MacBook Air
There was no coincidence that Apple announced both the MacBook Air and a deal to start making rentals via iTunes available in addition to movie sales.
What the analysts seemed to miss is that the MacBook Air, a very cool small body laptop, also has a built-in step towards changing the entire technology… there is no DVD or CD-Rom drive on the machine. None. Why? Because the hardware is suggesting, quite clearly, how you should interact with the software. Rent or buy movies online… no need for a pesky disc.
And if you do have a disc? You can get an accessory drive (a pain in the ass) or you can wirelessly network to another computer – preferably a Mac – and treat media that uses the hardware of the other computer exactly the same as if it were loaded onto your computer.
This conceit is extremely cutting edge… but not as problematic as it might seem on the face of it. We are all used to having drives in our computers and got all excited when DVD drives came in and recently, the offer of Blu-ray or HD drives on some computers. But Apple continues to push us all to cut the wires and to access everything in a paperless, discless universe. And while the limitations of Apple’s deals with studios limits the comfort zone that everything is accessible – on DVD or CD – the push is compelling.
If, as a critic, I get DVD screeners from companies that want me to watch their films in whatever format I can – screenings being best – why not give me unlimited access to download, so long as they feel the encryption is safe? Obviously, Apple wouldn’t make money on that. But imagine a company like Magnolia or IFC First Look or even Sony Classics simply being able to give me access to the films that they are working on at any time, over an inexpensive private network on the web. Imagine, as I head to Sundance, that the 80 or so films that allow you to screen them on DVD on a TV in the press office could allow me to start the festival at home on Monday and see a dozen movies before I land in Park City… particularly ones I might not have time to see in the hustle and bustle of the festival.
And that brings us back to the WGA Strike – as all things must.
This suggests a universe in which rentals can be done on a larger basis – not free downloads and not purchased films – without a disc. I believe the guilds are currently paid, in the case of Blockbuster and Netflix, by the prices of the DVDs sold to the rental companies… one residual payment based on the gross revenue from the sale. Apparently, there is already an agreement for 1.2% for electronic rentals… currently a tiny revenue stream. WGA seeks 2.5%.
With a price point at about a third (or less) of the cost of buying a movie via iTunes, combined with ease of delivery, this could be a major hit with kids and the travelling class… depending on the boundaries of a rental.
Don’t be shocked if AMPTP “offers” WGA what it already theoretically has… the 1.2% residual on electronic rentals. There has been so much screaming about the guild getting “nothing” from the web that the 1.2% might seem like a generous offer to the unaware.
I find the announcement by Apple a bit of curious timing. The studios needed to sign off on the announcement. So one must wonder, is it part of an overall strategy? “Offer” WGA significantly better numbers on “the future” aka iTunes electronic rental at the same time a deal with DGA gets set with, perhaps, a slight DVD increase and some minor improvement on the $250 annual offer on free streaming and BOOM… does the WGA jump? And if AMPTP has DGA and WGA, how hard a fight can SAG fight after already losing a month or two of work in the WGA strike?
I don’t know… interesting…
Maybe I am a sucker, but I have this odd sense that progress is being made, even as AMPTP continues to put WGA off. One thing I do know for sure… if AMPTP is happy with whatever these moves are, then they are not good enough for any guild to feel comfortable about. It’s not about “Evil AMPTP,” it’s Negotiation 101. Both sides should hurt a little at the end of a truly reasonable negotiation.
And celebrate by buying a really cool laptop.
Call me a Luddite, I don’t want my computer telling me I don’t need a CD/DVD drive anymore, thank you very much, because I do. I guess I’ll be sticking with PCs for the foreseeable future.
iPhone just dropped a bunch of kickass updates that pretty much address every issue I have with mine (no mass text message option….fixed….the mapquest function isn’t as helpful as it could be….fixed). Gotta love Apple.
The superdrive is $99 extra on the new computer. Right now, it’s an add-on. Eventually it’ll be standard — people doing work still need to send disks.
The overall tech specs are on the low side. Air is half the speed of my Mac Book Pro from 1 1/2 years ago. And half the memory.
It’s not designed for serious professional use. It’s more a visual status symbol.
It’s also pretty clearly intended as a user’s secondary computer. It wouldn’t suffice as a primary.
I love Apple, but I’m not feeling the love on this.
The AppleTV updates, though, are excellent.
Once again, the creepy overlords of Apple are trying to control my media flow. I love their computers — except when their shitty adapters catch fire and I have to join a class-action lawsuit (which we won fuck you apple very much) –but I burn discs and play ’em and they can suck a studio nut if they think I’m buying this new scam.
Oh, and I guess Apple just handed the WGA a silver bullet. Bcause, y’know, who knows how the studio can make a profit off the internets?
Wow, Steve Jobs & Bill Gates making keynote speeches on digital downloads for movies and television.
Come on. This has been coming down the line for years now. If anyone is slurping the ‘no money in this medium’ line anymore, then they need their head checked.
Oh, and expect these kickass Solid State Drives to get cheaper and more popular this year. They’re fast as hell, and at last moving on from the military and conglomerate level to the consumer level.
>”But imagine a company like Magnolia or IFC First Look or even Sony Classics simply being able to give me access to the films that they are working on at any time, over an inexpensive private network on the web.”>”But imagine a company like Magnolia or IFC First Look or even Sony Classics simply being able to give me access to the films that they are working on at any time, over an inexpensive private network on the web.”< Yes! Then the awards hype can start before the film is even finished.
It already does.
The new iPhone update also allows you to watch movies you’ve rented via iTunes on your iPhone…which leads to this, obviously:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKiIroiCvZ0
>”It already does.”
Unfortunately you’re right. “Dreamgirls” was being penciled in for awards during the casting process.
I just downloaded like 15 new apps for my iPhone (I know these have been available for a while). This thing just keeps getting better. Now, a feature that pinpoints exactly where you are with the click of a button?
Now I have to find an updated hack so I can use songs as ringtones for free again…
Heat; you continue to believe that the US lives in a world with internet speeds that rival those of mmorpg lovin’ Koreans. We simply lack that ability at the present time, and will for the foreseeable future. Only then will something like the AIR (Only Steve Jobs could rip off a Nike product title and think it’s clever) really take off. Until then; buy the first generation AIR Heat. While time has shown that the future generations of Apple products are always better.
Scratch that — it doesn’t show up on last year’s eligibility list, or this year’s. Magnolia was probably gunning for the critics’ lists and “lesser” awards.
Sorry, that was supposed to be a snappy remark about how the 1.8″ HDD is pretty much destined to fail in a year or so. The hazards of tabbed browsing…
the other problem is that most high-end software including things like Final Cut Pro are only available on a disc and anyone who has already been working on a Mac for years who buys this laptop not knowing it doesn’t have a DVD/CD-Rom will probably be pissed when they take it back home or to the office and find it missing. Getting rid of the floppy drive was a smart move… losing the DVD at this point in the game is pretty foolhardy.
I’m not saying it’s going to be a huge success as a product, IO… just pointing out the ongoing movement…
The MacBook Air comes with software, on a CD, to install on either another Mac or PC so that you can use that machines CD/DVD drive as the CD/DVD drive on the Macbook Air. If you have 1 other computer, no matter Mac or PC, you don’t need the add-on superdrive. Everyone’s usage pattern is different, but the number of times I have needed the optical drive on my MacBook Pro in over a year I can count on my hand.
The MB Air is not for everyone, but it would be a very cool accessory for an existing desktop or heavier laptop.
Ed-
This computer isn’t designed for FCP use. The tech specs aren’t there.
Laz-
When you find out how to do that, shoot me a link. I want to make the “I drink your milkshake” line from TWBB my ringtone and can’t figure out how to do it!
Heat; I know the moment is coming. However, it’s not going to happen in the US any time soon. We simply lack the skills and the talent. Once we get internet speeds that people have on their phones currently hitting the Tokyo subways, then it would make sense to sell a laptop without a disc drive. Until that day happens: Jobs made a gaff. A gaff he will have to fix with the next air, that has a disc drive.
Poland,
explain to me how the Macbook Air push for movie DL is not hindered by shit ideas like this…
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080117/time_warner_cable_internet.html?.v=2
These two rollouts are related, but I can’t tell if it’s T-W thinking they can slam an extra charge on movie DL’ers and caught Apple off guard, or if the party line since inception was too keep the content price low, but front-load the cost of even getting to it.
F T-W. A single share is worth less than a F’ing DVD right now, and these zipperheads think this is the solution? Gerry Levin must be laughing and sick to his stomach at the same time. This copmpany needs to broken apart tomorrow.
Hmm, I never thought the missing cd/dvd drive as a cripple for the macbook air, but I forgot all about movie rentals on itunes.
Well I don’t see This air dude as a complete laptop. no lan, 1 usb, no drives, a poorly placed charger input which won’t work if you are on the middle of the table (needs free room from below ‘cuase of the angel) which in our reviewer’s point of view might be a msg, make electrecity available via wi-fi, ’cause we wanna be cool and there isn’t a room for that.
and the cd/dvd drive is not only to watch movies you know! and you can’t get rid of media like that most people watch movies on their home system not laptop.
what ever! if you want a huge smart-phone, to use wireless net, watch movie files, organizer, office and such, with no phone, get air!!!