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Apple Announces iTunes Movie Rentals
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I'm having the same problem. It's not going to be much good if no-one can find it.
I thought I was going crazy becuase I can't find the rental area.
LOL! At $3 for the cheapest 24hr rental, the studios are shooting themselves in the foot. At $5 per HD rental, they are shooting themselves in the head.
And making Apple TV just as worthless as all the other online rental outfits, with the notable exception of Netflix, which for $17 flat fee per month offers a huge selection of delivered to your home DVDs (including HD-DVD and BR), plus 17 hours of actually pretty good quality streamed content.
The only viable model is either a reasonable flat rate subscription, or a much cheaper per movie download. Until the studios get this in their heads, Apple TV is a non-starter.
And making Apple TV just as worthless as all the other online rental outfits, with the notable exception of Netflix, which for $17 flat fee per month offers a huge selection of delivered to your home DVDs (including HD-DVD and BR), plus 17 hours of actually pretty good quality streamed content.
The only viable model is either a reasonable flat rate subscription, or a much cheaper per movie download. Until the studios get this in their heads, Apple TV is a non-starter.
Wouldn't that make everything, by definition, not a "New Release"?
Where did you see this bit?
Dumping Netflix after this month. I am currently on the 2 movies a month plan ...and I've run out of crap I want to see. With Apple's rentals I will only need to rent the ones I absolutely want to see.
I would have balked at the idea of 24hr rentals if you had to download the whole movie first and then watch it ...that would take some planning. The fact that you can watch the movie while it's streaming to you makes it perfectly fine with me. It's exactly like pay-per-view.
As long as it's smooth and free of bugs I will be loving my new service
I would have balked at the idea of 24hr rentals if you had to download the whole movie first and then watch it ...that would take some planning. The fact that you can watch the movie while it's streaming to you makes it perfectly fine with me. It's exactly like pay-per-view.
As long as it's smooth and free of bugs I will be loving my new service
I think this time Apple is making a mistake. Their video strategy is flawed in my opinion. I believe Netflix is getting it better, at least until we get to DRM free movies perhaps in the future. DRM cripples things so bad that it doesn't seem to make sense to buy video. Apple has finally come to terms with this and is promoting rental. However, what I think works for online video is the subscription style that Netflix is using. No crazy 24 hour limitation, no per movie payment, choose the movie you want to watch and if you don't like it try another one. I'm sorry to say, because I see advantages to the iTunes, AppleTV offer but the movie rental is destined to fail. The sooner Apple realizes it has to be at least as good as Netflix the better chances they'll have. In the meantime I just wish Netflix had a player for Mac. Let's hope they get their act together with Silverlight.
Pros: Good integration with iTunes, AppleTV and other Apple devices. HD content.
Cons: Ridiculously small window to watch the movie (24 hours). 30 days wait after release. Small number of movies available. It seems expensive to me considering this is electronic distribution, compared with Netflix and many other rental services.
Conclusion: Thumbs down. Apple, get your act together. What customers need is more movies and a subscription service. This expensive and restrictive rental scheme is not going to fly.
Pros: Good integration with iTunes, AppleTV and other Apple devices. HD content.
Cons: Ridiculously small window to watch the movie (24 hours). 30 days wait after release. Small number of movies available. It seems expensive to me considering this is electronic distribution, compared with Netflix and many other rental services.
Conclusion: Thumbs down. Apple, get your act together. What customers need is more movies and a subscription service. This expensive and restrictive rental scheme is not going to fly.
I agree that the price is too high, but you're venting against Apple - it isn't Apple, it is the movie studios demanding the high prices... be mad at them!
It's not 24 hours to watch the movie from when you rent it, it's 30 days. It's just that once you start watching the movie, then the 24 hour clock starts ticking. That seem like a completely reasonable system to me.
When was it that the rest of the world was supposed to get movies again? Was it January 2007? or 2006?
All of us outside of the US, as usual, get to sit on the sidelines and watch...
The 30-day after the DVD release wait is what kills this for me. I would have dumped Netflix and gotten an AppleTV instead. I don't get why media companies do this to themselves.
The definitely need a subscription service. If they had one of those, I'd go buy an Apple TV tomorrow and subscribe and get rid of my blockbuster.
I got a feeling the studios want more competition so they dont want everyone to have the exact same type of service.
This has a 40% chance of succeeding the way I see it. They are offering HD with Dolby 5.1 and you can do it all from the Apple TV. Basically this is a competitve product to On Demand services, but still not as good as a Netflix or Blockbuster.
I got a feeling the studios want more competition so they dont want everyone to have the exact same type of service.
This has a 40% chance of succeeding the way I see it. They are offering HD with Dolby 5.1 and you can do it all from the Apple TV. Basically this is a competitve product to On Demand services, but still not as good as a Netflix or Blockbuster.
I'll be looking forward to watching you and all the other self-proclaimed know-it-all's eat those words when this thing takes off. Remember what they said about the iPod when it first came out...
Hi,
has anyone seen movie rentals on the iTunes Store? I downloaded the update but can not see the rental option anywhere. Am I missing something?
At the moment the service is only available in the US.
Unless your in the US it won't be available.
The rest of us outside of the US will just have to wait,just like we are still waiting to be able to buy movies through itunes.
To give time for DVD sales to happen, without killing that revenue stream. Which is flawed to: cripple the future to protect the past, when the past is a fast-going-extinct-dinosaur.