iTunes Movie Rental Model

What do you guys think of renting movies on iTunes?

iTunes Movie Rentals

I think it's a great idea. Supposedly Apple will team with Disney and Fox to rent movies on iTunes. It has been said before: people rent movies a lot more than they buy them. I almost feel that's how Apple should have approached movies right at the beginning. Do you guys think this move will spur additional sales of the Apple TV? I would hope so, but I'm a little concerned the average consumer won't feel that compelled to have to buy the Apple TV just because they can rent movies on iTunes. I put myself in that category, but then again I'm not the biggest consumer of movies rentals.

RIAA Reaches New Lows!

Gentlemen, check out the following Washington Post article:

Ripping CD's Illegal

According to the article, in a brief filed by the RIAA in an Arizona case, the RIAA has said it is illegal to simply rip your own personal CD onto your computer. Yeah, you may have bought the CD and have absolutely no intention to distribute the file, but as soon as you rip it so you can put it on your iPod, you've broken the copyright law. I think this is outrageous! What do you guys think? It seems to me the recording industry is digging their own grave.

Apple's heavy hand shuts down ThinkSecret

What do you think about the latest news that Apple has negotiated with the Apple rumor web site ThinkSecret to shut down for good. This is because of repeated leaking of Apple plans for future products and releases. The details of the agreement were not disclosed. But it seems to me that they bought them off. This seems to me that instead of silencing the free press, Apple should police their own employees for leaking the information to begin with. In my opinion, this latest tactic from Apple is not keeping with the good image Apple has built up over the past. A bit disappointing.

Apple's next Generation iPod HiFi?

Gentlemen, check out the link:

Boom Box

It appears that Apple may give the Boom Box concept another shot. Hopefully they'll be a little more realistic about how they describe it. I don't think any audiophile honestly believes one can get audiophile like sound out of any boom box. There is apparently a remote that allows "Front Row" like interaction with the device.

Great Apple ad on NyTimes.com!

Check out the new ad on NYTimes.com that has Mac guy and PC guy. I didn't even know the New York Times would allow this!

nytimes

Apple occupies 9 of 10 top spots on Amazon

As Christmas approaches and folks rush to buy the coolest stuff, the iPod is making a magnificent showing on Amazon. The cool thing is that Amazon reflects a small slice of the outlets where Apple is selling its products. Not only does Apple have the online and retail stores, there are also the big name retail stores that have begun selling Apple products. Thank goodness Apple found a way to work with these guys like Best Buy. No longer is Apple on the sideline in terms of outlets. Let the consumer choose!

Universal's Deal with Imeem

Gentlemen, what do you think of Universals' new attempt to kick Apple out of the music loop?

Imeem

Users of the social networking site Imeem can listen to any song streamed to their PC for free as long as they see paid advertisements as well. Apparently the paid advertisements help Imeem make some cash for themselves as well as Universal. If a user wants to listen to the song on an MP3 player, they need to pay the 99 cents for the track. The article says this could be the perfect compromise for a company like Universal to get the revenue stream they feel they're entitled to. Comments?

Warner Brothers leaning toward Blue Ray?

The following article:

Warner Bros

seems to suggest that Warner may be leaning toward Blue Ray. What amazes me is the last line of the article:

" But Toshiba’s main attraction to Paramount and Dreamworks was its offer of $150 million in incentives."

It is very Microsoftian to pay one's way into a market. I wish it weren't that way. I wish the merits of each format were the sole determiner of who wins. It would be cool if free markets were actually free and based on quality of services and technologies. Gentlemen, am I too idealistic? If someone even has an argument that a payoff of that magnitude could be justified, I would certainly listen.

Mossberg Review of the Kindle

Here is the Wall Street Journal's review of the Kindle:

Kindle Review

Mossberg thinks the Kindle is poorly designed, although it does have some nice features. And to think that Amazon invested 3 years of design for the thing! Let's face it - Apple is just better at designing the software, and the hardware to go with it, for cool and useful electronic devices.

The Kindle

Gentlemen, what do you think of the new Kindle book reader from Amazon? Still kind of expensive at $400, but that's where the iPod got its start, right? There were rumors about a year ago that Apple was developing an easy way to read books with an electronic device. I wonder is that was true?

Apple Shares through the roof!

Apparently Apple shares have gone up big time in anticipation of the iPhone going on sale in China. Boy, you talk about a huge and emerging market. If Apple gets going in China, and if the Chinese realize how good Macs are, then Apple would be poised for even MORE growth!

Memory Lane

I still remember when we got our first online email address with Yahoo - beginning storage: 32 Mb. Then along comes Google with their 1 Gb memory, then 2 Gb and counting! Yahoo just abolished its memory storage limit - that's right, unlimited memory! Our Google address has 4.5 Gb and counting.

I know I complain about the state of the World sometimes, but memory storage these days is pretty darned good!

Turd at the Top!

The Brown 1st generation Zune is at the top of the Amazon Bestseller List at $130 for the 30 Gb player. It is outselling the black 1st generation Zune ($140) and the 2nd generation black Zune (by far more attractive than 1st gen). Are we as Americans so cheap as to buy a turd for an MP3 player just because it is inexpensive?

Leopards Spotted

Apple made a statement with the release of OS X Leopard, already having sold 2 million copies since its release. As a matter of perspective, when Tiger was released, it took 5 weeks to sell that many copies.

The "Nano-Touch"

Gentlemen, Apple is in great standing on the Amazon bestseller list, and I think we all know that is just a small snapshot of all the distribution avenues available to MP3 players. It is a little disturbing to find the Zune break the top 10. The brown Zune is selling for $130 and, for that price, appears to be selling.

I believe Apple can make a huge leap if they introduced a "Nano-Touch" iPod for $200. When it is introduced, they could reduce the price of the current 8Gb nano to $150. The new nano-Touch would have the touch screen that everyone is so enamored with, just without as many other features like WiFi. Any takers?

Fourth Arizona Apple Store

Gentelemen, are you all aware that a 4th Apple Store is having its grand opening tonight? It is the Apple Store at San Tan Village, the new shopping center opening in Gilbert. 4 is my lucky number! Anyone going to get those free Leopard shirts?

Apple does make computers too!

The numbers are in and it has been reported that Apple's market share of the United States personal computer market is now at 8%. For years it was hovering around 2-3% even after waves and waves of marketing blitzes from Apple to grow that market. Remember the "Think Different" campaign, and the "I'm a PC" campaign. It seems the halo effect is truly starting to kick in. Of course they don't sell nearly as many computers as iPods but maybe someday. Then again, isn't the iPhone really just a small computer?

Old Computer Blues

Gents,

As Lo knows, I pulled the trigger on an iPod touch. I was very excited to get it going last night, only to find out that, while USB is backwards compatible, the iPod touch is not! I do not have USB 2.0 on my PC - only 1.1 and Firewire. So, I was unable to link the touch to my PC, and it does not let you do anything without first synching! So, I have a beautiful iPod paperweight at home until I employ a solution! Ugh!!!! It is at this moment that I am very upset with Apple for no longer supporting Firewire. I am looking into a card slot USB 2.0 adaptor now to see if that's a solution I can use. I had not planned on getting a new PC at the moment.

-Le

Newton Again?

Once again it is being speculated that Apple will be bringing back the Newton from the dead. Of course it is more like a new form factor for the iPhone which has more PDA type functions. I don't think they will be going back to trying to recognize people's handwriting perfectly like the original. Not being accurate enough made a laughing stock in the electronics world. But using the touch screen technology would seem like it might be something plausable. But isn't the iPhone itself the new PDA for Apple? With all the new applications, albiet Web2.0, it can have all the functions developers can dream up. Of course this limitation with keeping the phone secure might be the reason for releasing a separate PDA version where developers can create full blown applications. Do you believe this is real?

Link

Leopard ready to Roar!

The word on the web is that Leopard has gone "Gold Master":

Gold Master

How many of you enterprising young men are looking to make the jump? I know I'm jumping in head first!