Apple Rolls Out iTunes Movie Bundles

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/12/17/apple-rolls-out-itunes-movie-bundles/)


http://images.macrumors.com/article/2009/12/17/113646-itunes_movie_bundles.jpg

The iPhone blog notes (http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/12/17/itunes-offers-movie-bundles-holidays/) that Apple has launched movie bundles in the iTunes Store, offering consumers the opportunity to purchase a limited number of themed movie multi-pack downloads at discount pricing.

For example, the Godfather I & II bundle is offered at $14.99, while the films are available individually for $9.99 each. Some bundles carry even steeper discounts, with the [i]Dirty Dancing bundle and several other two-packs priced at $9.99, essentially offering buy-one-get-one-free pricing.

The movie bundles are not limited to two-packs, however, with offerings available up to quad-packs, such as [i]X-Men Quadrilogy , which is priced at $29.99, a 33% discount over individual pricing.

Finally, Apple has included a pair of HD download bundles in the new offerings in [i]W. / Religulous and a Jason Statham "Action Pack: [iTunes Store (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMovieBundle?id=343652851&s=143441), $34.99 HD/$24.99 SD] including [i]Crank 2, Transporter 3, and The Bank Job.

iTunes Movie Bundles currently appear to be limited to the U.S. and Canadian stores, with approximately 30-40 bundles currently available in each store.

Article Link: Apple Rolls Out iTunes Movie Bundles (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/12/17/apple-rolls-out-itunes-movie-bundles/)

[mkrishnan]

Oooh, that reminds me that I never saw Nick & Norah's.... it's good to see some sign of activity from Apple on the digital movie front. I like the idea; one of these days, it'll actually be compelling enough for me to buy content from their video store. I haven't yet.

[themoonisdown09]

Oooh, that reminds me that I never saw Nick & Norah's.... it's good to see some sign of activity from Apple on the digital movie front. I like the idea; one of these days, it'll actually be compelling enough for me to buy content from their video store. I haven't yet.

I haven't bought digital movies from iTunes either. I just can't get myself to pay for a digital-only copy when I can get a physical copy for a few dollars more and do whatever I want with it.

[mr.steevo]

I'd rather own the discs.

s.

[talkingfuture]

Looks like a good idea, I wonder if we'll see it outside Americashire soon.

[mkrishnan]

I haven't bought digital movies from iTunes either. I just can't get myself to pay for a digital-only copy when I can get a physical copy for a few dollars more and do whatever I want with it.

Yeah... as I don't have any very fast computers (I don't have any Core 2-based hardware... just a G5 and two Atom-based computers at this point), transcoding is a bit of a pain. Mostly what I do is rip DVDs in Video_TS format and watch them on an SD card in my Eee, which I usually carry on trips anyway.

The DVD also has a lot of extra content that's, AFAIK, still not in iTunes. At minimum iTunes needs a DVD feature analogous to iTunes LP....

[DipDog3]

Nice try, but I am still not buying movies from iTunes.

The cost of one movie will buy me a Netflix subscription for like 3 months!

[Corruptitudes]

Its not just for movies either. I noticed a few days ago, some Tv series pricing was dropped as well.

X-Files was priced at 39.99 per season, but currently is 14.99 per season. I snatched up a couple of seasons I didnt have!

I dont need discs, I just burn to my machine anyway to put on my ATV...if I need a hard copy, then I just burn to a disc for the few times I may need one.

[Prof.]

I've only been known to rent movies from iTunes. But now that I subscribed to netflix, I don't think I'll ever rent/buy a movie from iTunes again.

[Lesser Evets]

I haven't bought digital movies from iTunes either. I just can't get myself to pay for a digital-only copy when I can get a physical copy for a few dollars more ...

A FEW DOLLARS MORE?!???

I wish. Many times you can get the physical DVD for a few dollars less on Amazon. That's the reason I don't buy from Apple: prices are re-frickin-diculous.

The tunes store is practical enough, but the movie store is insane.

[Sambo110]

One day hopefully the movie store becomes better. When I have a bigger hard drive and faster internet with more quota, and the prices get cheaper, then I might consider it. But probably better to just buy the Blu Ray.

[Small White Car]

I haven't bought digital movies from iTunes either. I just can't get myself to pay for a digital-only copy when I can get a physical copy for a few dollars more and do whatever I want with it.

Yeah, but you can't get HD by buying DVDs. (And Blu Ray doesn't let you "do whatever I want with it" the same way that DVD does, so that's not a solution either.)

It's a trade-off to be sure, you're right that having the disk is often better. But it depends. I still buy DVDs, buy Blu-Ray disks, buy HD iTunes movies, rent HD iTunes movies, and get Netflix DVDs in the mail.

It really depends on the film and how I want to use it. There's no single perfect solution yet that I'd use every single time.

I just got a Playstation to stream netflix off the 'net so that will probably kill the iTunes rentals and Netflix DVDs off that list.

But I'm sure I'll still be picking and choosing my media from different sources for quite some time to come.

[aucl]

A FEW DOLLARS MORE?!???

I wish. Many times you can get the physical DVD for a few dollars less on Amazon. That's the reason I don't buy from Apple: prices are re-frickin-diculous.

The tunes store is practical enough, but the movie store is insane.

I agree, downloading should be cheaper, not same or over prized as physical discs. esp. since they offer bonus content, often more languages, subtitles, ...

Oh, and movies are not globally available! Why? there are many people who prefer to watch the original version of movies, cause even the best translation can loose a lot of a movies quality.

I would not mind paying a fair amount for a movie, lets sat 5Eur, and then like 50cent for an additional subtitle track or 1Eur for another language track. but i guess that will never happen.

So since they do not even sell the Original versions, or do not even bring the movie to shops at all, often pirating is the only chance, unfortunately, ...

ps: my whole music collection of currently about 2000 tracks is legally bought, ...

[Goona]

Is itunes the biggest online video store around?

[seedster2]

iTunes movie store is not an attractive option. Netflix and others offer more for less.

I will stick with physical media (BD) for cheaper with superior quality. The same model used for music can't be easily applied to the movie store.

[SpaceKitty]

I gave up buying DVDs a few years ago. I do all my TV viewing through iTunes and buy everything HD if it's available. We have 2116 TV shows and 106 movies all purchased in iTunes.

We actually owned all the DVD seasons of the X-Files but when the show became available on iTunes, we bought them there instead of taking the time to burn all those DVDs. It would have taken to much time to do that and them even more time to label them with descriptions for iTunes. I think I got to burning season four when I have up and bought them on iTunes.

I don't buy new releases though, $14.99 is too high. Eventually they will be $9.99. Never wanted to try netflix. We don't rent movies.

[joeYYY]

The DVD also has a lot of extra content that's, AFAIK, still not in iTunes. At minimum iTunes needs a DVD feature analogous to iTunes LP....

It's called iTunes Extra.

[Vmaatta]

Once again a reminder that the frickin Movie and TV stores are not available in the Finnish iTunes store. :mad:

[mkrishnan]

It's called iTunes Extra.

Oh, oops, I didn't realize they rolled this out. So what percentage of movies have it, nowadays?

[Doctor Q]

I don't see a bundle for the two dozen or so James Bond movies. The iTunes Store has only half of them, still sold separately for $10 or $20.

[mkrishnan]

I don't see a bundle for the two dozen or so James Bond movies. The iTunes Store has only half of them, still sold separately for $10 or $20.

There's a bundle for the Aliens movies, but it only includes the one that doesn't suck, so it's the same as just clicking on the Aliens movie URL. :D

[JGowan]

L to the O to the T to the R Bundles!

Actually, I have all the movies ripped from the extended version, but this would be nice to have officially on the store as a download.

Gandalf for President!
:D

[Dagless]

Until prices are drastically lowered I'll continue to buy DVDs. It's a step in the right direction but discs are just still cheaper.

All my PC games are downloads though. Steams just too cheap to pass up.

[ravenvii]

That's awesome. I'd buy the Godfather bundle.

Oh wait, that's right, no captions or subtitles.

Nevermind.

[libertyforall]

Well Apple has to do SOMETHING to keep relevant in light of all the limelight Boxee, Hulu, XBMC and Netflix are getting these days... The new Boxee beta is looking really good. The Apple TV and limited Front Row just don't stack up to the free content Boxee and Hulu offer... :cool: There, I said it. :D

FULL Apple TV functionality should be added to Front Row! Both need to be more like Boxee, though, and WAY more FREE content!

[hobbes1st]

And why is this better than Netflix streaming or delivering a disc to my door?

[Antares]

The prices are still too high. I personally wouldn't even consider buying a digital download movie until they are priced $5.99 or less in HD. As long as physical copies are available, I would always prefer a physical copy. Though, hit that $5.99 price for a 1080p download and I'm game.

[MacFly123]

I saw these the other day. Good deals! :) Now if only we could get 1080p HD and iTunes Extras on everything with same day as DVD release and 48 or 72 hour rental!!! That is the one thing that bugs me about my Apple TV is the stupid studios playing different games on each title! :rolleyes:

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.5; en-gb; HTC Hero Build/CUPCAKE) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1)

I'll stick to my (bag of hurt) Blu-ray discs and the PS3 but nice try anyway Apple.

[xIGmanIx]

i would rather own the ones i want (BD) otherwise they go on the netflix.

[spillproof]

Nice try, but I am still not buying movies from iTunes.

The cost of one movie will buy me a Netflix subscription for like 3 months!

Lol I learned that lesson the hard way.

[macfan881]

nice bundles I like the Matrix,V for vendetta,Constatine, and blade one i dont have blade and Constatine so i may pick that one up if i get a itunes card for christmas.

[kmiahali]

Pretty smart idea, setting Apple back at the top of the media selling mountain..

[AAPLaday]

Theres very few films i have bought from iTunes, mainly older ones that were really cheap anyway, but i like using the rental option they have. Yes £3.50 is a lot for new releases but theres plenty of titles over a year old that are only £2.50.

£3.50 for new titles isn't that bad for me because i very rarely buy films anyway as most of them are a let down nowadays, and i don't often watch films over and over again.

[jimmyjoemccrow]

Star Trek was recently reviewed on Arstechnica (I think it was Ars) specifically because of the extra content. The review found that it offered nothing new and less than the DVD.

[kingtj]

I thought it was funny they made sure not to include "Godfather Part 3" in the bundle. That one sucked so bad compared to the first two.

Actually, for a classic set of films like those, I would think it might justify buying the Blu-Ray disc version they've got out now.


That's awesome. I'd buy the Godfather bundle.

Oh wait, that's right, no captions or subtitles.

Nevermind.