iTunes Movie Rentals Beyond 24 Hours

[hotshotharry]

For those who cant understand why you would like a longer than 24 hour period to watch a movie! For you single people its likely not an issue. However for married people especially with kids its a necessity 90 percent of the time!

lets say friday night you get the kids to bed early so you start watching at 830, big plans to finish the movie ( providing the kids dont wake up and interupt and it ends up being too late to bother finishing it ) but you end up being too tired to finish it or whatever... so saturday night you try again but the kids dont go to bed til 9! well thats 24.5 hours and you have now missed out! starting the movie at 829 and putting it on pause is not an option!!!!

This is only 1 reason why 36 hour min rental would be fantastic, it would definitely sway me on those nights where your thinking, i dont know if i will finish it tonight ... etc

LOL and for those of you who say 24 hours is long enough thats great, then 36 shouldnt even be an issue worth discussing for you! lol someday you will be happy you have the option! 72 would be awsome.

Id also like to see an option to pay the difference and own the copy after you have rented it!

 

[AppleMojo]

Apple and the studios made a mistake. They should admit it and extend rental period to 30 hours. Problem solved.

No, not problem solved. You would simply get a different set of whiners.

Comcast OnDemand here in WA state is 24 hours to start and finish your movie. Years back with satellite (Direct) it was the same. We have Dish now, not sure what it is.

I don't mind the limit at all; if you don't like it, then don't use it... that's ultimately how you will show your dis-satisfaction with the service.

 

[termite]

I get what you are saying, but you can't sit down when you finally have time and start watching it instantly?

If I rent the Return of the King and a kid has insomnia? I can't watch in front of them and I lose.

If I rent the Return of the King and watch half (cause it's really long) one night, and an emergency comes up and I need to work late the next day, I lose.

So it just doesn't work for me. And I think being so very short at 24 hours makes a lot of people nervous about risking it. If there was a lot of profit lost by making it 72 hours I could understand the decision, but I don't see it.

 

[oshmac]

lame...

the 24 hour thing is lame... why not just allow 3 days and/or a limited number of viewings such as 3 or 4?

 

[termite]

These scenarios about 24 hours not enough time to watch a 2 hour movie is a joke.

Hello!! You spend more time bull****ing in Mac Forums than you do watching a movie.

1. Many movies are longer than 2 hours
2. Hard though it may be to beleive, you can pause Mac Forums for more than 24 hours without losing your place.
3. Parenting is not as predictable as you think.
4. My job involves actual responsibility. I can't go home just because it is quittin time.
5. I spend very little time in the Mac Forums, but thank you for playing.
6. While I would normally be happy to respond to a flame in kind (usually involving a "your mom" joke), this is supposed to be a more civil forum where such behavior is less tolerated, so I won't.

 

[quantumbits]

Personally, I'd like to have 48 hours. Sure, there are many movies that I only watch once. But occasionally I like re-watching parts of certain movies, especially any involving a twist.

 

[hotshotharry]

No, not problem solved. You would simply get a different set of whiners.

Comcast OnDemand here in WA state is 24 hours to start and finish your movie. Years back with satellite (Direct) it was the same. We have Dish now, not sure what it is.

I don't mind the limit at all; if you don't like it, then don't use it... that's ultimately how you will show your dis-satisfaction with the service.

Nothing drives me more crazy than this answer ....

Q> Why are movie rentals limited to 24hrs?

A> Oh because we have always done it that way!

WTF i dont care if its been that way since the beginning of time! No better time to change that then now!

If you are one of those who promptly spits out that ridiculous answer for everyone hear, your comment has been noted, and no further input is required. Have a nice day....

 

[dane989681]

Maybe one way to get around this 24 hour wall clock time is to instead time the 2X the movie length starting from when you begin watching and stopping anytime the machine is turned off. When the APPLETV is turned on again, the timer starts again.

There are a million ways this rental scheme can be made better and I expect Steve Jobs will make it happen.

If you think any of us are whining, then you truly don't know what it's like to have a family!

 

[csimmons]

I went to the Theater and spent over $20 with food and in the middle of the movie I left and came back 3 days later to discover my ticket was no longer valid.

These scenarios about 24 hours not enough time to watch a 2 hour movie is a joke.

Hello!! You spend more time bull****ing in Mac Forums than you do watching a movie.

You are my hero. Thank you for writing this.

The problem is not the 24 hour limit. The problem is poor time management.

 

[tuneman07]

3.99 is a bit high, the selection is terrible, I liked the idea initially but now that I found out I can't hook my computer to my TV via USB (why does the T.V. have a USB???) it seems kinda pointless. Bittorrent it is I suppose.

 

[AppleMojo]

Nothing drives me more crazy than this answer ....

Q> Why are movie rentals limited to 24hrs?

A> Oh because we have always done it that way!

If you are one of those who promptly spits out that ridiculous answer for everyone here, your comment has been noted, and no further input is required. Have a nice day....

lol - re-read my comment super-whiner... It was a simple mention that it's not just Apple who uses this length of time for digital rentals. Then I added, that this length of time doesn't bother me.

Nowhere in my statement did I defend it, nor say that it should be 24 hours or state "because we have always done it ... blah".

However, in my post I did mention whiners... and you do fall into that category.

WTF i dont care if its been that way since the beginning of time! No better time to change that then now!

Vote Obama then; I think changing this rental time was in one of his speeches lately. Waaaaaa

 

[gr8tfly]

why does the T.V. have a USB???

Camera or flash drive for photos.

 

[csimmons]

1. Many movies are longer than 2 hours
2. Hard though it may be to beleive, you can pause Mac Forums for more than 24 hours without losing your place.
3. Parenting is not as predictable as you think.
4. My job involves actual responsibility. I can't go home just because it is quittin time.
5. I spend very little time in the Mac Forums, but thank you for playing.
6. While I would normally be happy to respond to a flame in kind (usually involving a "your mom" joke), this is supposed to be a more civil forum where such behavior is less tolerated, so I won't.

1. Many movies are also shorter than 2 hours too. That's beside the point.
2. You block time to surf the net (and visit these forums), don't you? Or do you do it at work, where you're not really supposed to?
3. I'm married and have two elementary school age children. Parenting is indeed unpredictable, but can be structured such that parents can still have time for themselves to do other activites - like taking 1 1/2 - 2 hours out of an evening to watch a movie without pausing.
4. As a person with a job that involves responsibility (most jobs do) you should know a thing or two about time management.
5. No comment
6. Did you really see the remark as a flame? Sounded like common sense to me.

To summarize: people should rent movies when they're fairly confident they have the time to watch it without distractions. If you need more than 24 hours to watch a 2 hour movie, the problem lies not with Apple, but with you. Spin it however you want, that's the nuts and bolts of it.

 

[AppleMojo]

I went to the Theater and spent over $20 with food and in the middle of the movie I left and came back 3 days later to discover my ticket was no longer valid.

These scenarios about 24 hours not enough time to watch a 2 hour movie is a joke.

Hello!! You spend more time bull****ing in Mac Forums than you do watching a movie.

Oh, this goes in my list of favorites... Great analogy!

I understand why people _would_ want more time, but these people also need to _understand_ business.

We live in a very self-interested world and this topic brings these people out of the wood work.

 

[termite]

4. As a person with a job that involves responsibility (most jobs do) you should know a thing or two about time management.

Oprah lost or nearly lost most of a show once, and it was the fault of the software I work on (not my code -- a weak teammate's). Next time, I'll be sure to tell her company that I'm busy managing my time that I've blocked out for watching a movie and can't help right away.

 

[TatsuTerror]

Some people like to watch a two hour movie over two nights. Some don't. For those of you who are complaining about others wanting more time, maybe you should consider the fact that we are given 24 hours in the first place. With your logic we should be given three.

 

[csimmons]

Oprah lost or nearly lost most of a show once, and it was the fault of the software I work on (not my code -- a weak teammate's). Next time, I'll be sure to tell her company that I'm busy managing my time that I've blocked out for watching a movie and can't help right away.

Nice try. Really. Very cute.

The main gist of my post (and a couple of others here in the forum) still holds true: If you don't have - or can't find - the time to watch a movie without distractions, perhaps you should put off renting the movie until you can find the time.

 

[matticus008]

But you can't resume the movie after the 24-hour mark, which I think is what a lot of people, including myself would like, something like a 36-hour window.

The whole point of this article is that you CAN. You can sit down, rent the movie, start it, and be interrupted. As long as you pull it up and pause it before that 24 hours is up, you've got at least another 12 hours to finish it so long as you've started.

The thing is, stuff happens. It wouldn't be worth mentioning if it wasn't an inconvenience. Sometimes that inconvenience means that you get charged a late fee, or you have to pay a second time for On Demand, or you might miss a concert. Life is like that. No matter what period were placed on the rental, the "but my life is complicated!" excuse would still be floated.

I'd like a longer rental period, too, but if the worst I can say is "sometimes it might get deleted before I finish," well, then life is pretty good.

OR, have a rental system where you can renew your rental for $.99 a day after the first 24 hours. This way if you try to go back after 25 hours you can finish the movie for $.99 instead of $3.99.

There's nothing unreasonable about that. But I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

 

[Doctor Q]

My guess is that Apple made the "watch period" minimal in order to please and reassure the movie studies, and that they'll extend it past 24 hours once the movie studios relax their paranoia just a little. It's the same thing that already happened with iTunes DRM for music.

 

[jmooring]

Greater flexibility for consumers is a good thing (except when trying to choose a brand of toothpaste, perhaps). Sure, you may not need to take advantage of a larger viewing window, but it would be nice to have the option, wouldn't it? I'm on the fence about AppleTV and it's mainly because of the 24 limitation, workarounds notwithstanding. I bet they'd see more rentals and more revenue if they tweaked the model a bit.

 

[hotshotharry]

lol - re-read my comment super-whiner... It was a simple mention that it's not just Apple who uses this length of time for digital rentals. Then I added, that this length of time doesn't bother me.

Nowhere in my statement did I defend it, nor say that it should be 24 hours or state "because we have always done it ... blah".

However, in my post I did mention whiners... and you do fall into that category.



Vote Obama then; I think changing this rental time was in one of his speeches lately. Waaaaaa

It was a simple mention that "because everyone else does it" is not an opinion.

 

[ftf]

Seriously people!

You have 30 days, in which to start your 24hr countdown... for a $4 movie rental. Yes, life gets in the way and maybe you can't finish the movie. Well there goes a whole $4.

It's money you would have saved anyway, by not driving to the video store.

 

[tony-in-japan]

I tried the same scenario, and yes, it will play beyond the 24hr limit. As long as you start the movie before the end of the 24 hr period, you can watch the whole movie. I was able to pause, and even go back to beginning, as long as I didn't stop. This will cause the warning to appear, but gives you the option to continue viewing.

edit: posted after arn comment re: >24hr

Technically, can’t you just keep returning back to the beginning of the movie before the movie ends (before the credits) and keep it on a infinite loop?

 

[Vindu]

To summarize: people should rent movies when they're fairly confident they have the time to watch it without distractions. If you need more than 24 hours to watch a 2 hour movie, the problem lies not with Apple, but with you. Spin it however you want, that's the nuts and bolts of it.

It seems to me that Apple are losing some possible revenue here. There's Group A, who are happy with the 24hr timeframe, and will gladly pay up. There's Group B1, who are scared off by the 24hr thing, knowing that they might pay up and for whatever reason fail to see the whole movie and be burned. I guess there's also Group B2, who will pay twice for the privilege of watching the whole film on the occasional instances where they fall foul of the 24hr limit.

My guess is that the lost revenue from Group B1 is likely to exceed any extra revenue from Group B2. Moving up to 36 hours doesn't seem to me to cause any other sort of lost revenue, and would encourage repeat custom from the Group B1 people. Whereas, with the 24 hours, the Group B1 people will say "sod it" and just go without, or go to Blockbuster.

Therefore it would seem that Apple have failed to take full advantage of the available market.

cheers
Vin

 

[SeaFox]

I went to the Theater and spent over $20 with food and in the middle of the movie I left and came back 3 days later to discover my ticket was no longer valid.

What in interesting analogy.

I would also point out that Apple's movie rental service is supposed to be a competitor to Cableco VOD service, not NetFlix like everyone wanted. And when you're watching a VOD program, you only get use of the feature for 24 hours generally, whether you finish it or not.

Hard though it may be to beleive, you can pause Mac Forums for more than 24 hours without losing your place.

Not on this forum, when a topic's hot the conversation moves too fast. You can be behind 5 pages in just a couple hours.

My job involves actual responsibility. I can't go home just because it is quittin time.

I love how it's implied people who work on wage or have actual scheduled hours for their jobs are lazy and don't have to take responsibility for their profession. Perhaps our employers simply respect that we work to survive, and not the other way around. Or maybe we have jobs that simply can't be performed out of the workplace due to lack of equipment or information access.