Apple sells million videos in just 19 days

Apple sells million videos in just 19 days
Despite some people casting doubts over Apple's recent move to introduce videos to its iTunes Music Store, it seems that Steve Jobs has managed to find the winning formula again. Apple announced today that it has sold more than one million video clips via its iTunes store since the introduction of video offerings on 12th of October.

"Selling one million videos in less than 20 days strongly suggests there is a market for legal video downloads," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings, so that customers can enjoy watching more videos on their computers and new iPods."



The achievement is even more impressive considering that the iTunes store has a selection of only appx. 2,000 videos, out of which, most are music videos. Each video costs $1.99 and the service is currently available only to U.S. customers.

Source: Apple's press release

Written by: Petteri Pyyny @ 31 Oct 2005 12:52
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  • 22 comments

  • Clearmoon

    My wife bought 3. Anyone know how to crack the files so you can burn them to DVD and play them on the big TV?

    31.10.2005 12:58 #1

  • Lethal_B

    No, Not yet, it is too soon, but they will break the DRM soon, they always do!

    As far as people flooding towards itunes videos is concerned, no offence, but it is a bit of a ripoff. I checked the other day - £1.89GBP for a music video. All this when you can download a better quality (unrestricted) one and convert it for free. Or even just rent/buy & rip the proper DVD versions with the saved money. If people were well knowledged about what itunes offer in comparison for what they could get, then more would think twice...

    31.10.2005 13:08 #2

  • mal75

    Just download videos from the net for free.

    31.10.2005 13:17 #3

  • Jasper44

    Quote:If people were well knowledged about what itunes offer in comparison for what they could get, then more would think twice...Yea people just jump on whatever Apple throws out there. I don't know why but whatever Apple does with itunes is going to be big.

    31.10.2005 13:34 #4

  • diabolos

    Well, I will give credit where credit is due. I never thought the music industry or tv broadcasting companies would allow thier money makers to be sold for 2 bucks. With that said its not like the video quality is that great. The files are optimized for playback on the video iPods. When you try to play them on a 480i tv of monitor it looks real fuzzy (low-res-ish).

    It looks like the only way to watch them on a TV is to use Quick Time and connect your video card to your tv for now. I suggest using S-Video connection (or better) for analog CRTs and DVI/DVI-HDMI for digital tvs (ie LCD).

    Ced

    31.10.2005 14:23 #5

  • nanu-nanu

    "Selling one million videos in less than 20 days strongly suggests there is a market for legal video downloads,"


    Wrong it shows how lazy and stupid certain people are, WM/RM Recorder will record videos off of yahoo music or any other place on the net.

    Also, I kind doubt these people are dolling out cash for these videos and songs, ask them when they get their bill how much they support paying for videos.

    31.10.2005 14:44 #6

  • ZeroTech

    Quote:Wrong it shows how lazy and stupid certain people are, WM/RM Recorder will record videos off of yahoo music or any other place on the net. Haha. That's one way to look at it.

    31.10.2005 15:32 #7

  • A_Klingon

    <heh-heh> :=)

    You guys got to this thread before I had a chance to blink, and already you've got the whole situation summed up pretty good!

    Yeah, it seems Steve Jobs can do no wrong these days. Everything he touches seems to turn into iGold. The various content industries aren't admitting it of course, but you can bet your bottom Euro they are all positively green with envy & resentment that Jobs is doing what they should have been doing long ago. ("You snooze, you lose")

    I won't be (quite) as harsh as nanu-nanu, but he does have a good point. People are indeed lazy, and too, this whole 'legal-video-download' thing is so new (faddish), that people - whether knowingly or not - will put up with a lot of trashy baggage along with their videos, most notably crappy video resoluton and rampant DRM just to be among the first on their block to get the new stuff.

    Not to mention the $$$ it's going to cost them for these insanely overpriced, overhyped little iPod video devices that break down if you stare at them too hard.

    Lethal_B, don't be too sure that the DRM virus in these videos will be cracked too soon. These days it's not just the filthy DRM the video itself carries that we have to contend with, but our very hardware devices (burners) and OS's (Windows) are increasingly destroying all our chances for any hope of Fair Rights use. Sneaky, slithering DRM is ever-crawling, quite unannounced, into more and more of our PCs.

    But Jobs does forcibly bring to bear the issues that the Video-Content-Providers (movie studios; televison networks) have been pointedly ignoring for years - namely, people not only WANT, but are willing to PAY for video downloads. There is a *lucrative* market for this stuff.

    'Course, after folks have bought their (same) favourite video a half-dozen times because they can hardly do a damn thing with it after they DO download it, they might get a little fed up.

    But if Job's self-serving greediness serves nothing more than to get the Motion Picture industry to smarten up and get with the times, maybe that will be a good thing.

    Related: I think that once Hi-Defintion video becomes more the norm and less the exception, early iVideo downloaders are going to be kicking themselves in the head for buying all these horrible-looking, lo-res, first-generation video clips.

    That's what you get for being impatient, I guess. :=)

    1.11.2005 04:29 #8

  • mystic

    the best part of this story is the fact that Steve jobs first told us about a month ago that the price for Itunes will go up and now they are selling the same song with a video for double the price of that song.... and so many people will flock to download the video... my take on music video is simple buy a vcr and then record the channels mtv or vh1 for 6-8 hours then rewind the tape and push play then write down the ones you want and then burn them to a dvd with a stand alone burner that'll cost anywhere from 65.00 to 120.00 dpending on the name brand then you can watch them on you laptop desktop or even in your dvd player full screen with out paying for them anymore then your paying for cable or satalite now..... why pay Jobs because your lasy ... use your technology and your brain and quit paying for stuff you already bought....same as for your music record your tunes to tape and then import them to a computer and burn it to a cd...

    1.11.2005 07:05 #9

  • unolord

    I still don't get the worth of this service, aside from a cash grab. By paying my cable bill I've already paid for these programs. Now they want me to pay again for the privilege of watching them again on some tiny screen?

    Homey don't play that!

    1.11.2005 07:33 #10

  • Lethal_B

    Quote:my take on music video is simple buy a vcr and then record the channels mtv or vh1 for 6-8 hours then rewind the tape and push play then write down the ones you want and then burn them to a dvd with a stand alone burner that'll cost anywhere from 65.00 to 120.00 dpending on the name brand then you can watch them on you laptop desktop or even in your dvd player full screen with out paying for them anymore then your paying for cable or satalite now....Well we have moved on a little since then. nowadays, people use high quality hard drive/dvd recording devices to import their stuff, but i catch your drift! It is wise but to be honest, as i say before, the people are not so lazy, as much as under-informed. If you sat all the itunes downloaders in one place and demonstrate how they could save money, improve quality, and cut all the strappy bundled restrictions with a few easy steps, i believe wholly that at least half of them would stop using the itunes music and video service.

    A_Klingon
    You make a vey good point about the different ways that DRM can creep into any computer without the realisation of it's user. Things that i never thought possible, let alone probably happening. But once again, can this be avoided? If we were to turn off any types of automatic updates and keep the same burning hardware & software, could we escape the claws of the deadly DRM?

    I wonder.....

    1.11.2005 09:22 #11

  • A_Klingon

    Hi Lethal ! :)

    I doubt very much that we can avoid the mass onslaught of systematic DRM encroachment, mainly because the major implementers of this disease are so sneaky about it. I got suckered too:

    In order to rip several unmarked, secretly-DRM-flagged commercial DVDs, I actually had to go to a local computer shop, and buy two, used (ie, OLD, pre-DRM) DVD-Roms (20 bucks each) to rip the crippled discs.

    My brand-new burner, an LG model - while being a Super burner in-and-of itself, - is programmed to recognize (and refuse) to rip this new breed of flagged (DRM'd) DVD.

    Both of the two older, second-hand, cheap, (pre-DRM) DVD Readers I bought, ripped the the drm'd discs slick as a whistle, simply because they weren't programmed to recognize the stupid new DRM flag.

    At NO time was I told that my new burner would refuse to recognize "certain" dvd discs. That's what I mean by sneaky. So yeah, we're all going to get DRM'ed right up our Wazoos whether we like it or not.

    This is just the beginning. Sad..... very very sad.

    I was going to buy a new Sony discman just last week (in order to check out their newest proprietary Atrac3Plus compression system, until I read at length (in another forum) how deceitfully crippled (copy protected) these files are. You cannot play these files back on anything BUT a Sony-qualified portable. Even though I have the necessary "Sonic Stage" software required to create these Atrac3+ files, I won't install it on my new system, because it contains irreversible DRM installers - which - even if I UNinstall Sonic Stage - is still left on my system.

    MicroSoft's DirectX 9.xx is the main culprit. _Never_ install anything past DirectX 8.1 if you can avoid it.

    Oy! We sorely need the services of EVERY reverse-engineer we can find !!!!!

    1.11.2005 17:31 #12

  • mystic

    Lethal_B what I was doing was pointing out a way around the drm and the way to do that is not to invole a computer if you have the direct x 9.** then you have been taged also if you have your auto updates on they already installed fingerprints on your system... 98 was a great operating system and it was befor the push from the video and music industry. but it lacks in so much of what we have become accustum to doing so what are we to do ....go with a non windows platform and we my have a chance.... as cunsumers we who have bought the software (dvd or cd ) should be able to copy it for our own use not to share but as a back up .. if I fill a ipod (with legal music) thensince i have paid for it then I should be able to down load it to my system and burn a backup of it in case i lose my ipod or it just fries... anyway because I paid for the songs then I should be alowed to recover them or they who I bought it from should replace it and this even includes dvds and scratches that could happen... just my take on allof this....I quit backing up everything if they promised to replace the scratched ones... thats all..

    2.11.2005 05:11 #13

  • c4iscool

    I'll download something from itunes when they get porn! ...but that will never happen. I gives jobs his credit, he found another way to get ppl's money. Jobs is my idol! ha

    2.11.2005 07:05 #14

  • Lethal_B

    Quote:My brand-new burner, an LG model - while being a Super burner in-and-of itself, - is programmed to recognize (and refuse) to rip this new breed of flagged (DRM'd) DVD.

    Both of the two older, second-hand, cheap, (pre-DRM) DVD Readers I bought, ripped the the drm'd discs slick as a whistle, simply because they weren't programmed to recognize the stupid new DRM flag.     Now that is absolutely criminal! >:(

    There is copyright control, and then there is taking the buscuit! What they don't realise is that computer users are becoming less naive about their systems. 6 months back, before I arrived here, I was uploading 1100 songs, encoding my music at 128kbps .wma. You find that the more time people spend on the internet, the more they will wise to the ways of those in supposed power.

    In the position in which you've been placed, I would be going mad! If they are claiming 'copyrights', surely we as the consumer have our rights of FULL knowledge of our products. There must be a law against it...

    Let's get real here, you bought a DVD burner, which doesn't allow you to burn DVD's.....what are you supposed to do, just look at it?

    ARGH! :(

    But hey, we are supposed to be discussing the whole ipod video rev, not bashing at the DrM....hehe

    Lethal_Biz http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2487 - The Rulez...
    Keira is the finest thing on the planet!! http://www.blazinbeauties.com/images4/keira_knightley/keira_knigh...
    http://www.nude-celebrities-site.com/pics/keira-knightley/keira-k...
    Ipod Problems? http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/244629


    Bittorrent Quick Starter
    1. Get a Client - recommend Azureus - http://azureus.sourceforge.net/
    2. Make sure you are sufficiently protected from fake files and ''other stuff''
    Get Peerguardian2
    http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Firewall/Peer-Guardian-Pr.shtml
    3. Do you have a router or a firewall?? Port Forward http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm
    4. Search for Music, Movies, Games etc. These can be found on Torrent sites - pick of the bunch i have listed here -
    http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/249632 (updated regularly :)

    2.11.2005 09:51 #15

  • DaOsT

    damm thats an awful lot to sell in so shorta time

    ::LivE ForeveR OR DiE TryiN!!::....::DonT FinD US WE WilL FinD YoU::..
    ChecK OuT ThE PenguiN GamE AnD PosT YouR HighesT DistancE ON ThE ForuM
    http://www.gazholland.co.uk

    2.11.2005 09:59 #16

  • A_Klingon

    Quote:Now that is absolutely criminal!The worst is yet to come. You've haven't heard the half of it yet! (None of us have). I'd like to briefly explain my (above) DVD woes, then point you to a link which should make you angry, disgusted, disappointed, fed-up, hostile, vindictive and thoroughly depressed. (I'm glad you like music, Lethal - wait 'till you read what's in the link!)
    Quote:Let's get real here, you bouht a DVD burner, which doesn't allow you to burn DVDs...No, no ... it burns dvds just fine! In fact, it's a *terrific* burner. What it doesn't do, is read copy-protected DVD discs, which are now popping up all over the place.

    Certain DVDs in many TV boxed-sets now contain a DRM flag which will DISABLE any appropriately-programmed (new) burner from reading it. If you cannot even read the disc, you cannot process (rip) and burn it later.

    These include some boxed sets of the TV shows "M*A*S*H (4077)"; "Columbo"; "The Simpsons"; and others. Only one of the discs in the sets is flagged. (The other discs rip fine). My LG burner will not recognize these bum discs. (It just scrambles and scrambles, then gives up.)

    I even went so far as to rent the SAME boxed-sets from different video stores - just in case the unreadable discs I had were damaged (even though they looked fine, and played back perfectly on my stand-alone settop dvd players)- but to no avail. The NEW boxed sets still had the SAME corrupted discs, SO, it's no accident. Certain dics ARE DRM'd.

    My LG burner is one of a new breed of DRM-compliant devices - ie, it recognizes a bum (DRM) disc when it sees one, and will flat-out _refuse_ to load it.

    But BOTH of the two older, (made in 1999) cheapie ($20) DVD Roms I bought, read these corruptd DRM'd discs just fine! Reason: they don't contain any DRM.

    In other words:

    a) Many current DVDs are now DRM'd.
    b) Many current DVD burners are now equipped to refuse reading those discs.

    NEITHER the discs or the burner was marked as DRM-compliant! That's what I mean by sneaky!, and is why more and more of us are going to wind up with vastly less-capable computers than we have been used to. DRM is infecting our hardware more and more all the time.

    (The above) is why I have been urging folks - if they have experienced similar copy-protected discs - to run!, not walk! out to their nearest computer shop, and pick up on an older dvd-rom or two while they are still can!

    Ok, enough of that.

    Now for the truly SICK stuff.....

    By far, the very worst-yet copy-protection scheme I have ever read about in my life, is now coming out from the good folks at SONY. Their new music-cds have infiltrated many unsuspecting user's home PCs with Spyware, Malware, and a hidden cpu-resource-hogging program that Sony has taken exquisite pains to hide from you.

    I found this link at Doom9's site. (Many respects to Mr. Doom - I hope he won't mind my quickie-link-pinching). :=)

    The link points to a blog by an exceptionally intelligent programmer by the name of Mark Russinovich, who has EXPOSED Sony for what they are doing!

    His extended article, which is extremely technical (but easy to read - just scan through the technical stuff) is called "Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management [DRM] Gone Too Far".

    When you read about the sloppy, bloated, and corrupted software that sony installs on your system the *moment* you try to play one of their new music cds on it, it is going to shock you. I sat there for over an hour with my jaw agape as I witnessed the unfolding of what SONY has done. In my view, Sony is now criminal, illegal, immoral, and in dire need of a class-action suit by the masses. (It may be coming too).

    Here's Doomy's link:

    http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html
    Quote:But hey, we are supposed to be discussing the whole ipod video rev, not bashing at the DrM....heheYes, and I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help it this time. The link points to the sickest most brazen DRM filth I have ever seen, and I just felt that AfterDawners had a right to know.

    It's scary, Lethal - just plain scary.

    -- Klingy --

    2.11.2005 17:23 #17

  • Lennme

    The Mrs. and I have gotten hooked on "Lost". Having gone through the first season on DVD we'd missed the first three episodes of the second season what with the boys football games and such. Also, having been spoiled with being able to watch the shows without the commercials, the downloads were just the thing for us. I gladly paid for the downloads, plugged the laptop into the home theater receiver and watched the downloaded episodes on the big screen (110" front projector). The quality wasn't the same as dvd, but was more than adequate to follow our favorite show! I just wish I'd thought of it instead of Jobs!

    2.11.2005 17:33 #18

  • Glass

    Klingy,

    Help out by sending the DVDs back, claiming they won't play on your "only" DVD player, the LG. If enough people start doing that, they will be forced (by the only method they understand-economics) to quit using that copy protection method.

    Other than that, hi my old time friend. How about sending me an email and letting me know what you have been up to.

    Glass

    4.11.2005 11:27 #19

  • BaNaKa

    uhh STFU

    4.11.2005 19:09 #20

  • A_Klingon

    Hi Glenn !!!!! :) :) :)

    Yowsa! But I'm seeing a lot of familiar faces in here as of late!! NICE, FAMILIAR FACES!!

    (I think the Irish Pub musta been raided by the Fuzz or something, and closed down). (???)
    Quote:Help out by sending the DVDs back, claiming they won't play on your "only" DVD player, the LG.Can't.

    They were freebie loans-sies from the local Public Library. (And I hasten to add, -- before the MPAA decides to sue my cat fluffy, -- that section 80 of the Canajun Copyright Law sez I can legally back-up <for personal use only> these loan-sy discs, so there!)

    (Thmaa, thmaa, thmaa).
    Quote:Other than that, hi my old time friend. How about sending me an email and letting me know what you have been up to. I'll try to pop a qwikie email to you, Glenn. I had a whole three (3) hours sleep (it is now Sunday; my one day off), and you know? The buggers wanted me to work today!....................<no frikken way>.

    GOOD seeing you guys again!!

    -- Klingy --

    5.11.2005 22:44 #21

  • Glass

    Mike,

    Let me know when to try and call you sometime. All we can do is try and connect, timewise. I've been working the same type of nasty schedule as you lately. Haven't heard from you in months, and feel like catching up.

    Glad you still check out your local library.

    6.11.2005 14:42 #22

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