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Why digital copies are available only on iTunes?

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Makeesh
Posts: 9 - Karma: 23
New ski videos are about to come out and most of them are going to be available on DVD/Bluray and iTunes!

I wonder why it's not possible to buy them through another service and without DRM preferably.

So far I managed to download the last 4bi9 movie (All Damn Day) through a service called gumroad.com, The Education of Style from inspiredmedia.tv, The Spotlight Project back in the days, and maybe a couple more... but that's not much compared to the amount of videos released every year.
I also know Level 1 has put its latest videos on Vimeo.

I don't use any of Apple's stuff and I don't think being the only one, so why the vast majority of production companies sell their films only on iTunes?

Cheers
Sep 22 2014 6:07PM
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eheath
Posts: 61603 - Karma: 123,069
Ski companies use iTunes because their distribution is huge, its pretty rare for someone to not have iTunes. It's also very reliable and timeless as well, but they take such a huge cut...
Sep 22 2014 6:08PM
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Makeesh
Posts: 9 - Karma: 23
That's a good point, but I think iTunes is very restrictive to play a movie on a TV for instance... unless you own an apple tv.
Personally, I play movies from a hard drive that is connected to my tv.
I also use an android tablet and, as far as I know, it's impossible to get something from itunes on android.

I just wished they use a second platform for the people who are not in the apple's world.
Sep 23 2014 11:52AM
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ski0
Posts: 2321 - Karma: 5,370
iTunes generally takes a 30% cut. I wish there was a better competitor but no one really has the same user experience and ubiquity that iTunes has.
Sep 23 2014 12:09PM
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Dig.
Posts: 59 - Karma: 223
You can watch iTunes movies with an Android device, but you have to crack the movies with some special Software first.



Question: has anyone every bought a movie on vimeo? Does it work well and can you download it or just watch online?
Sep 23 2014 12:17PM
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homestar
Posts: 2124 - Karma: 4,197
The referenced post has been removed.


I'm pretty sure the prices are pretty calculated. They want to hit the sweet spot between price and quantity of sales.

People talk about using other download clients a lot but I don't think it would really help that much. 4bi9 did it with Keep Looking because it was a smaller project and then went back to iTunes for Their latest two movies. I think they would have kept doing their own downloads if it was working better.
Sep 23 2014 12:56PM
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Austin.ski
Posts: 1034 - Karma: 2,582
MakeeshThat's a good point, but I think iTunes is very restrictive to play a movie on a TV for instance... unless you own an apple tv.
Personally, I play movies from a hard drive that is connected to my tv.
I also use an android tablet and, as far as I know, it's impossible to get something from itunes on android.

I just wished they use a second platform for the people who are not in the apple's world.


have you never heard of a hdmi cord?
Sep 23 2014 12:58PM
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steez_louise
Posts: 112 - Karma: 118
homestarI'm pretty sure the prices are pretty calculated. They want to hit the sweet spot between price and quantity of sales.

People talk about using other download clients a lot but I don't think it would really help that much. 4bi9 did it with Keep Looking because it was a smaller project and then went back to iTunes for Their latest two movies. I think they would have kept doing their own downloads if it was working better.



I wish they would do this again. People got freaked out about giving credit card info to a site they had never heard about, so I'm guessing that's why they went back to iTunes. But it was pretty nice because:

A) I got the movie for a lower price than iTunes
B) I actually own the movie, not just renting the rights from iTunes
Sep 23 2014 1:05PM
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Vinci
Posts: 701 - Karma: 1,472
Unless they drop that DRM shit I'm not going to pay a fucking dime on ITunes... and no, I'm not going through all that trouble to CRACK a god damn movie I actually bought.

Fuck apple.
Sep 23 2014 1:14PM
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Makeesh
Posts: 9 - Karma: 23
I think they should use another download client beside itunes. They can stick with itunes for those who likes it.

Buying a movie and then going through the hassle of cracking it doesn't make any sense.

Like I said, I downloaded the latest 4bi9 movie through gumroad for $9. I got the mp4 file without DRM, I can watch it wherever I want. 4bi9 got there money, everyone is happy!
If they didn't sell enough this way, maybe they should promote it more... I found the download link by chance browsing their website.

It cannot be too much work to upload one file and set up a payment account on a service like gumroad.
Sep 23 2014 7:57PM
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homestar
Posts: 2124 - Karma: 4,197
The referenced post has been removed.


There is more to it though. If one company decided to raise their price above the standard 10-15 dollars, they would make far less sales because all the other ski movies on iTunes would be cheaper. Even if the industry agreed to simultaneously raise their iTunes prices, they would still be competing against the other action sports documentaries (which almost all cost between 10 and 15 dollars.)

MakeeshI think they should use another download client beside itunes. They can stick with itunes for those who likes it.

Buying a movie and then going through the hassle of cracking it doesn't make any sense.

Like I said, I downloaded the latest 4bi9 movie through gumroad for $9. I got the mp4 file without DRM, I can watch it wherever I want. 4bi9 got there money, everyone is happy!
If they didn't sell enough this way, maybe they should promote it more... I found the download link by chance browsing their website.

It cannot be too much work to upload one file and set up a payment account on a service like gumroad.


Ski movie companies are actually paying for the DRM. iTunes uses the security of the DRM as a selling point to the companies that put their media up there. As mentioned, iTunes is a platform that almost everyone has. Using it helps prevent situations where the technologically illiterate don't have the right codec/media player to handle different files.

Production companies have put a lot of thought into this and they have reasons for not making the change. I think it will happen eventually but some of these problems would need to be resolved.
Sep 23 2014 9:46PM
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Makeesh
Posts: 9 - Karma: 23
homestarSki movie companies are actually paying for the DRM. iTunes uses the security of the DRM as a selling point to the companies that put their media up there. As mentioned, iTunes is a platform that almost everyone has. Using it helps prevent situations where the technologically illiterate don't have the right codec/media player to handle different files.


DRM is a stupid thing, it's just annoying and provides a very limited security. That's why it has been dropped on music files.
Moreover, there is no reason to use itunes if you don't own an iphone, ipod or ipad.
And nowadays, I think codecs are not an issue anymore. Most media players can handle all sort of video files.
Sep 24 2014 5:31PM
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T.L.
Posts: 4729 - Karma: 3,008
MakeeshThat's a good point, but I think iTunes is very restrictive to play a movie on a TV for instance... unless you own an apple tv.
Personally, I play movies from a hard drive that is connected to my tv.
I also use an android tablet and, as far as I know, it's impossible to get something from itunes on android.

I just wished they use a second platform for the people who are not in the apple's world.


Virtually every smart TV in the civilized world has Amazon Instant already installed on it. There's actually quite a few movies for free on Prime.
Sep 24 2014 5:56PM
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homestar
Posts: 2124 - Karma: 4,197
MakeeshDRM is a stupid thing, it's just annoying and provides a very limited security. That's why it has been dropped on music files.
Moreover, there is no reason to use itunes if you don't own an iphone, ipod or ipad.
And nowadays, I think codecs are not an issue anymore. Most media players can handle all sort of video files.


DRM: stupid to you, selling point to many content creators (not all.)

iTunes is more common than any alternative. Codecs and file formats can be an issue especially between quicktime and windows media player which are the two most common players outside of iTunes itself.

My main point in all of this is that content creators have thought through this extensively and they are still using iTunes for these and other reasons. I'm sure they would jump on a good alternative the minute it became available but it's not here yet.
Sep 25 2014 12:38AM
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Makeesh
Posts: 9 - Karma: 23
Homestar, are you close to the ski movie companies?
Sep 25 2014 7:26AM
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homestar
Posts: 2124 - Karma: 4,197
MakeeshHomestar, are you close to the ski movie companies?


No, but I follow the ski film industry very closely.
Sep 25 2014 2:28PM
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