Price comparison: Xbox Live Marketplace+Xbox 360 and iTunes+Apple TV
- January 16th, 2008
- Read 2530 times
- 8 Comments
Both Microsoft and Apple want to be your go-to home entertainment brand. But, right now, Apple is charging a little less for the privilege.
Let’s say you want to be able to [legally] download movies then watch them on your big screen HDTV. You can go with the Microsoft model, that is, buy a 20GB Xbox 360 Pro or 120GB Elite (since the Arcade doesn’t have the out-of-the-box storage capacity to make a fair comparison) for $350 or $450, respectively, and rent HD movies for $6 a pop. Or, you can go with the Apple model and buy a 40GB Apple TV for $230 or a 160GB model $330, with HD movies going for $5.
The cheapest Microsoft-based system costs $356, $350 for a Pro and $6 for a single HD movie.
The cheapest Apple-based system costs $235, $230 for an Apple TV and $5 for the single HD movie.
Either way, you’ll be able to watch HD movies on your big screen far more easily than how I do it.
iTunes HD Movie Rentals $1 Less Than XBL [1UP.com]
Endless Mike (Who am I?)
5 months ago
It’s probably worth noting that other than movies and presumably music (can the Apple TV download music from iTunes? I know it can stream over a network), the 360 can do virtually anything the Apple TV does, to my knowledge (stream movies and music over your network, download movie rentals), and also play games.
2playedout (Who am I?)
5 months ago
If its about who has the cheapest rental price the movie cube beats it all with 1 dollar a day rentals.
freddyb (Who am I?)
5 months ago
umm… i’m not 100% certain, but i believe with the XBOX console that you can also play video games. my thinking is that this would be a differentiator worthy of being called out…. dufus.
Fred (Who am I?)
5 months ago
Or you could use a Blu-ray/HD-DVD player and Netflix, thus avoiding all the BS foisted on the consumer by the movie industry (30 day lag between DVD release and download availability, 24 hours to watch the movie, etc.). You won’t get the instant gratification of a download, but if you’re that desperate, you can always go down to Blockbuster. I really don’t see the attraction of the XBox or Apple offering, unless you just really hate plastic discs.
JP (Who am I?)
5 months ago
Enjoyed the comparison, ND.
I don’t think the 360 plays back DRM’d content from iTunes…as for me, I don’t watch enough rented movies to justify a monthly subscription, and Blockbusters in da 904 has a very limited selection of Blu-ray titles. (3 stores within 15 miles last Thursday evening did not have Pirates - World’s End on Blu-ray.)
I own Blu-ray and HD DVD players, but I’m also considering the aTV to congregate my media and add convenience for my occasional rental…
Chester (Who am I?)
5 months ago
What store has the most content? I have used the Xbox Live Marketplace and they have many movies (250+), new and old. I haven’t looked at the iTunes store yet but have read that they have about 100 movies, not all in HD and 5.1. What about TV shows? Does the iTunes store have TV show in HD now also?
jason (Who am I?)
5 months ago
Who cares who wins the format war. We are all going to be downloading movies in 5 year to some harddrive just like music. Who buys CDs anymore?
Get a 360, great for games, movies and keeping in touch with friends. Love it!
Marc M. (Who am I?)
5 months ago
Eh this is like comparing apples to oranges. People are not buying the 360 for renting HD streamable movies, it’s just a added advantage. I still think it’s silly that people are to lazy to take a five minute drive up to block buster ( or where ever you rent movies ) to grab a movie. It’s not that big of a deal and plus you get it for 10x longer AND it’s cheaper, plus more and more places are offering HD DVD/Blu-ray discs.