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Apple Announces iTunes Movie Rentals

This is very interesting, I am a little surprised that Apple has gone ahead and jumped into this market. Why? This market already seems pretty well covered by on demand content, netflix on demand and netflix's continuing work to get their new dvr box on demand service integrated with mainstream tv dvr boxes. But perhaps Apple's "cool factor" will keep this service going smoothly along with their AppleTV product much like it has been keeping mac sales steady despite economic troubles. Keep on keeping on Apple! :)
 
Where are the captions/subtitles on movie rentals?

I don't see any subtitles or captions on the movie rentals. This greatly disappoints me as a hard-of-hearing woman since I've long admired Apple for incorporating accessibility into their hardware and software design. I definitely am not going to be renting any movies through the iTunes store, and I'll stick with my subscription service with Netflix.
 
rentals are officially coming in :D. but why cant i have the option to purchase? and where is star wars lol
 
Service Slowly Coming Online

The rental service seems to be slowly coming online now (it is still Tuesday in California, so I guess when they said "today" they weren't lying). Promotional banners have started appearing on the iTunes Store Home page. The user comments trick also works as noted above.

The new user agreement (will pop up the next time you go to buy/rent something) clears up any questions:

- HD content only available on :apple:Tv and has to be downloaded directly to that device.
- You can move a rented movie to only 1 device and once you do, the sending device (presumably your computer) will no longer be able to play the movie. It is safe to assume that you can watch the entire movie on the computer and then transfer it to iPod and iPhone and watch it again or (more likely) transfer it to the device to finish watching on the go
- Movies rented directly to :apple:Tv stay on the device

My two cents on the pro/con arguments of this new service: Jobs stressed that most people only watch the movie ONCE and that is what this model is based on. Instead of buying the movie for $9.99 - $14.99 (from iTunes) you can rent it for $2.99-$3.99 (a little more for HD content and :apple:Tv, but then HD DVD's cost more too. Considering the complexities of getting such a deal from all the major studios, I'd say apple did well and we'll see how it develops. Now, I'm off to watch my rental of 300 (currently not available for purchase).
 
So here is my question. If I rent a movie and put it on my 5G iPod or my soon to be bought iPhone, will that movie delete itself 24 hours after I start it, or will it not be able to delete itself until I sync the device back to iTunes?
 
irishcrazy2005 said:
So here is my question. If I rent a movie and put it on my 5G iPod or my soon to be bought iPhone, will that movie delete itself 24 hours after I start it, or will it not be able to delete itself until I sync the device back to iTunes?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the iphone itself would delete the movie automatically.
 
I'm thinking about renting 300..I've heard is wasn't worth the buy, but yes for a rent(and that was assuming rent for 7USD) so I'm figuring I'll get it soon


Yea...wish we could buy too(if we wanted to)
 
derringdo2001 said:
I don't see any subtitles or captions on the movie rentals. This greatly disappoints me as a hard-of-hearing woman since I've long admired Apple for incorporating accessibility into their hardware and software design. I definitely am not going to be renting any movies through the iTunes store, and I'll stick with my subscription service with Netflix.
Click to expand...

Looking through the rentals it seems as though there are a few that do in fact have closed captioning. Just glancing through I see The Italian Job, Orange County, Down to Earth, Pootie Tang, Charlotte's Web, Jimmy Neutron etc...

So they are there. I'm not hard of hearing but I do wish that they would have a more complete selection, I do see it as a move in the right direction though.
 
How to list all Rental Movies

1. Click Powersearch
2. Dropdown menu - Movies
3. Under the Movie Title field is a checkbox "Search movies that are available for Rental." Click it on.
4. Leave all fields blank and just hit the Search button.

At the moment this produces 291 titles available for rental.
 
zap2 said:
I'm thinking about renting 300..I've heard is wasn't worth the buy, but yes for a rent(and that was assuming rent for 7USD) so I'm figuring I'll get it soon


Yea...wish we could buy too(if we wanted to)
Click to expand...

The iTunes version is full screen. The movie itself is 2:35:1 aspect ratio. I would not rent it from iTunes if I were you. Rent the DVD.
 
zap2 said:
I'm thinking about renting 300..I've heard is wasn't worth the buy, but yes for a rent(and that was assuming rent for 7USD) so I'm figuring I'll get it soon


Yea...wish we could buy too(if we wanted to)
Click to expand...

Where the heck do you rent movies that it costs 7USD? I live in the Bay Area and even here I can get a movie from Blockbuster for $4.50.
 
jschmit said:
1. Click Powersearch
2. Dropdown menu - Movies
3. Under the Movie Title field is a checkbox "Search movies that are available for Rental." Click it on.
4. Leave all fields blank and just hit the Search button.

At the moment this produces 291 titles available for rental.
Click to expand...

Wow I'm just getting 150 when I do that. I wonder if location has anything to do with it?? (Florida here)
 
This is most comparable to cable providers' PPV services. In my area, it costs $3.99 for a library title (all 400 of them), $4.99 for a 1 month old release (nothing comes to PPV earlier than this) and $8.99 for an HD title. You have 24 hours to finish viewing from the time you rent (not from the time you start watching). So, for me, the iTunes rentals are more economical, and the selection is much better. Of course, I live in Canada, where cable company rates are almost as bad as wireless provider rates.
 
Well so much for watching it as soon as it starts downloading...I just rented the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie and it says...FOUR hours remaining to download...:eek::(
 
stealthman1 said:
Well so much for watching it as soon as it starts downloading...I just rented the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie and it says...FOUR hours remaining to download...:eek::(
Click to expand...

You can start watching it as soon as it has downloaded some of it (like 5-10%).
 
redfirebird08 said:
Anyone else notice that it says "full screen" on a lot of movies? That SUCKS.
Click to expand...

Rented 300. It says that it's Full Screen on the iTunes Page but the movie was delivered in Widescreen. Not sure what to make of it. Could be a glitch in the database and that movies will really be Widescreen.
 
Qubits said:
With those numbers, won't the real time catch up with the download, and cause a stop?
Click to expand...

Yes. :D

ynTheatre said:
Rented 300. It says that it's Full Screen on the iTunes Page but the movie was delivered in Widescreen. Not sure what to make of it. Could be a glitch in the database and that movies will really be Widescreen.
Click to expand...

Well that is a huge relief in my opinion. If these were in full screen that would be such a rip-off to everyone that does NOT have a video iPod or full screen monitor. I have an iPod Photo and am waiting for the touch to get a lot more storage before I upgrade, and my Macbook is widescreen. I would likely hook it up to my 23 inch HDTV monitor.
 
Qubits said:
O.K. then why are we smiling? Inverse play back and download defeats the system. Is it this way because there are too many of us downloading tonight?

Where are the pros when you need them?
Click to expand...

I don't know. I've always had slow downloads on iTunes (like 100k), but I think my college limits my connection since I'm in a dorm. It used to be much faster. I downloaded (to own) Pirates 3 not too long ago and it took like 8 hours. Just left it running all night. That's what I'd do if I were you -- and don't start watching it because you have 30 days to start watching it.
 
Try explaining that to the family who wants to sit down after dinner and watch a movie. THE WHOLE MOVIE. This is lame so far on my system, typical cable connection, Netgear Router and G5 Mac. :confused:
 
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