Ok, so today is the day we take a look at the numbers, and see if I spent more money in iTunes than I would have with cable and buying DVDs.
Now, the first thing that I think I should mention, is that I didn’t buy as much TV as I thought I would. In fact, I started to really think about whether that $1.99 was worth it every time I looked at a show, and more than once I talked myself out of it. I don’t really think this is a bad thing…I spent more time writing, playing video games, and reading than I have in a while…and overall, I don’t feel like I missed anything as far as my television watching is concerned.
Now…onto the numbers.
The Stuff I Bought – this is the amount of money I spent in iTunes on current TV Shows, Movies, and Seasons over the last 30 Days.
Current TV (Lost, 30 Rock, Office, etc…)
$41.84
Movies (The Prestige, and The Royal Tenenbaums)
$24.98
Seasons (The Office Season 1 and 2)
$49.81
Total Spent in iTunes: $116.63
Now…for the interest of comparison, I’m going to looking at the Amazon prices for the movies and seasons, and my cable bill from last month for the current TV comparision.
Current TV
$56.98 (Digital Cable bundled price)
Movies (The Prestige, and The Royal Tenenbaums)
$26.98 (The Prestige $16.99, The Royal Tenenbaums $9.99)
Seasons (The Office Season 1 and 2)
$53.98 (season 1, $19.95, season 2 $33.99)
Total Spent in cable and physical disks: $137.94
So, ultimately for a difference of $21.31 I could have had 100 or so cable channels, but I wouldn’t be able to keep the episodes of the current TV shows that I bought permanently.
I didn’t spend more than I would have on cable and DVDs like I thought I did, and I can take the files on my Macbook Pro, my iPod, or watch them on my TV. I’m satisfied with that.
It is important to point out that for that additional $20 bucks I would have gotten special features on all the DVDs. I hardly ever watch special features, though, and I don’t really consider that a loss, although I’m sure some of you will…so I thought I would mention it.
4 thoughts on “30 Days of AppleTV – Day 29”
I totally agree with you Michael. You should only pay for the stuff that you actually wanna watch. And the idea of keeping that stuff for later viewing (e.g. with your wife or friends) is kind of cool too. So, I totally favor the apple TV over the Cable subscription and through video podcasts and itunes music over the top and you have got yourself a killer deal. I couldn’t agree more.
The only problem I have with the “purchasing from iTunes” vrs. “purchasing the DVD’s” is that the quality of the DVD’s is way better than the quality of the content from iTunes.
Plus, are the iTunes shows in widescreen? The shows I usually buy DVD seasons of are in widescreen format so that when I am watching on my HDTV, I can change the aspect ratio and see the show a little bigger. If the shows on iTunes are still 4:3, then I really can’t do that.
I priced out buying shows off iTunes vrs just watching them on TV and based on that, iTunes is pretty darn expensive. My wife and I usually watch an hour a day during dinner, so that’s $60 a month, then I watch 2 shows during lunch on the weekends, and my wife watches a show that I don’t watch so that’s $24 more for $84 a month. Add a couple more shows a week just because and we are talking just about $100 a month. Plus, the quality just isn’t worth the $100 a month.
The option was considered, and if I was watching all this on a regular TV, I probably would have a different opinion. However, with an HDTV, the pixelation is just too much for something I am paying extra for.
I’m with you (sorta) but I’d miss my History Channel, Science Channel, HGTV and HD Feeds of our local channels. I live on the wrong side of a mountain and without cable I wouldn’t get a lick of channels.
Dave M. Your math is a tad deceptive. My wife and I watch around ten shows throughout the television season the prices on iTuens vary for the shows we watch from 18 to 45 dollars. so say we buy all ten season passes for we’ll say $40 each that is $400 for an entire season’s (year) worth of TV. Cable w/DVr ontthe other hand is $76 a month multply that by 12 and you get $912 a year so to use Apple TV saves me $500 dollars a year. Shows that I can watch again whenever I want. Also I just ask for iTunes gift cards for My birthday as does my wife for hers and our “cable bill” is taken care of.