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Apple Holds Sale on Movie Collections in U.S. iTunes Store [Updated]
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I am really kicking myself now for not checking on the store earlier. Those were stupendous deals (though yes errors), seems I was about 10-15 minutes too late before I first tried buying them (4:03pm CET).
I doubt we'll see Harty Potter that low for years, if ever (in my lifetime).
If they made HP $25 I'd pick it up in a heartbeat, ESP when the Blu Rays aren't that expensive to pickup.
I doubt we'll see Harty Potter that low for years, if ever (in my lifetime).
If they made HP $25 I'd pick it up in a heartbeat, ESP when the Blu Rays aren't that expensive to pickup.
$60 for HP isn't too bad. Heck, any decent movie in HD that's under 9.99 may be worth a look. Of course it depends on what you consider a 'decent' movie.
You first.
A nice box will pop up and say, Thank you for buying at our sale price of $2 less then Amazon.com! In return, you get far, far worse picture quality and the ability to only play on Apple devices/Itunes! Aren't we so nice?
Update of sorts
I downloaded iTunes onto my work pc to see if the pricing was different than on my iPad. From my work PC all the bargain bundle prices showed, however, I was unable to purchase. First work kept resetting the network connection, then I had to reenter my proxy settings, then it said I was good and did I want to download them now, I said no of course, then I got the "this item is being modified, please try again later." message. Dang. Now I will have to stay later at work to make up for a deal I did not get.
I downloaded iTunes onto my work pc to see if the pricing was different than on my iPad. From my work PC all the bargain bundle prices showed, however, I was unable to purchase. First work kept resetting the network connection, then I had to reenter my proxy settings, then it said I was good and did I want to download them now, I said no of course, then I got the "this item is being modified, please try again later." message. Dang. Now I will have to stay later at work to make up for a deal I did not get.
So I got to the point that I was able to force the bundle price on the Harry Potter movies to flip between $9.99 and $59.99—it all depended on how I arrived at the bundle page. Following the link to the collection from certain movies in the bundle would cause it to show as $59.99. From others, or from the page MR linked to (with all the bundles), showed it as $9.99. But any attempt to buy it at $9.99 shows the "being modified" error.
Now, it shows as $9.99 no matter how I get to the bundle page, but I still can't purchase it. Something's clearly goofy on Apple's end.
I was able to purchase the Godfather bundle for $20 no problem, though. Shows up in my purchase history as $19.99 + tax.
Now, it shows as $9.99 no matter how I get to the bundle page, but I still can't purchase it. Something's clearly goofy on Apple's end.
I was able to purchase the Godfather bundle for $20 no problem, though. Shows up in my purchase history as $19.99 + tax.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
Apple just keeps giving us reasons NOT to buy from iTunes. Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever buy a movie again (well... until I have kids...). Physical or digital. Netflix has a pretty good selection and whenever I want to watch a movie I can just rent it. Typically you have to watch a movie 4 times before the purchase is worth it. I just don't see that happening... at least not on enough movies where I decide that buying is a better overall idea than renting.
I picked up the HD Lethal Weapon series for $10 debating on a few others. I was REALLY tempted to grab the HP series for $10 but since I own them all on blu-ray I passed. I should have grabbed them anyways for the price alone. oh well seems like it is not letting anyone buy it for that price now.
edit: I just checked and the Lethal Weapon set is now $20 but I was able to get it earlier for $10 I had just over $10 in my itunes account and I now have 3 cents. glad I at least jumped on that deal.
edit: I just checked and the Lethal Weapon set is now $20 but I was able to get it earlier for $10 I had just over $10 in my itunes account and I now have 3 cents. glad I at least jumped on that deal.
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It's funny. These would sell more at the original sale price and they'd probably make the studios more money as a result. Instead they'd rather overprice them STILL and lose out on my money (and probably many others' as well.)
Their choice was $10 or $0 and they've chosen $0.
Their choice was $10 or $0 and they've chosen $0.
yep
game publishers do it on steam a few times a year and sell A LOT. why would i pay the same for a digital copy as i would a blu ray?
Agreed. I'll probably boycott them until their on sale for $10 again. Their loss. I sure do love rolling around in ma money.
I think the best way to acquire these iTunes digital copies is when they come "free" with the Blu-Ray or DVD bundle. Your total cost is similar ($20 typically), you get a hard copy, extras, packaging, ability to lend/resell, etc. as well as all the conveniences of the iTunes copy.
I would pay $5-10 for a movie download from iTunes, for the sheer convenience of it, but not more. More than $10 and you're approaching the cost of the DVD/BD.
What would be great is if there was an equivalent of iTunes Match for movies. Some way to access the digital copies of movies that iTunes could verify you already owned on physical medium. (If there was, it would be ripe for abuse, so I understand why there isn't, but it would be great.)
I would pay $5-10 for a movie download from iTunes, for the sheer convenience of it, but not more. More than $10 and you're approaching the cost of the DVD/BD.
What would be great is if there was an equivalent of iTunes Match for movies. Some way to access the digital copies of movies that iTunes could verify you already owned on physical medium. (If there was, it would be ripe for abuse, so I understand why there isn't, but it would be great.)
I too got all excited on the $9.99 offer, just to be let down when it errored and modified to $59.99.
Regarding buying movies, I think the store would be very wise to allow a rented movie to be converted to a purchase within the 24 hour time period of its rental. I rented Oblivion last weekend and really liked it; I could see myself watching it again and would have gladly converted that $5 rental into a $15 purchase. But since it would have cost me the $15 ON TOP of the rental, I decided that for $20 I'd just order the blu-ray on Amazon and rip it to add to my digital collection. For the same amount I get the physical disc and offline viewing options. I'm sure Apple is doing just fine on movie rentals and purchases, but it does seem like they could really boost their revenue (and their influence) by exploring this "convert your choice" option.
Digital movies should NEVER be more than physical copies. Ever. $10-$15 is, IMO, a reasonable price for a digital movie purchase, and the sweet spot where I can justify an impulse buy. Anything more and I have to think too hard about it, which means I either don't buy, or I buy the physical copy. (Even then, I won't pay more than $20 for a BR.)
Regarding buying movies, I think the store would be very wise to allow a rented movie to be converted to a purchase within the 24 hour time period of its rental. I rented Oblivion last weekend and really liked it; I could see myself watching it again and would have gladly converted that $5 rental into a $15 purchase. But since it would have cost me the $15 ON TOP of the rental, I decided that for $20 I'd just order the blu-ray on Amazon and rip it to add to my digital collection. For the same amount I get the physical disc and offline viewing options. I'm sure Apple is doing just fine on movie rentals and purchases, but it does seem like they could really boost their revenue (and their influence) by exploring this "convert your choice" option.
Digital movies should NEVER be more than physical copies. Ever. $10-$15 is, IMO, a reasonable price for a digital movie purchase, and the sweet spot where I can justify an impulse buy. Anything more and I have to think too hard about it, which means I either don't buy, or I buy the physical copy. (Even then, I won't pay more than $20 for a BR.)
Yes, this is my biggest annoyance. I purchased BluRay because I love HD but then the digital copy is in SD... so annoying.
The digital copies are usually only in SD though. My Skyfall one I just redeemed was at least.
In this case WB felt the sale would devalue the movies to much and chose nothing over the possible loss in the future. Not saying i agree but that is their logic. Maybe they could rationalize it better if it was a free movie deal just to get exposure but in this case yes 0 has more value than 10 to them in the long run. The Harry Potter movies came out to what a dollar and a few cents? They want that movie series to command top dollar, same with TLTR. Thats their view
the digital copy is to watch on the go somewhere. if you have the blu rays why not watch them? they are better quality then itunes
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digital movie you are also paying for the bandwidth. you might stream it from itunes a few times per year and apple has to pay for that too.