Agreed. I had a long conversation with our 22 year old about this yesterday. He just can’t get his mind around the fact that you have no need to trade cheap games, and he doesn’t like the idea of the local game store closing it’s doors, because they have nothing to sell. He also has a belief that Apple games are too limited, compared to PSP and DS games, due to not enough memory on the device (he’s an RPG fan – Final Fantasy, etc).

That said, he understands why the drop in carbon emissions is important, in fact I think that’s the point that now has him considering downloaded games.

I haven’t heard many gamers complain about the lack of packaging for iPhone games but I have seen plenty of gnawing of teeth over the eventual move to download-only dedicated consoles (which the iPhone has spurred).

In a sense, I can understand this fear because Microsoft, Nintendo, and even Sony (a hardware company, no less) make most of their videogame money on the games, rather than the hardware, thus they jack up software prices. It’s the polar opposite of Apple’s business model. Not only that, each is far more restrictive than the App Store in most respects.

At the same time, this desire to keep things the way they are shows an unhealthy attachment to physical things. It’s the greatest trick of all time that’s been played on them: software sold as a tangible hardware product.

Many don’t even seem to grasp that this contributes to the need for publishers who can press discs, which must have retail shelf space bought out, which results in the astronomical $60 price of new games. They think digital distribution is bad because they can’t trade games but the truth is, there’s little desire to trade away your games if they’re in the $1-$10 range, as iPhone games are.

This sets up Apple to enter the living room gaming space with the Apple TV the same way they have in the mobile gaming market with the iPhone. High volume/low margin download-only gaming using an iPod touch and/or a utilitarian pointer remote as the controller.

People said the same thing about CDs: why would I buy a download from iTunes when I can get a plastic box with a CD with resale value, lyric notes, ect.

The same thing is happening in the gaming industry. Some gamers I have talked to won’t buy IPhone games because they don’t get the game package, and cannot resell the games. Other gamers love the Apple method, and aren’t concerned about resale.

I think that Nintendo and Sony are going to have to change their game distribution mechanism, and that a lot of game stores are going to go out of business.

It makes perfect sense and navigating iTunes Extras menus would be far cooler and intuitive than DVD or Blu-ray.

p.s., Could someone tell me what the formatting code is for creating links (so I don’t have to paste the URLs).

Hmmmmm sorry… not for me. I like the quality that Blu-Ray presents, and iTunes rentals don’t.

While I realize that it’s not all Apple’s fault, as we have the worst internet infrastructure in the civilized world, not until I can download a flick that looks nearly as good as Blu-Ray will I be a iTunes download customer.

AND… it seems your main page was hijacked fora bit… if so, glad your back!

[Yes GoDaddy changed my DNS and killed me all day. As you note, you can't compete with BR's data capacity using downloads. But given that BR accounts for a tiny slice of the pie, Apple doesn't need to. There's plenty of reasons for Apple to sell what it can via iTunes against the mainstream DVD market as an alternative.

If BR were 60% or 80% of the market, Apple's iTunes downloads would still have a market. As it is, BR almost doesn't matter. Who has one apart from PS3 users? I was tempted to start getting BRs from Netflix, but they charge an extra $4 a month. That's an insignificant barrier in reality, but it put my interest on hold, knowing that I don't watch enough Netflix movies to warrant my existing subscription. - Dan]

Apple does need more content though

- How does iTunes LP/Extras behave on Apple TV? Does it sync? Can you command it with the remote?
- How does it behave on iPhone/iPod Touch, can you command it with (multi)touch?
- Are the Extras accessible on Front Row?

[It currently requires iTunes 9, so no. It's a separate file from the actual media, so it doesn't impact other players, it just isn't used by them yet - Dan ]

http://www.cultofmac.com/itunes-lp-the-first-digital-album-good-enough-to-criticize/16132

Anyone know what the pricing is like for these things? I don’t think Apple said anything about prices at the event. How much more is an iTunes LP album vs. just the audio tracks, for example?