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iPO at MWSF - Apple Adds Movie Rentals to iTunes

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 2:30 PM - by

SAN FRANCISCO - Noting that consumers don't want to rent their music but do want to rent movies, Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday introduced iTunes movie rentals, which are now available in standard resolution or high-definition. Over 1,000 titles will be available by the end of February from the six major studios: 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Sony. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate, and New Line Cinema are also involved.

Pricing will be US$2.99 for catalog titles and $3.99 for new movies, which will become available 30 days after their release on DVD. High-definition films will be $1.00 more; over 100 of those will eventually be available, with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound included.

Users will be able to start watching films within 30 seconds of ordering a rental, with the option to move them to an iPod or iPhone even in the middle of the download. Rentals will be available for 30 days after purchase, but once users start viewing them, they'll have 24 hours to watch all of it before it expires.

The new feature is part of iTunes 7.6, which is now available as a free software update. Rentals are also available directly from Apple TV, with no computer required. The rentals work with iPod classic, iPod nano with video, iPod touch, and iPhone.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:32 pm

Of these 1,000 movies that will be available, can I buy them from Apple also?

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Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 792 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:46 pm

Guest wrote:
Of these 1,000 movies that will be available, can I buy them from Apple also?

I assume that you will still be able to buy movies as well as rent them.

I just updated iTunes to the new version. I don't see anything regarding movie rentals, maybe the iTunes Store is not yet set up for it. Anyway, we will know sooner later as to rentals and purchases.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:52 pm

This sounds ridiculous. I can rent a DVD for a whole week for the same price, and it comes with the DVD extras. Why isn't it cheaper to get it over the internet? Also, why do the studios charge almost as much to let Apple sell a film as they do to produce a DVD and ship it to Walmart?

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:25 pm

You can indeed rent a DVD for the same price, but can you start watching it less than a minute from placing the order? Your DVD rental service lacks that convenience, and not everybody really cares about the DVD extras. This competes more with the pay-per-view movies on cable and satellite, and the price is competitive in that arena. It also might compete with premium services like HBO for occasional movie watchers.

As to why studios are charging so much for sales... well, they're still behind the times, terrified of the internet, and more interested in protecting their DVD sales than giving consumers a convenient and legal means to purchase movies. The incentive to mark down the price just isn't there.

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Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 792 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:22 pm

If you select "Browse" movies you will see Rent Movie in the price column. See the iTunes listing for The Aristocats (not The Artistocrats).

I assume that they have to go through the code for the movies and add the rent option.

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