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Introducing Vdio
- ihuman 14y agoLooks like they beat Spotify's rumored service to the punch. I am curious how Spotify will one-up this, and how this service will do compared to existing competitors.
- tptacek 14y agoI hope this means Rdio is going to be a more sustainable long-term business, and not that Rdio is pivoting away from music; Rdio seems to be the best of a shaky lot when it comes to subscription music services, and I'd hate for it to get worse.
- ThomPete 14y agoIts pretty hard to beat Spotify unless you have some specific taste in music they dont cover well. But overall I have a hard time seing a better service than theirs. It just works, is fast and has a large db of content.
- bennesvig 14y agoI've tried both and have stuck with Rdio. The social aspect is superior. I love being able to see playlists and recommendations from random people beyond my Facebook friends. Spotify's desktop app is definitely faster, though I find Rdio to be better designed.
- jdmaresco 14y agoCompletely agree. The UX of Rdio is far superior, IMHO.
- circa 14y agototally agree as well. its above and beyond better.
- grimgrin 14y agoBut there is a BIG difference here if we're talking about the free services of both. Spotify is always free, and rdio is only free for 6 months. Yes it's probably a good thing to pay for a service that you like (I do), but some people don't, and that's going to be where they prefer Spotify. http://support.spotify.com/us/learn-more/faq/#!/article/How-much-music-can-be-played-using-Spotify-Free-3 http://support.spotify.com/us/learn-more/faq/#!/article/How-... http://help.rdio.com/customer/portal/articles/187730-rdio-for-free http://help.rdio.com/customer/portal/articles/187730-rdio-fo...
- philwelch 14y agoI'd rather be cut off honestly than hectored into subscribing by having my music continuously interrupted with advertising.
- elithrar 14y ago> Yes it's probably a good thing to pay for a service that you like (I do)... It's also good to pay for a service that you want to stick around.
- mimiflynn 14y agoSpotify uses peer-to-peer (http://community.spotify.com/t5/Help-Desktop-Linux-Mac-and/Open-connections-peer-to-peer/td-p/89857 http://community.spotify.com/t5/Help-Desktop-Linux-Mac-and/O...) which makes it bad UX for me. I've been using Mog for a while, but had I run into Rdio first, I might have picked them instead.
- philwelch 14y agoWhen you don't pay for it, Spotify interrupts your music with shitty commercials for country music, while Rdio just cuts you off after awhile. Hence, Rdio was the one I ended up using long enough to decide to subscribe.
- aggronn 14y agoGrooveshark doesn't do any audio ads and never cuts you off.
- glomph 14y agoCan I ask why you used the word pivoting instead of moving? To pivot is to swing around a fixed point. What is the fixed point in this context?
- loumf 14y agoPivot is a term of art popularized by Eric Ries and the lean startup movement. Pivots frequently keep a large part constant, thus the word makes sense.
- glomph 14y agoFrankly I think that it is nonsense and an attempt to sound like you are saying something cleverer than you are. What would be meaningfully different in what he had said if he used the word move?
- loumf 14y agoHe would no longer be referring to Lean Startup. He would no longer be implying that part of the business model was being held constant.
- rdouble 14y agoNone of the streaming music companies are sustainable in the long term.
- Cyranix 14y agoDo you have a basis for this statement?
- dublinben 14y agoThe profit margins are too slim. Their revenue barely covers the operating costs and onerous licensing fees.
- te_chris 14y agoWhen their licensing fees are barely paying the people who produce the content then I don't think onerous is the right way to describe it. Spotify produce far too much consumer surplus and in return underpay artists and themselves. I'm guessing the backers think this is OK, but inorder for low cost low margin to work you need massive scale which may work for spotify, but is not really sustainable and ends up being another example of silicon valley shitting on content producers.
- cheapsteak 14y agoI've never bought a single song on iTunes, but I went out of my way to pay Spotify $5 a month. Before that I relied on grooveshark, last.fm, youtube, and, a long time ago kazaa and napster. I can't be the only one. There are just too many 'free' alternatives. When the 'barely paid' content producers would have gotten zilch if it weren't for Spotify, I wouldn't say that they're being shat on. On another note, few would bemoan the plight of ISPs being paid less per bits transferred than they were a decade ago, why should we consider it a bad thing that per unit prices of content have dropped? Are the top artists of today any poorer than their counterparts from the 80s? Would the smaller artist even exist if it weren't for the proliferation of these cheap and convenient content delivery services?
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- jcdavis 14y agoSo...its another pay per item video service? Odd coming from rdio, which I've come to associated with unlimited streaming. Not cheap either, at $15 to buy a movie
- ditojim 14y agothey seem to be competing with itunes and not netflix.
- orangethirty 14y ago$15? I'd rather buy the DVD.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- ditojim 14y agoThe reason I like this is because it is browser-based (vs itunes must be used as an app). At the very least, if you are a Rdio subsciber, you get $25 free credit for Vdio.
- shawnc 14y agoOnly the US and UK - that's disappointing seeing as how Rdio served Canada early, and that's part of the reason I gave them a shot, and really love them now. But it doesn't look like it'll be the unlimited streaming variety, so i'm not sure how this can compete with Netflix.
- beshrkayali 14y agoI think this is great! I'm getting this http://d.pr/i/UqZn http://d.pr/i/UqZn every time I try to play a preview though. Hopefully this will also be available on mobile!
- donaldguy 14y agoDefinitely an impressive selection. And I love Rdio's interface, so porting it to video is pretty cool by me. All the interviews I've seen say they want to get to the subscription model in the long run, but for now content selection was more important. They seem to be having some load problems though :-/.
- nickconfer 14y agoThe problem that no one is solving is ownership. If I pay $15 for movie from vdio, what happens if that company goes away? Why can't I switch my collection from iTunes to amazon, etc... Ultimetly that is the top reason I avoid buying digital content. It's a frustrating issue, and legislation should be passed to guarantee consumer protection on their digital goods.
- obviouslygreen 14y agoWhile this is most certainly a good point (and I'm in the same boat), considering we don't even have protections on a lot of physical goods in this space, I don't see it coming along any time soon.
- nickconfer 14y agoI could see protection happening on the digital landscape. With the physical merchandise it was tougher for a consumer to understand their lack of rights, but sadly I agree it will be tough. It's odd though. I bet there are huge groups of "horder collectors" that exist and are holding back only because of the clear lack of ownership rights. I know my digital collection would be 500+ strong by now, instead of the mear 4 or 5 shows I've purchased for a quick fix.
- evan_ 14y agoThis gets brought up every time anyone talks about any media streaming services, but has it ever been shown that consumers care?
- bherms 14y agoThe real problem lies in the fact that most consumers don't realize that it's an issue. It only hits them when it actually happens. Those of us in the tech community are more forward thinking when it comes to this sort of stuff. Would you care if you paid $15 for a movie, then a few months later the service shut down and you couldn't watch it anymore? I bet you would. Would your mom/dad/grandparents/etc care? Most likely.
- 14y ago
- jivid 14y agoThis looks really neat! However, I'm going to echo a lot of other people on this thread and ask if we really need another pay-to-watch video service? Amazon Prime, iTunes and Netflix are already very big players in the market, and though I'd love for Rdio/Vdio to race ahead of the competition, I don't think a pay-per-item business model is the way to do it. A subscription service with unlimited streaming is what got me hooked on Rdio in the first place; I hope they are able to apply the same model to Vdio soon. That being said, I immediately loved the interface for Vdio. I wish they had the grey/yellow interface for Rdio also, looks a whole lot better than the Blue on White they have right now.
- k-mcgrady 14y agoThe UI is really pretty but I don't see why I would use this over iTunes. It seems about the same price (maybe slightly more expensive for rentals) and I'm locking my content up with a company I'm not sure will be around 15 years from now - I have more confidence iTunes will. I'll definitely try it though with the generous £20 credit. If they can move this to a subscription model where I can pay £20 per month for full music, film, and TV streaming I will pay in a heartbeat. Netflix definitely has the jump on them though, especially now that they are getting into original content and based on House of Cards, they are doing a very good job of it.
- mortenjorck 14y agoI'm looking up and down here for the differentiator that would get iTunes or Amazon Instant Video customers to switch to Vdio, and all I'm seeing is a lack of living-room device partnerships plus customer library lock-in on the Apple and Amazon platforms. How on earth will Vdio compete?
- joshlehman 14y agoI agree. What is unique here? I really hope they have some advantageous licensing deal that nobody else can get or plans to do something, anything, different... otherwise this is a waste of time and investor money.
- arasmussen 14y agoJust like Rdio, I love everything about the look and feel of the product. Like many others have pointed out, this is different than Rdio's monthly subscription plan in that you have to buy individual items. Though a lot of engineering work seems to have gone into this feature, I hope it isn't set in stone and that the unlimited streaming will come for videos.
- daigoba66 14y agoHonestly, why would I choose this over iTunes? I love Rdio (I'm a former Zune pass subscriber, and Rdio far better replacement than Spotify), but in what way is this better or different than the competition? The price and catalog appear to be pretty much identical.
- ditojim 14y agoVdio is web-based. iTunes is app-based.
- bluepanda_ 14y agoAnd why would I choose that over Amazon Prime's pay-per-view services? It'd be great if they had a subscription plan like Rdio or Spotify (similarly to Netflix), but it seems there are too many copyright and profitability issues involved.
- BHSPitMonkey 14y agoI believe where iTunes differentiates itself from the streaming services is offline. The video you get is prefetched, so you don't need access to a large bandwidth pipe in order to view your content, and you can also store them on an iOS device or iPod and view the content anywhere. I'm not personally aware of other digital video services that work like this.
- edwardunknown 14y agoIf this were a Netflix of Hulu price model they could really be a threat but I don't really know what to say about this. I'm an Rdio subscriber, I bought subscriptions for my family for Christmas but I'll never use this.
- deltaqueue 14y agoRant ahead... Am I the only one dissatisfied with the way media delivery has played out the past couple of years? We started with a rapidly developing delivery system (the internet) and content makers who couldn't see the value in capitalizing on this sales channel by making movies, TV shows, and songs available to consumers at reasonable prices (read: less than physical media costs), which led to piracy, global dissatisfaction, and decreased industry revenue. Fast forward to 2013, where we have... Ecosystems: iTunes, Amazon Video, Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, Blockbuster Ondemand, Android, Cinema Now, and Vdio Which can be accessed on TVs, web browsers, smartphones, tablets, dvd players, bluray players, gaming consoles, media streaming devices (Roku, Apple TV, etc.), and HTPCs. ... all with different user experiences (most are poor), varying media coverage / depth, and a pricing system that only satisfies bulk consumers that want to watch a bunch of legacy content. Larger companies that were first to build relationships with content makers have been the most successful, but the entire process still wreaks of bureaucracy, middle-men, and band aids. Netflix seems to be the only one that realizes this, and has started producing their own content (e.g. House of Cards and Arrested Development), and I think this is the only true catalyst that will change the industry for the better.
- MatthewPhillips 14y agoI don't know how Netflix producing content and making it exclusive to their subscription service is a win for consumers.
- deltaqueue 14y agoI'm not saying it's a perfect model, but the alternative is having to pay $100/month for a cable subscription to watch garbage you don't want to see, or $10+ to see it in a dirty movie theater, or $15 to "buy" a movie that was $15 in the 90's for a physical DVD. Even if there are 5 Netflixes competing against each other I would rather pay 5 x $7.99 a month to watch content I actually find relevant than pay for junk I don't use. If anything, merging content with distribution sparks competition to produce content at reasonable prices. Netflix has also resorted to releasing content in a more enjoyable manner (all at once vs. weekly with commercials).
- onemorepassword 14y ago"only available [...] in the US and UK" Can anybody think of any geo-tarded service that successfully rolled out in other countries later? Because as some not in the "chosen countries" I always feel that those services either a) never arrive, b) get beaten to the punch by local competitors or c) have to spend a shitload of money to conquer that market, sometimes by buying the aforementioned competitors. Also, unless the likes of Google or Apple are behind it, option a seems to be the most common scenario. Not to mention the fact that it fosters a culture where everyone and their grandmother knows how to pirate content.
- isaacwaller 14y agoNetflix was originally only available in the US but came to Canada later
- ricardobeat 14y agoNetflix, Amazon, iTunes match, Rdio all took a while to come to Brazil and are doing great. Still waiting for Amazon Instant.
- hcarvalhoalves 14y ago> ... all took a while to come to Brazil and are doing great With the exception of iTunes, they still have big holes on the content available even after launching.
- ricardobeat 14y agoAFAIK we have the same amount of content in Netflix and Rdio as everywhere else, they are just not that good (one of the reasons I'm waiting for Instant).
- balanceiskey15 14y agoSpotify comes to mind. Facebook started out even more locally restricted.
- nobodyshere 14y agoOh, thanks again for limiting region availability. I think I'll have to stay in permanent vpn state:(
- davidkatz 14y agoThe aspect of Rdio which most appeals to me is their subscription model. Vdio doens't have that, so I'll stick with the Appleverse thankyouverymuch. Has better integration into my life.
- calinet6 14y agoMy thoughts exactly—minus the Appleverse, which to me, is still not good enough. Not Good Enough—I want a subscription to all TV shows, delivered to my television when they air or after, on-demand, at any price. I will pay over $100 per month for this subscription, if it's a good user experience. No one does this yet. Pirating is not a cheaper alternative, it is a higher quality alternative. People are still paying to pirate television, not because it's cheaper than cable, but because it is far better than cable. Come on networks! Get with it. People want this.
- davidkatz 14y agoI'm with you, but given that no one does this yet, if I am going to be paying $3-$6 to watch something, I'd rather do it on my Apple TV.
- nicksergeant 14y agoI love that there's motion in this industry, but I don't have any reason to use this instead of iTunes via Apple TV. And I really want to, because I love Rdio. But as others have said in this thread, the main seller for Rdio is that I pay a set price every month and I can listen to anything I want. I would gladly pay upwards of $10-20/month for full access to more TV shows than Netflix gives me. And maybe a movie rental or two per month.
- smallegan 14y agoI have a hard time justifying TV or Movie prices since I am going to watch once or twice VS music that I will listen to forever. Interestingly enough they offer plenty of music services to stream audio and very few for video where (at least for me) it would make far more sense as I am only going to watch once and I don't care much about owning the rights to it.
- 6cxs2hd6 14y agoRe profile visibility, I think they need to separate Rdio and Vdio. I might want to share the music I listen to, but not the movies I watch. Currently you can set both public, or both private, but not a mix. Even if you set it "private", the opt-in seems a little "scary". They seem to want you to consent repeatedly that they're not violating the Video Privacy Protection Act[1] regardless of what they do? [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act
- tommaxwell 14y agoSigh, I'm on Ubuntu and it's not loading video. Why does this not surprise me.
- hcarvalhoalves 14y ago> Vdio is only available to Rdio Unlimited subscribers in the US and UK I'm tired of this crap. This is the internet, why does my country f* matter? I pay in dollars like everyone else. You need to weave better partnerships with your content providers, or you lose me to The Pirate Bay.
- ruswick 14y agoI'm not really sure what this service is. Their explanation was pretty ambiguous, and they never clarified whether this was a subscription service, an a la carte rental service, or just a social layer on top of other content providers. The first two are relatively unremarkable; this is a crowded market and they are several years behind. Social viewing is only attractive is there is something to view, and, at least initially, their library is almost certainly going to be inferior to those of Amazon, Netflix and Apple.
- nakedrobot2 14y agoThe MPAAfia can't complain about piracy in "all those stupid little countries out there" (i.e. everyone but US, Canada, UK) until they can actually make these paid services available to everyone.
- tvaughan 14y agoFor those of you with a US or UK credit card who are located outside the US or UK, contact me and I'll set you up with an account on a spare Linode I have in the US or UK so you can use that as a SOCKS5 proxy (via SSH). I'll let you kick the tires for a bit and after that it's $20/yr. otbdto [at] gmail. Please include your SSH public key.