Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Films on the UK iTunes Store
- Thread starter stustill
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
£7.49 is the cheap ones. They say that the 'new' films will be £10+.. can't see many shifting at those prices.
£3.49 seems to be the baseline - simpsons movie, which is old now and is being sold in the bargain bins for little more than that, is at that price. For new stuff it may be justified (but as you say a little on the high side given that I can get unlimited rentals from tesco for £5/month). For the older stuff around £2 maybe.. £1.49 would get some traction.
Maybe this is just a trial and they'll drop the prices soon.
Rental prices seem reasonable - comparable to what you would pay at a video store but without the hassle of using petrol and actually going to the store. The prices to buy however, especially the older titles, is completely off. As has been pointed out, a lot of them are available on DVD, with extras and a nice physical copy for when your hard drive craps out, for £5 or less.
To make this work in the UK they REALLY need to drop the
TV price. I have a 160Gb unit that my mother-in-law picked up in the States in April which cost £170 at the exchange rate at the time, £30 less than the 40Gb unit in the UK and £100 less than the exact same model over here. For our American friends I saved around $200 getting one from the US. £129 and £179 and they would be much more likely to sell, especially now we have films available.
To make this work in the UK they REALLY need to drop the
TV price. I have a 160Gb unit that my mother-in-law picked up in the States in April which cost £170 at the exchange rate at the time, £30 less than the 40Gb unit in the UK and £100 less than the exact same model over here. For our American friends I saved around $200 getting one from the US. £129 and £179 and they would be much more likely to sell, especially now we have films available.
Purchases are too expensive. Who's going to pay 6.99 for a downloaded version of "Clear and Present Danger" when they can get the 2 disk special edition from amazon for 4.97? And I can play that in the DVD player hooked up to the TV, no need for appleTV.
Rentals are too expensive. £2.49? five films from lovefilm per month, and you've made that back.
I'm not going to moan, I'm just not going to buy them. I am going to ask a question tho: Why are they more expensive?
Logically, the movie industry can supply the movies to apple cheaper because they don't have to press them onto DVD and then ship them round the world. Apple can supply them to us cheaper because they don't pay warehousing and shipping locally. So why is it more expensive?
Options I can see:
1) Apple pay the movie companies about as much per movie as Amazon. But they take a margin in profit. Would they do this? I'd think it would reduce uptake of the service, and sales of the device (appleTV)
2) The movie companies charge more for the downloads; ie, its more for apple per film than it is for Amazon. If this is the case, why would they do this? To make DVDs more attractive? I doubt it...
Anyone got any ideas, or other explanations?
Rentals are too expensive. £2.49? five films from lovefilm per month, and you've made that back.
I'm not going to moan, I'm just not going to buy them. I am going to ask a question tho: Why are they more expensive?
Logically, the movie industry can supply the movies to apple cheaper because they don't have to press them onto DVD and then ship them round the world. Apple can supply them to us cheaper because they don't pay warehousing and shipping locally. So why is it more expensive?
Options I can see:
1) Apple pay the movie companies about as much per movie as Amazon. But they take a margin in profit. Would they do this? I'd think it would reduce uptake of the service, and sales of the device (appleTV)
2) The movie companies charge more for the downloads; ie, its more for apple per film than it is for Amazon. If this is the case, why would they do this? To make DVDs more attractive? I doubt it...
Anyone got any ideas, or other explanations?
To make this work in the UK they REALLY need to drop the
I agree with you 100%. The price of aTV needs to drop asap and bring it inline with the US. I don't see any reason why we should not get the same price drop they have with rentals. The thing that makes me think this won't happen is that wouldn't it be better to drop the price now, whilst they're announcing the rentals - would make for a bigger announcment - £100 of each aTV model AND rentals in the UK! by not doing it now, I'm not sure they will.
Wow. HD rentals of new films are going to be £4.49. That's insane. Now when are they going to lower the price of AppleTV units?
me too...
I think that the prices are high !!
I think that Apple is "milking" dollars from all over Europe with the given price policy..
It's a fair point, but I would rather pay £6.99 for a download which is instant and takes up no physical space at home. I haven't bought a physical CD for ages and have gladly packed all the old ones into a box in the loft. I got tired of my house looking like HMV. Same thing is starting to apply to films. I am VERY selective over which DVDs I buy now, because I have far too many and there's just no way I want to add more ugly boxes to the shelves. I also hate to wait, and don't mind paying extra for something I can get NOW rather than waiting for the postie to deliver it (which usually means having to cash in the little 'while you were out' card the next day).
I know price is the absolute deciding factor for some, but convenience rules for me. The 2nd disc of most of my '2 disc special editions' have barely made it into the DVD player so having just the movie suits me fine.
I think this is a great move, and means I can save my US iTunes account for more important things like Dexter Season 2.
How do you know that the pricing is dictated to Apple? How come the pricing isn't dictated to the likes of Amazon/HMV/ADSA/Play etc?
they saw the price of petrol and food here and concluded that we must be rich so must pay more for our films!
To make this work in the UK they REALLY need to drop the
Could you make any comments if there were any problems to get a US AppleTV to work in the UK? Is it fine with the voltage? Anything needed other than a US to UK power plug adapter (or cut off the US one and attach a UK plug)?
Well lets take 1 movie:
Batman Begins:
UK iTunes Store: £6.99 Exchange Rate: 1.95 = $13.65
US iTunes Store: $9.99 Exchange Rate: 1.95 = £5.12
UK Play.com DVD Physical Media 1 Disc Edition: £5.99 Exchange Rate: 1.95 = $11.68
Doesn't seem too bad?
The Matrix:
UK iTunes Store: £6.99 Exchange Rate: 1.95 = $13.65
US iTunes Store: $9.99 Exchange Rate: 1.95 = £5.12
UK Play.com DVD Physical Media: £2.99 Exch Rate: 1.95 = $5.83
Just returned from the US last week (with a 40gb ATV in hand) and can confirm that all you need is a US to UK plug adaptor or simply one of those standard "kettle" power cables to plug in to the back.
Also the prices do seem steep to me compared to the US store. But why doesn't everyone just set up a US giftcard account (you can get the giftcards easily from ebay) and rent from the US store? $4.99 HD rentals compared with £4.49!
Take the VAT off the UK prices first: £6.99 -> £5.95 ex. -> $11.63 (using xe.com)
I think the prices are fine for rental (especially since you don't need to go to the video store, etc). Not so sure about purchasing, because I'd want the physical media there and library titles are often very cheap on DVD.
another interesting thing to note is this morning (before i noticed they have movie rentals on itunes, and before the press release and change of the uk apple homepage) i got an email from lovefilm saying -
even though you have to bulk buy credits and have to wait for the discs to arrive in the post, lovefilm obviously manage to pay the film studios *and* the postage costs of the disc to and from your house for, if you buy enough credits, less than the £2.49 apple is charging - and this is for all films. again, it's true that maybe lovefilm is hoping some people won't use all their credits, and the most recent films probably have a long wait time, but surely when you get the film lovefilm still has to pay the studio a set fee? so it looks like the film studios are charging apple a lot per film compared to traditional dvd rentals - or apple is just making a big markup.
EDIT here's the link from the email
even though you have to bulk buy credits and have to wait for the discs to arrive in the post, lovefilm obviously manage to pay the film studios *and* the postage costs of the disc to and from your house for, if you buy enough credits, less than the £2.49 apple is charging - and this is for all films. again, it's true that maybe lovefilm is hoping some people won't use all their credits, and the most recent films probably have a long wait time, but surely when you get the film lovefilm still has to pay the studio a set fee? so it looks like the film studios are charging apple a lot per film compared to traditional dvd rentals - or apple is just making a big markup.
EDIT here's the link from the email
Why are you complaining about having a choice?
Simply buy it on DVD from HMV.
I think you are missing the point of this person's post, as well as the others on here complaining about the price. We are aware that we have a choice.
There's always at least one isn't there...
