YouTube Introduces Movies On Demand Service

Life just got better for all YouTube loyalists. After a dull week, rife with updates on how to transfer videos from a slowly dying Google Videos onto an over-worked YouTube, the worst seems to be over.

YouTube has now officially entered the online movie rental space. The service that is all set to launch this week will charge users for streaming mainstream Hollywood movies. YouTube is poised to give the popular iTunes service a stiff competition. iTunes currently is the most popular paid video streaming service, and now with YouTube entering the space with a host of big names backing it; the competitor seems to have toughened overnight.

YouTube, to say, was in plans of launching its own video streaming service since long. But, it was in the process of getting in the biggest names in the market under its hood. YouTube has so far managed to get in studios like Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Brothers and Universal, as also independent studios like Lionsgate and Kino Lorber. However, Paramount Pictures, Fox and Disney have not given in their consent to licensing their movies, as yet.

Hollywood, however,  is now optimistic about YouTube’s this move, since its being seen as an excellent revenue generating mode. All the more crucial, since the revenues coming in from the home entertainment sector has been on a steady decline.

Source : YouTube Introduces Movies On Demand Service

Apple to Launch Music Service Before Google

According to Reuters, Apple has almost finished development of their upcoming cloud-based music storage service. It’s been known through a number of sources that Google too has been working on a similar service for a while now. It turns out that Apple might beat Google to make their service public.

Apple is still in talks with music labels for licenses. Some of these labels include Universal, Sony Music, Warner Music and EMI. The service will allow its users to store their music on an online server and be able to access it from anywhere using an internet connection.  Amazon had recently launched a music service. Google and Apple have both been buying music service companies. Google had bought Pushlife and Simplify Media. Apple too had bought a service called Lala, which they closed back in April 2010. There has been no official statement on the launch of such a service, although Google was to said to have launched the service around Christmas last year.

Source : Apple to Launch Music Service Before Google