Amazon, in an attempt to try and steal Apple’s thunder yesterday, have decided they’ll be selling ABC and Fox shows for 0.99 in the short term. Clearly someone over at Amazon is missing the point about rentals.
The ability to rent a full season of Arrested Development for under $22.00 from an Apple TV is a pretty exciting prospect for most. Sure, there’s going to be one occasion or another when you’re going to want to “own” a television series, but for the most part it’s a watch once and never again affair.
In my opinion, Apple got that right, and it’s even more impressive because they’re currently giving users the ability to either rent, or own, at different price points. Take for instance Glee, to rent the entire first season it’s going to cost you $22.77, and to own it, a season pass is $49.99. It’s cheaper to rent a television series twice, than it is to own it once, and how many times do you re-watch a series — be honest.
Clearly Apple had this in mind when negotiating the new prices with studios, and it’s something that Amazon has yet to grasp, considering the news today that you can own a show for $0.99 for a limited time. We don’t want to own it, we don’t want to worry about backing it up, and we certainly don’t want dvd packages eating up our shelving space either, but we would like the option to buy something if it’s a realistic possibility that we’re going to watch something a few times. Apple’s 0.99 cent rent options gives us ease of mind, never having to worry about storage or backup, like a traditional television bundle from your local provider. Amazon thinks that we still want to dedicate a hard drive to our television media. Television shows don’t fit into the same category as music or movies, it’s a throw away medium, where people rarely watch an episode more than once, so why would we want to own a show?
Would you rather own a show for 0.99 or rent it for the same amount? Let us know in the comments.
Article Via Cult of Mac
