5 ms·

> The fact Xbox tosses ads in your face on every single home screen except settings is also extremely distasteful, and MS burned a lot of goodwill on that. Thi

> The fact Xbox tosses ads in your face on every single home screen except settings is also extremely distasteful, and MS burned a lot of goodwill on that. This is the single biggest thing that puts a bad taste in my mouth from my Xbox. Am I a customer or a product? Companies should pick only one. If I pay money, I don't want to be sold.

onedognight 13y ago
> Am I a customer or a product? Do you have Cable TV? 70% of America does, knowing that they are both customer and product.
- marssaxman 13y ago
  ...which is funny, since I remember a lot of commentary about how the point of paying for cable TV when you can get broadcast TV for free is that by paying for the content you don't have to watch ads. I wonder why that never happened...
  - bcRIPster 13y ago
    Actually, in the early days of cable, many channels had no commercials. If you wanted to watch commercials, you'd flip over to the home shopping network and play the "guess the final" price game with your buds.
- potatolicious 13y ago
  And cable providers are some of the most hated companies that people live with. Have you ever met even a single person who's a fan of their cable company? The difference here is while cable has (for now) an iron grasp on content and monopoly in their coverage areas, gaming has competition.
  - onedognight 13y ago
    > Have you ever met even a single person who's a fan of their cable company? I am. I don't buy their TV or phone service, but they provide the best internet connection in every place I have lived. They have consistently been cheaper and faster than fios, uverse and any DSL. I can run a server, they don't block ports, and my IP is effectively static.
    - tomflack 13y ago
      Clearly he's referring to cable company as in Cable TV company, not company that runs a cable in to your house while on division sells internet and another a TV package.
- pyrocat 13y ago
  Which is why the cable cutting movement is so popular.
orf 13y ago
> If I pay money, I don't want to be sold Ever watched TV? Ever been to the cinema? Ever read a newspaper or a magazine? Get real.
- ianlevesque 13y ago
  All four examples you gave are in decline. His viewpoint is shared by a growing segment of the population.
  - orf 13y ago
    They are only declining because products that you don't pay for, where you are the product are booming.
    - hobs 13y ago
      Which just reinforces the point that you are not the product and paying at the same time.
      - orf 13y ago
        Despite that the US newspaper industry alone makes more revenue than the US video games industry. So you are indeed both the product and the consumer and will continue to be both far into the future.
        raylu 13y ago
        Wait, really? What are we including in "US newspaper industry?" Also, source?
  - nrivadeneira 13y ago
    Advertisements are not the reason they're in decline. People don't sign up for Netflix because it's ad-free, they sign-up for convenience.
    - 13y ago
corresation 13y ago
I'd say having to pay Microsoft for a subscription to be able to use Netflix on the device is what killed it for me. My AppleTV pushed the Xbox 360 from the entertainment setup purely because of that(1): It wasn't the price, but the concept that made it so offensive. (1) Though as a side benefit the AppleTV devices uses a small fraction of the power that the Xbox 360 used.

onedognight 13y ago

> Am I a customer or a product? Do you have Cable TV? 70% of America does, knowing that they are both customer and product.

marssaxman 13y ago
...which is funny, since I remember a lot of commentary about how the point of paying for cable TV when you can get broadcast TV for free is that by paying for the content you don't have to watch ads. I wonder why that never happened...
- bcRIPster 13y ago
  Actually, in the early days of cable, many channels had no commercials. If you wanted to watch commercials, you'd flip over to the home shopping network and play the "guess the final" price game with your buds.
potatolicious 13y ago
And cable providers are some of the most hated companies that people live with. Have you ever met even a single person who's a fan of their cable company? The difference here is while cable has (for now) an iron grasp on content and monopoly in their coverage areas, gaming has competition.
- onedognight 13y ago
  > Have you ever met even a single person who's a fan of their cable company? I am. I don't buy their TV or phone service, but they provide the best internet connection in every place I have lived. They have consistently been cheaper and faster than fios, uverse and any DSL. I can run a server, they don't block ports, and my IP is effectively static.
  - tomflack 13y ago
    Clearly he's referring to cable company as in Cable TV company, not company that runs a cable in to your house while on division sells internet and another a TV package.
pyrocat 13y ago
Which is why the cable cutting movement is so popular.

orf 13y ago

> If I pay money, I don't want to be sold Ever watched TV? Ever been to the cinema? Ever read a newspaper or a magazine? Get real.

ianlevesque 13y ago
All four examples you gave are in decline. His viewpoint is shared by a growing segment of the population.
- orf 13y ago
  They are only declining because products that you don't pay for, where you are the product are booming.
  - hobs 13y ago
    Which just reinforces the point that you are not the product and paying at the same time.
    - orf 13y ago
      Despite that the US newspaper industry alone makes more revenue than the US video games industry. So you are indeed both the product and the consumer and will continue to be both far into the future.
      - raylu 13y ago
        Wait, really? What are we including in "US newspaper industry?" Also, source?
- nrivadeneira 13y ago
  Advertisements are not the reason they're in decline. People don't sign up for Netflix because it's ad-free, they sign-up for convenience.
  - 13y ago

corresation 13y ago

I'd say having to pay Microsoft for a subscription to be able to use Netflix on the device is what killed it for me. My AppleTV pushed the Xbox 360 from the entertainment setup purely because of that(1): It wasn't the price, but the concept that made it so offensive. (1) Though as a side benefit the AppleTV devices uses a small fraction of the power that the Xbox 360 used.