ethelthelog

The Contrast Between Blockbuster and Netflix

The commenter writing about watching videos on his computer misses the point. I agree that most people will want to watch movies on their TVs, not on their computer (most of the time).

But this is already possible with some of us. I can rent a movie from Apple on my computer, and then have my computer direct the output to my television. Anyone who has purchased AppleTV can do the same thing more easily. The same will be true for anyone with NetFlix's set-top box.

The big question to me is who will be able to provide a wide variety of high quality compressed video in a format that is easy to access, and appropriately priced. Apple is doing well in terms of easy access, acceptable quality, and appropriate price. Not well (at least not yet) in terms of having a wide variety of movies available.