented both volumes of Kill Bill something like four months ago and copied them to DVDs, and I still haven't watched them.

[defaultmike]

don't forget one thing though. iTunes is an app to listen to music. iMovie isn't an app made for watching movies, it's made for creating movies. Thus, it wouldn't make any sense at all for a movie store to be built into iMovie...

[FFL]

Not Bad, Adam... but I think what you need to do is to try to draw closer parallels between the way iTunes relates to the "traditional" music business, and the way iMovie would relate to the "traditional" movie business.

1)Integrate iMovie into iDVD.

Sounds good.

2)Drop DVD Player

"Integrate DVD Player into iMovie" sounds better. People are still going to want to play their own DVDs, especially on portables. Remember, iTunes plays CDs, as well as purchased or imported music.

3)Make iMovie into a movie version of iTunes that plays DVD's, buys DVD's off the iMovie Film Store, and exports them to iPod.

Now you're talking! And the iPod dock, of course, has S-Video (adaptable to RCA Video) out, and of course L & R Audio Out. Pop a dock on top of your TV, plug in 3 cables, and you're all set.

I think the big picture you are missing here is that the movie business, as Luca says, is more of a rental business traditionally. Rentals still overshadow sales of DVDs. You don't see any retail rental of CDs, just sales. So the two markets are very different.

$4.99 for DVD

That's way too far below the going rate for a DVD on the "traditional" retail market. See iTunes' $9.99 per CD, vs. the average retail for a CD (a few bucks more). It sounds just about right, though, for, say, a one-week "rental" using FairPlay authorization.

free DVD burning

Not gonna happen. You're trying to hard to make iMovie just like iTunes, and forgetting that people don't buy movies, they rent them. Hollywood (which of course includes Pixar ) simply won't stand for DVD burning.

free iPod export

Sure. But it only will hold a couple of movies at a time, and "expired" movies will get deleted the next time you sync. It would be kinda cool if you could keep them on your computer somewhere though, and maybe re-authorize an already-downloaded movie for, say, $1.49 or something.

[Luca]

I still think that integrating DVD Player into iMovie would be like integrating GarageBand into iTunes. Makes no sense at all.

[BuonRotto]

I think the worst thing you could do is to mash all of this stuff into one another. So long as the distinction is clear to users, there's no problem with having discrete apps with discrete purposes. People i think worry too much about having too many apps when the issue IMO is having too many uses for one app. The Apple approach is to have an arsenal of apps that do different things and talk to one another well rather than have big multifaceted apps that are insular and create their own ecosystem.

The iTunes for video thing is a good idea, but there is no current app it could tuck into neatly. It is a catalog, not a creation tool. So it could be its own app. There are even some third party version of this thing but without the store part. Remember, QT is the backbone of these media apps, the front end QT Player is becoming incidental. Anyway, I still think it's too soon for video downloading online with consumer bandwidth being what it is and cable and telecom companies not being really ready for such uses of their bandwidth yet.

[defaultmike]

Originally Posted by Luca I still think that integrating DVD Player into iMovie would be like integrating GarageBand into iTunes. Makes no sense at all.

agreed, I think if there were to eventually be a movie store, we'd see a new app, integrated with DVD player. Maybe the rumored iTheatre app. I also don't think iDVD would be integrated with iMovie. anyone who's actually used those two can understand why that is.

[psmith2.0]

Why's everyone so horny for some huge, rolled-together mega app?

iMovieMakerWatcherBuyer



I like how Apple has several apps dedicated to a particular thing, BUT that they all work really nice with each other. I prefer that over some huge, Swiss army knife app that's feels like everything is crammed in and cluttered.

But that's just me. I realize that's subjective.

[onlyafterdark]

Your weird pscates, who would want that?

[Robo]

I think Apple will eventually get into the movie downloading business. When they do, that's when we'll see the "iPod video" - certainly not before - and possibly a set-top-box TiVo/download player as well.

The app? Certainly not iMovie or iDVD - iTunes be a better fit, even with it's strictly musical name. I think we'd see a new app though. I'll call it "iFlicks" and hope Apple has some better name ideas then I do.

I'm betting that you will be able to rent movies through "iFMS" - there'd likely be a subscription service, a la Netflix, as well. Price for owning the movie? I'd like to see $9.99. It's on the low end but some of the people buying the movie would be buying it for the iPod video - so it should be priced so it could be an "in addition to DVD" thing if it needed to be. I have no clue for rental pricing. $4.99 seems high to me but I've heard the rental places around where I live are all really cheap. In any case, you should get a good amount of time to watch it...none of that "24 hours" crap.

When will we see this all take place? This Macworld seems way too soon but Apple could surprise us all (I mean, it is Apple...). Extremely unlikely, though. I'd doubt we'll see it before the Generation 5 iPod (which I'm betting will have a color screen standard), because a lineup of iPod, iPod mini, iPod photo, iPod video, and the unlikely iPod micro is rather convoluted. By the time the Gen 5 iPod "replaces" the iPod photo, the iPod video would be more practically price-able, too.

But holy shit I ramble.

Macworld, hurry the hell up.

[adam_tj]

FFL, those are some good points. Yeah, maybe a 2 week rental for 4.99, re-rental for 1.49, and no burning. If you want to burn, buy the movie for 12.99.

Also, to clear things up, I meant integrate iMovie into iDVD. iMovie would be a completely different app with no movie-editing capabilities. It would be just capable of watching movies from DVD or iMovie Film Store. I agree, integrating DVD Player into the current iMovie would be insane.

[IonYz]

Originally Posted by Roboman The app? Certainly not iMovie or iDVD - iTunes be a better fit, even with it's strictly musical name. I think we'd see a new app though. I'll call it "iFlicks" and hope Apple has some better name ideas then I do.

iTunes like-app? Netflix? How about trying out iFlicks.

[IonYz]

Originally Posted by FFL That's [$4.99] way too far below the going rate for a DVD on the "traditional" retail market. See iTunes' $9.99 per CD, vs. the average retail for a CD (a few bucks more).

Right, but picture this.

$9.99 is the iTunes price per CD. A CD is just a collection of songs, each with its own price. But what is a movie but a collection of scenes or chapters (DVD)? How about being able to purchase clips of your favorite movies? Most the editing work is already done because films are split into chapters, and television split into episodes?

"Most this film is horrible but this fight scene is worth the price of admission."
"This episode right here is the most provocative of this season."

Why buy the whole film, or season when you only want a portion? Sure it will be a legal nightmare but I imagine the iTMS was too.

Call me crazy.

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Why's everyone so horny for some huge, rolled-together mega app? iMovieMakerWatcherBuyer ...I prefer that over some huge, Swiss army knife app that's feels like everything is crammed in and cluttered.

My worst nightmare: "InPhotoStratorLive"

[FFL]

Yeah, a new app makes more sense than mucking up iMovie. It would replace DVD Player, much like iTunes has effectively replaced CD Player.

[psmith2.0]

Yes. Just some neat new app (iFlick, iCinema, iPlex, etc.). BUT...that is a long way off, I'll bet (the whole "download movies online"). I don't think the technology is there. I don't think you could as easily corral the movie execs on board, moves aren't like music (we've been through this), the bandwidth isn't there yet, etc.

In short, it just seems that nothing is realistically in place for there to be some sort of iTMS for movies. Not right now.

Frankly, I don't even see it being that pushed for or desired. It's a completely different experience...three minutes of passive involvement vs. two hours of active. You don't have to make time in your day for music...it's just there, and can be enjoyed on many levels.

Movies...most people tend to want to sit down and focus, especially if they're renting it and have to ultimately return it.

You can't compare the two, not by experience, satisfaction, tech, etc. I think we're years from anything like that, I truly do.

[adam_tj]

Why did apple build iDVD and iMovie as separate apps ,anyways? It just slows down the Movie-making process

[Akumulator]

because one is to import and edit movies... the other is to create DVDs with nice animations and stuff.... too different.

[shatteringglass]

Originally Posted by adam_tj Why did apple build iDVD and iMovie as separate apps ,anyways? It just slows down the Movie-making process

DVD menu-building/MPEG-2 encoding and video editing are too different to effectively package into a single-window app. It would be way too confusing, I like them the way they are.