Apple Announces iTunes Movie Rentals

[MacRumors]

Apple announced that as of last week, the iTunes Store has sold over 4 billion songs. A new single-day record was set this past Christmas Day (December 25, 2007) with 20 million songs sold in 24 hours.

iTunes Movie Rentals
Touchstone, Mirimax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal & Sony all on board.

Over 1000 movies - available 30 days after the DVD release of the film.
Watch anywhere - Macs, PCs, all current iPods and iPhone.
Watch instantly - 30 second delay with modern broadband
Rules - 30 days to start watching, 24 hours to complete once started
Pricing - $2.99, new releases $3.99

The new rental service launches in the US today. International will launch later this year. Software updates for iPods and iTunes forthcoming.

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[twoodcc]

i wonder if you can rent the HD stuff without an apple tv?

[ImNoSuperMan]

Good for You. S.




I mean US. For the rest of us other than US, there is only hope.

[PlaceofDis]

this will actually get me to use the iTS for movies now. good work imo, Apple.

[pjarvi]

The only thing I didn't like was I didn't see a "Buy" button in the screenshots that were shown. Seems like all these studios are signing on for rental-only.

[PlaceofDis]

Originally Posted by pjarvi

The only thing I didn't like was I didn't see a "Buy" button in the screenshots that were shown. Seems like all these studios are signing on for rental-only.

we'll have to see how it is when the update comes through. might just be rental to test the waters and buy added at a later date. worst case scenario at least.

[Slip]

God by the time this rolls out here we'll all have forgotten
And oh, the obligatory price rise compared to all of Europe and the US :/
Still, it's here

[goroboto]

Am I reading this right? The movie will have been in Blockbuster and on Netflix for an entire MONTH before I can access it w/ an Apple TV?

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/3B48b Safari/419.3)

Originally Posted by twoodcc

i wonder if you can rent the HD stuff without an apple tv?

Good question. I wonder as well.

[czachorski]

Originally Posted by twoodcc

i wonder if you can rent the HD stuff without an apple tv?

Me too. Anyone know?

[freeny]

This is great but limiting to a segment of ipod/iphone users. I watch movies during my half hour commute on the train. It takes me 2 days to watch most movies. 24 hours cripples that option for me
Hopefully they will change this in the future...

[trevreyno]

Well as I expected the US from today the rest of the world who knows when.........?

[ariel]

i wish apple wasn't charging so much for the movie rentals to be honest... well should i say the movie companies that is

i can get DVDs at the big red box for $1

i have netflix and get probably 15 movies in a month for $18

why should i pay so much for rentals from apple??

[Doctor Q]

I was waiting on pins and needles to see if my Apple TV would become obsolete or gain new features with a software update. At last I know!

I'll be glad to try out movie rentals. Once Oscar nominations come out, I'll see if any of the nominated movies are available this way.

[baleensavage]

Originally Posted by twoodcc

i wonder if you can rent the HD stuff without an apple tv?

So far it doesnt look like it. If you check out the iTunes page and rentals it makes no mention of HD. The only place on Apple's site that mentions it is on the AppleTV page. If this is the case then that stinks. I'm not buying an AppleTV to rent HD movies from Apple.

Another thing to note on that page:

iTunes on DVD.

Buy select DVDs and you get something extra free: an iTunes Digital Copy. Just pop the DVD into your computer and the iTunes version transfers to your iTunes library, ready to watch or sync to your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV. Look for “iTunes Digital Copy” on the DVDs you buy, starting with the DVD release of Family Guy: Blue Harvest Special Edition.

Looks like the person who got that Family Guy movie was correct. That is good news.

[PlaceofDis]

Originally Posted by baleensavage

Another thing to note on that page:


Looks like the person who got that Family Guy movie was correct. That is good news.

indeed it is. saves many the hassle of ripping and encoding, which is a huge pain imo.

[samh004]

I'll be interested to see what "international" really is, and if "international" is just a few select countries in the EU.

[tomd89]

Hopefully the UK will finally get movie downloads this year!

[CANEHDN]

Doesn't seem worth it to me. That's expensive. I'd rather go to the Redbox and rent one.

[theLimit]

Exactly what I expected. The rental arrangement competes with Time Warner and Comcast On-Demand PPV. With a wider variety of content available on iTunes versus the cable companies, I'm one step closer to ditching cable for good.

[jemo07]

That is all... i can't see the US iTune store front since I am in Spain

[jaw04005]

So no HD TV Shows? Just movie rentals? Can I purchase HD movies?

[puffnstuff]

it would be nice if they had a super cheap monthly plan

[britabroad]

So let me get this right. I can rent a limited amount of movies 30 days later than everyone else, pay the same or more for it, only be able to watch it for 24 hours and have no DVD extras to enjoy. Wha?

[Stampyhead]

Can anyone see the rental store yet? I downloaded 7.6, but it is still mysteriously absent.