Parsifal
Forum Ninja
Joined: 01 Jan 2007
Posts: 1561
Location: Mobile(phone)
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 Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:17 am Post subject: Microsoft Considering Paid Download Accelerator Service |
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After receiving my most recent Xbox Flash Newsletter from Microsoft I noticed a link at the bottom asking if I'd be willing to take a survey about Xbox Live Marketplace (the in console online store for the X360). Figuring it wouldn't hurt to answer a few questions I clicked the link and came face to face with (a much prettier version of) the following:
| Quote: | Please take a few moments to complete a brief survey about your online experience with Xbox LIVE Marketplace content. Your feedback helps us optimize your downloading experience. You must have an Xbox LIVE subscription to participate. Your responses and identity will remain anonymous.
Which of the following content do you download off Xbox LIVE Marketplace most frequently?
Entertainment (movies; television shows; music videos)
Gaming content (demos; trailers; arcade games etc.)
Entertainment and gaming content equally frequently
Thinking about the time it generally takes to download content off Xbox LIVE Marketplace, how would you describe your downloading experience?
Superb - downloads are fast!
Satisfactory - I can wait, but downloads could be faster
Disappointing - wait times too lengthy/slow
What type of broadband service do you have?
Cable
DSL
Other/don't know
Compared to other online content services, how would you rate your downloading experience on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, in terms of speed?
Superior - downloads are faster on Xbox LIVE
Comparable to other online content services
Inferior - downloads are slower on Xbox LIVE
No experience/ comparison basis with other online services
Which of the following attributes is most significant to you, in terms of your online content downloading experience on Xbox LIVE Marketplace?
Content availability
Download speed
Ability to begin content playback/use upon download initialization
Would you consider buying a service that allows downloading Xbox LIVE Marketplace content faster than your current experience?
Yes
No
What is the maximum monthly subscription fee you would consider paying for a faster download service on Xbox LIVE Marketplace?
$2/month or less
$3/month
$4/month
More than $4/month
What is the maximum you would be willing to pay per download for a service that allows faster downloading on Xbox LIVE Marketplace than your current experience?
10 cents per download or less
15 cents per download
20 cents per download
25 cents per download or more |
Hmmm....I can't quite shake the feeling that they might have something in mind to help out with those slooow downloads...
So basically, a service which charges me a monthly (in my case, yearly) rate to connect my system/games to other people who have made the same purchases/expense, get all kinds of content for download but charging me for most of it (everything from movies and games to things like wallpapers for my GUI and in game content), and now they're looking to see if they can weasel a fee to give me download priority for the stuff I'm paying for anyway.
There are things like demos and trailers available for free, which is half the reason I get them.. The stuff I did pay for? I don't want to be paying extra on top of that. If I have long downloads ahead of me (like I did last weekend) I just que up the downloads and leave my X360 connected to Live while I'm out. There's no need to stay glued to the thing while it happens.
If you were home, sure you can't play major disc games while you download (it stops the download, though it resumes when you exit the game) but you can still tool around on Live Arcade and play that. You can also watch videos from your hard drive while it downloads (no idea if you can watch disc movies while downloading, I'll have to test that out). There's plenty of other stuff to keep you entertained while you wait for a download.
If you /need/ the extra kb/sec, then sure, go ahead and pay the charge. If the convenience of not having to wait longer is worth that much to you then by all means. Me? Not so much.
Maybe I should have made this a rant....
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