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Apple going huge with online media services

Flint

Flint

Prodigal Son
Superstar
Apple Launches 'Massive' CDN -- Report

http://www.lightreading.com/video/c...launches-massive-cdn----report/a/d-id/710203?
For you tech nerds out there... the Content Delivery Network (CDN) which Apple has deployed is a network of intelligent storage devices (usually servers with a ton of storage in them) spread all over the telecommunications infrastructure network. The intelligence in the system caches content as it is requested by users so popular stuff is readily available to other users when they ask for the same content. But this stuff goes farther and pre-populates content which is anticipated to be popular based on both obvious knowledge (we all know the latest Beyonce single will be popular no matter what) and through Big Data Analytics. By populating the content close to the users, the user experience is vastly better than trying to pull content from the central database Data Centers.

You can experience the difference yourself - go to Netflix and pick a current top hit show to watch and time how long it takes to start playing. It is usually merely seconds before the video starts because the content is already stored on the CDN network near you. Then try searching for some obscure movie and start it up (do not pick one from the recommended list) and see how long it takes to start playing. If you watch both movies all the way through, the one stored on the CDN will have fewer, or no, hiccups in playback. The movie being pulled from the central database might have several pauses to catch-up to the playback.

This is a massively expensive project, so Apple is clearly about to turn on the marketing engine and drive their online music and video services to take full advantage of it.

For you Apple TV, iTunes, and Apple Radio users, this should be great news!!!
 
Assuming that Apple has deals with content providers, this could be the a al carte solution that so many THINK they want.
 
Towen7 said:
Assuming that Apple has deals with content providers, this could be the a al carte solution that so many THINK they want.
Click to expand...

They will think they want it right up to the point where they see Apple's pricing.
 
Yup. I'm not saying anyone here is that foolish but a lot of people think that they should be able to divide their total cable bill by the number of available shows to calculate what each show should cost. The fuzzy math means that their favorite shows SHOULD only cost them pennies, or a few bucks per season... TOPS! When they realize that a season of Game of Thrones or Big Bang Theory wil run them in excess of $20 each they'll demand regulation over price gouging.
 
I like the utility model for programming.

Charge a monthly fee of, say, $25 to $30 to have access to everything, then pay a few cents here and a few cents there for every show you choose to watch. That way people like me, who only watches a dozen or so shows a week, pays less. However, service providers could then charge a larger "unlimited" package for those who watch a ton of TV, or like to leave the TV on all the time running in the background, so they pay less in the long run.
 
Interesting. I've read about Netflix's boxes they stash at ISPs for content delivery. I guess Apple has their eyes set on not just Amazon but also Netflix.

As for pricing plans, we'll have to wait and see- there's always ways to tweak things to one's own particular habits. IMO, if I'm paying a flat monthly fee then I'm not that interested in paying more to watch an individual show. I can see paying X amount for Y amount of viewing time (then a la carte for additional amounts or something like that). But we'll see.
 
I spend $8/mo on Netflix (soon to be $9), $8/mo on Hulu, Amazon works out to about the same, my wife's Drama Fever subscription is $5. That's about $29/mo and it covers pretty much everything we watch with the exception of the UltraViolet movies I buy (I rarely buy discs anymore). I used to pay about $5/each for UV. Prices went up as the selection got better. Now I probably average $7.
 
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