Xbox Elite’s new price: $449
OK, the folks who build retail ads are going public with Microsoft’s poorly kept secret: Xbox 360 prices are going down.
Here are the new prices according to a Circuit City ad cited around the Net today. Other retail ad leaks confirm the numbers.
Xbox 360 Elite: $449 ($30 cut)
Xbox Pro $349 ($50 cut)
Core $279 ($20 cut)
I’ve seen Aug. 8 and Aug. 12 as effective dates. A $20 cut also is in effect for the HD DVD standalone unit (drive), necessary for high-def on all of these machines. Check out my previous rundown of how the Xbox price cuts might affect video downloaders and home theater owners.
CinemaNow’s British invasion
CinemaNow continues its musical comeback with a deal bringing the download retailer videos from artists such as Lily Allen (left), David Bowie, Coldplay, the Decemberists, Gorillaz and Norah Jones.
CinemaNow has sealed deals with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI and Sanctuary Records. The music videos will be offered on its Web site WatchMusicHere.com, as well as on CinemaNow itself.
The selection also will include uncut European versions of select music videos as well as concert performances from around the world, CinemaNow said Wednesday. Prices for download-to-own range from $9.95-$14.95. For rentals it’s $2.99-$3.99. All videos are in the WMV format.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment digital chieftain Thomas Hesse was so gobsmacked he rushed out this canned message: “As consumers increasingly rely on the Internet for easy access to high quality content, we think that (CinemaNow) will occupy an even more prominent place in the entertainment landscape.”
Not to be outdone, CinemaNow’s general Curt Marvis countered with this slice of corpo-speak: “Our music video catalog is growing rapidly, as we strive to offer our customers the widest selection available in today’s marketplace.”
CinemaNow relaunched WatchMusicHere.com last month packaged with a similar Warner Music deal.
Xbox 360: Looks like $50 off
Update 1: The price cuts on these units are as follows, according to retail ads being prepared for publication.
Xbox 360 Elite: $449 ($30 cut)
Xbox Pro $349 ($50 cut)
Core $279 ($20 cut)
Update 2: Microsoft is cutting the price of the HD DVD drive to $179, the company said Thursday. A promotion similar to the recent Blu-Ray campaign gives buyers five free HD DVDs.
The “rumor” that Microsoft plans a price cut for the Xbox $360 is back — this time with a hard date and a dollar amount. The $50 cut will come Aug. 8, a week before EA’s super-popular “Madden 2008″ streets, the Hollywood Reporter said.
Microsoft issued the standard “no comment” that adds up to a non-denial Tuesday, saying: “We have no announcements to make on pricing at this time.”
It was unclear if all three Xbox 360 machines would be affected.
The Elite model, which favors movie downloaders with its HDMI output and 120GB hard drive, debuted in late April. The console goes for $479. A price reduction on that unit would give fence-sitting high-def TV owners another good reason to upgrade their Xboxes to 1080p. Almost all decent HD TV sets come 1080p-ready these days. (The Elite does not play HD DVDs without the HD DVD add-on drive, however.)
The Pro model Xbox 360, by far the most popular, goes for $399 (a price point that with or without the $50 doesn’t add up for HD DVD consumers seeking a bargain — the shaky outboard HD player goes for $199 $179). Almost all analysts consider the Pro 360 unit overpriced.
However it shakes out, the $50 Xbox cut will bring new customers into the Marketplace LIVE tent, with its quickly growing menu of downloadable movies and TV shows. Warner Home Video’s “300″ and Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s “Heroes: Season 1″ will be available as a high-definition download via the Marketplace.
Sony recently dropped the price of its 60GB PlayStation 3 from $599 to $499. That unit plays Blu-Ray discs.
Internet + TV = male nirvana
An outfit called iSuppli reports that almost two-thirds of our fellow Americans want their televisions integrated with the Internet. The other third, presumably, responded: say what?
“The awareness and demand for media home networking is growing rapidly among consumers,” said Steve Rago, principal analyst, networking/optical communications for iSuppli. The consumer polling, done in the first quarter, shows that 61% “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that they wanted the ability to network the Internet to their televisions. When just the male responses were tallied, that number leaped to 71%.
iSuppli (”applied market intelligence”) didn’t say how many people were polled or what the margins of error were or any of that pesky real survey stuff. What the hell: Here’s a stat with zero margin of error concerning this blog’s readers: 100% want their TVs sucking in broadband 24/7.
iSuppli notes:
Shipments of network-equipped devices (such as DVRs and DTVs), along with consumer PCs and home network bridges and gateways, are expected to rise to 732.9 million units by 2011, more than triple the 225.3 million that were shipped in 2006
By 2011, Wi-Fi will be the most common network physical interface for such products, followed by Cat 5, power line and coax. The interface technology of choice will be significantly influenced by geographic region.
The report, available for real money, is called “Home Networking: In Search of a Killer Connection.”
CinemaNow game for Xbox 360 hookup
CinemaNow says its upgraded Media Manager software now can send video titles to TVs via the Xbox 360 console.
Previously, customers who hadn’t figured out a workaround had to download videos to a Windows PC and watch them there, or when possible burn the title to disc for use in a standard DVD player. All of the above steps on the pain-in-the-ass side.
Now, the downloaded content can be played via the network-connected 360, which of course plugs directly into living-room TVs. The Media Manager upgrade makes CinemaNow’s burn-to-DVD function available to Vista users. Xbox 360 users have been able to access movies via the Xbox Live marketplace for some time.
Wednesday’s corporate-speak from CinemaNow CEO Curt Marvis went like this: “CinemaNow is on a mission to enable simple and fast integration into our customers’ lives. This upgrade alone makes our entire library of more than 7,000 videos available to the millions of Xbox users who are downloading movies online and watching them on their TVs.”
