Movie Rentals Limited To Latest iPods

[MacRumors]

Some users are beginning to realize that iTunes Store Movie Rentals may not be compatible with their iPods (via Wired).

While Apple does state in its movie rental FAQ that a "iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic, or iPod nano (3rd generation)" is required for mobile movie rental access, other more prominent references only mention "iPhone or iPod." This distinction has left users of video-capable fifth generation iPods without the capability to play the files, though they can play purchased movies, TV shows, and compatible podcasts.

Similarly, it was noted early on by Engadget that Apple's HD movie rentals were only accessible to the forthcoming Apple TV Take 2, and would not be transferable to a computer or portable device.

Article Link

[Sky Blue]

and was mentioned by Steveo during the Keynote

[PlaceofDis]

i think its a bit backwards for apple to not include the 5th gen ipods since they can play video.

the restrictions on the HD rentals is crap too. imo.

[jessica.]

It only supports my reasoning to never rent a movie from Apple. I think this persistent assing-out of people who don't buy the latest and greatest with every sily keynote.

[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/4A93 Safari/419.3)

In Apple's defense, Jobs did say all "Current" iPods in the Keynote. I still think it is silly to exclude the 5th generation iPod. Not something I'm happy about but we'll see what happens. I also think that users should be able to rent HD movies on their computers and not just the AppleTV but maybe this will come with time.

[Dicx]

Originally Posted by Sky Blue

and was mentioned by Steveo during the Keynote

Ditto, quote, Ditto. not really news, just bad reading by consumers.

If I remember correctly, he even showed pictures of the iPods that it was for.

[dalvin200]

Originally Posted by kornyboy

In Apple's defense, Jobs did say all "Current" iPods in the Keynote. I still think it is silly to exclude the 5th generation iPod. Not something I'm happy about but we'll see what happens.

Yeah, but one of the "current" iPods is also called the iPod Shuffle

[TheSlush]

Originally Posted by dalvin200

Yeah, but one of the "current" iPods is also called the iPod Shuffle

I have been trying to play videos on my Shuffle for a long time now! Is there a trick to it? Can anyone help?!

[daveman235]

OOh Steve, why must you piss off the people that have made you the ceo that you are today.....Without these early adopters where would you be?

Oh well, everyone buy a new ipod! I got stock in this company and i wanna ride it to the moon!

[MacTheSpoon]

I do hope they change their policy of restricting HD movies to the Apple TV only. What's that all about?

[kwood]

Originally Posted by TheSlush

I have been trying to play videos on my Shuffle for a long time now! Is there a trick to it? Can anyone help?!

You can do it, but it has to be unlocked in the iPod shuffle's firmware. If you send it to me I can do it for you, I'll even pay for shipping.

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A93 Safari/419.3)

I'm not saying I like this move, but I understand it. I bet apple makes next to nothing on rentals - the rental service is mostly to get us to buy the accompanying hardware.

Of course, a case could be made that apple will sell more iPods overall if it takes better care of existing customers. But I guess they ran the numbers and don't see it that way.

[hob]

That's darn cheeky. I don't like this kind of profiteering, but Apple have been doing it with their iPods forever! Certain 4G iPod functions would have been easy enough to port to the 3G iPod, but it wasn't done. Why? It sells more iPods.

People with enough money will get a new iPod just for that one feature. (if they want it, that is)

[KindredMAC]

Dear Steve-

When you bring out any new items/technology/features or such in the future, please explain it to everyone as if they are 3 year old children. Obviously, people cannot understand the 5 year old level of understanding that you currently have been applying.

Sincerely,
KindredMac

[Doctor Q]

I don't think the "full technical specs" need to be in keynote speeches, which are watched by the people who study details anyway. But Apple should make sure the requirements are clear in all the places where they talk about rentals on their website, and on the iPod pages and in the iTunes Store too.

It's not wise for people to simply assume that a new service will work on an older model, without checking. But Apple should make "checking" as easy as possible.

[entropys]

Considering that current gen ipods and iphones use completely different operating software compared with older gen ipods, why is this surprising?

No need for conspiracy theories.

[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/4A93 Safari/419.3)

Can anyone here think of a logical reason, other than they want to sell more AppleTVs, that Apple would not allow HD rentals on a computer? Monitors these days are at a high enough resolution to support playback so why not allow people to rent in HD from their desktop/laptop if they want too?

[jragosta]

Originally Posted by kornyboy

[size=1]Can anyone here think of a logical reason, other than they want to sell more AppleTVs, that Apple would not allow HD rentals on a computer? Monitors these days are at a high enough resolution to support playback so why not allow people to rent in HD from their desktop/laptop if they want too?

It's plausible that the copyright owners insisted on this. Once the movie is on your computer, it's easy to convert it to another form and send it out to the world.

It may be possible to do that with Apple TV, but it would undoubtedly be harder.

I don't know if that's THE reason, but you just asked for a single logical reason.

[Phobophobia]

The movie studios won't let devices without proper security play rentals. They are worried about people circumventing the DRM. The fifth gen iPod is probably missing DRM features that the latest iPods have.

[iStefmac]

Huge let down for people with 1 year old iPods.

Even bigger letdown regarding the HD movies.

Yes Steve, we did all beg for HD movies through iTunes, and rentals of HD is better than we could have hoped for.

Steve turned around and said fine, but you have to buy our flopPLE TV as to get it. What a failed product. They should have done more than lower the price and spice up the UI.

[11thIndian]

Originally Posted by kornyboy

Can anyone here think of a logical reason, other than they want to sell more AppleTVs, that Apple would not allow HD rentals on a computer? Monitors these days are at a high enough resolution to support playback so why not allow people to rent in HD from their desktop/laptop if they want too?

This might have been another restriction on the part of the studios. That HD movies can only be played on the TV may be seen a preventative measure in the piracy of HD content. Surely, persistent and savvy individuals will at some point circumvent the "explosion" aspect of rental files.

It seems to me that Apple is working along two reasonable generalities:

1. People who want to watch HD movies will want to watch them on a big 16:9 TV.

2. If people are planning on watching movies on their iDevice, they'll likely be downloading it from iTunes on their computer.

I'm a first-generation video-iPod owner. I think the writing was on the wall that movie rentals wouldn't be available when the new iPod interface wasn't included in updates to my iPod. I've had it for two years now, and I'm willing to accept it's not going to be able to keep up with every new thing Apple does. I don't know why people think they're being ripped off. Video rentals was never promised when I got it, and it still does what was advertised, so what's the problem?

When I eventually get an iPhone, that will serve as my portable movie rental device. My 30GB iPod will always have it's use.

[MacBytes]

Category: Apple Hardware
Link: Apple Prohibits Movie Rentals on Recent iPods
Description:: none

Posted on MacBytes.com
Approved by Mudbug

[Mindflux]

I am slightly annoyed by this. I have a 5G iPod that I rarely use. But I never hook it up to a TV or anything. It would be NICE to be able to toss a rental on there though.

[Daveoc64]

I think that it's a strange decision for Apple to make.

It's not that clearly advertised either which is really frustrating for users.

I expect it is mostly due to the secure clock thing, without it the rental service wont work.

They might release an update eventually.


I don't think the usual Apple idea:

"Don't update old product = people will buy new product"

applies in this case.

Quite clearly they are missing out on a huge number of potential customers for their new store - they realised that with iPod games which work on both sets of 5G iPods.

The other thing to note is that 5G iPod owners were the first to go down the video path, I expect they are more likely to be buying/renting movies as a result.

[MacFly123]

Steve Jobs said several times that it is only with CURRENT GENERATION iPods and iPhone. My guess is that it is because they run OS X to enable all the DRM and advanced features etc.

Now what they did NOT make clear is that if you rent a movie on your computer you can NOT sync it to Apple TV. If you want to watch it on your TV you have to rent it on the Apple TV.

I want to know why you don't get the option to buy movies on the Apple TV too as well as rent? I understand that you only get the buy option as well as rent on your computer. Can anyone give some insight there? If not they need to add that.