

Introducing Vdio - chuckharmston
http://blog.rdio.com/us/2013/04/introducing-vdio.html

======
deltaqueue
Rant 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
I don't know how Netflix producing content and making it exclusive to their
subscription service is a win for consumers.

~~~
deltaqueue
I'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).

~~~
ricardobeat
> Even if there are 5 Netflixes competing against each other [producing their
> own content] I would rather pay 5 x $7.99 a month

You've just described cable. If those subscriptions start to come in packages
we're back to square one.

~~~
neura
The original point was that a "netflix" provides better content than cable to
start with.

The argument against it was that the company providing the content would be
exclusively providing that content.

The rebuttal is that it would be better to pay 5 companies that all produce
exclusive content than to pay for cable, which "provides" mostly stuff you
don't want to see (and frequently don't have the option to not watch, if
you're viewing any of their content, ie: commercials).

~~~
ricardobeat
And my rebuttal is that paying 5 (or 10, 20, 50) companies that all produce
exclusive content _is almost exactly what cable is_ , the only differences are
you pay a middleman instead of the companies directly, and usually can't
choose individual providers, they come in preset packages.

I'd rather see independent producers distributing their content over various
netflix-like providers, otherwise we're just transplanting our current content
production model to the web. That will suck for both consumers _and_
producers.

~~~
neura
"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."

There's a big difference between a company like Netflix producing their own
content, making it available for watching uninterrupted, whenever you like
-vs- any of the content providers that charge cable companies for their
content streams that include commercials and are generally not available "on
demand", packaged together through a single company that won't give you just
the content you want, when you want it, but charges you for some combination
of provider's streams in a package.

Hence the argument of "the alternative is having to pay $100/month for a cable
subscription to watch garbage you don't want to see". 5x7.99 is not the cost
of cable. The only cable packages you can get for that price are extremely
limited. Also, they will require another $4.99 a month for on-demand, on top
of your regular cable fee, unless you're paying more than $100 a month, in
which case, it's included. ¬.¬

------
onemorepassword
"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.

~~~
msbarnett
> Can anybody think of any geo-tarded service that successfully rolled out in
> other countries later?

Rdio, iTunes Music Store, iTunes Movie/TV Store, Netflix, Amazon's digital
services, etc were all unavailable in Canada on launch and successfully rolled
out later on.

~~~
onemorepassword
Canada gets serviced fast compared to the rest of the world.

In (most of) Europe, Rdio has little impact. Same goes for iTunes video.
Netflix and Amazon digital are still missing.

iTunes Music is the only exception, but only because of the full weight of
Apple and the tie-in with Apple's playback devices.

Canadian bitching about US services being unavailable is a bit of joke if you
consider the rest of us are still waiting for Netflix _for over a decade_.
There aren't even any decent alternatives because the copyright mafia makes it
impossible.

------
tptacek
I 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
Its 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
I'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.

~~~
grimgrin
But 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-...](http://support.spotify.com/us/learn-
more/faq/#!/article/How-much-music-can-be-played-using-Spotify-Free-3)

[http://help.rdio.com/customer/portal/articles/187730-rdio-
fo...](http://help.rdio.com/customer/portal/articles/187730-rdio-for-free)

~~~
philwelch
I'd rather be cut off honestly than hectored into subscribing by having my
music continuously interrupted with advertising.

------
nickconfer
The 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.

~~~
evan_
This gets brought up every time anyone talks about any media streaming
services, but has it ever been shown that consumers _care_?

~~~
lukifer
They don't care pre-emptively, but it only takes getting burned once after
sinking hundreds or thousands into a dead platform that they start to get
skeptical.

~~~
dublinben
I'm sure any customers of Walmart Music are reluctant to fall for this again.

[http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2008/09/wal-mart-
latest...](http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2008/09/wal-mart-latest-to-
shut-down-drm-key-servers/)

~~~
lukifer
Sad to say, but I think it's a simple matter of enough people getting burned
for the scales to tip on non-DRM content.

------
davidkatz
The 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
My 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
I'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.

------
jcdavis
So...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

~~~
orangethirty
$15? I'd rather buy the DVD.

~~~
catilac
How much does it cost to rent?

~~~
jcdavis
For the ones I've seen, $3-5, which is reasonable enough

~~~
catilac
Thats not bad. I can't wait to try this tonight. If I can rent out a whole
season of some show for 3-5, then we have something.

------
mortenjorck
I'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
I 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.

------
nicksergeant
I 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.

------
ruswick
I'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.

------
shawnc
Only 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.

------
daigoba66
Honestly, 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.

~~~
bluepanda_
And 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
I 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.

------
jivid
This 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
The 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.

------
6cxs2hd6
Re 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>

------
smallegan
I 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.

------
arasmussen
Just 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.

------
tvaughan
For 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.

------
donaldguy
Definitely 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 :-/.

------
hcarvalhoalves
> 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.

------
beshrkayali
I think this is great!

I'm getting this <http://d.pr/i/UqZn> every time I try to play a preview
though.

Hopefully this will also be available on mobile!

------
nakedrobot2
The 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.

------
ditojim
The 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.

------
ihuman
Looks 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.

------
nobodyshere
Oh, thanks again for limiting region availability. I think I'll have to stay
in permanent vpn state:(

------
tommaxwell
Sigh, I'm on Ubuntu and it's not loading video. Why does this not surprise me.

------
edwardunknown
If 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.

