iTunes Movie Rentals to be Announced at WWDC?

[MacRumors]

Think Secret claims that Steve Jobs will announce the addition of a movie rental service to the iTunes Music Store during his keynote speech at the Worldwide Developers Conference on August 7.

MacRumors reported last month that movie studios had mixed feelings about Steve Jobs, some regarding him as a friend and some as a foe, and Think Secret's report indicates that the studios have won this negotiation round, limiting movies to rentals instead of outright purchases, with playback limited either by number of viewings or by an expiration date.

Deals with Walt Disney Studios, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Brothers Pictures are said to be complete, with others in progress.

Apple's decision to implement a rental model for movies is a major departure for the company and Mr. Jobs. Apple had been trying for months to persuade the movie studios that the a-la-carte model of buying individual titles, as the iTunes Music Store offers with music, was the way to go. The studios, however, has been fixed on offering only a subscription or rental-based model.​

 

[Chaszmyr]

Good news and bad news. Movies good, rental bad if not offered with sale. However, if rentals are cheap, I'd probably just as soon rent so i could buy the physical disc which would be much higher quality anyway.

 

[liketom]

Well about time

i was starting to think this was not coming at all

 

[mcarnes]

If I'm going to spend all that time downloading a movie, I should at least be able to keep it. Bah.

 

[treblah]

I'm sufficiently excited. Here's hoping for higher quality (than the current TV shows) and Netflix-esque pricing.

Start "TS isn't accurate/only for the US" whining in 3, 2, 1…

If I'm going to spend all that time downloading a movie, I should at least be able to keep it. Bah.

You've never streamed a Quicktime movie? You don't have to wait for it to end before you start watching it, unless of course you were going to watch it on an iPod…

 

[Lollypop]

Lets see how they make this happen, movies are big downloads (or so im told ) people wont like spending a lot of time downloading a file only for it to become completely useless a while later. But if it increases the content in the iTMS then so be it!

 

[caliguy]

If I'm going to spend all that time downloading a movie, I should at least be able to keep it. Bah.

I'd rather them just be streamed if it is indeed going to be rentals.

 

[Lollypop]

I'm sufficiently excited. Here's hoping for higher quality (than the current TV shows) and Netflix-esque pricing.

Start "TS isn't accurate/only for the US" whining in 3, 2, 1…

I was trying to avoid the whining, but now that you bring it up... when is apple going to bring the video content to other coutries?

 

[Doctor Q]

I wouldn't rule out downloading a movie, even for limited use, but the price would have to make it worthwhile. It'll have to compete with Netflix, my local video rental store, cable TV, and going to the movie theater. A tough market but a good population of potential customers.

 

[solvs]

Yeah, if it's $9.99 to rent, it's going to fail. $1.99, might be worth it. I'm sure a lot of people will be happy, then a lot of people will complain. Both with have good points, but the rest of us won't care.

 

[way2l84sanity]

Does this mean a new Video Ipod will be releaed also at the WWDC??
and if the rumors are true about the mac pro being announced also, that's alot of new goodies from Steve.
I don't like the rental model, it could find it's way into the music downloads. A $9.99 movie download at good quailty would be realy attractive. (too own)

 

[EricNau]

Whether buying or renting, I hope these movies will be better quality than the current videos on the iTunes Music Store. I wouldn't pay a dime for a video that wasn't at least DVD quality.

It's good that iTunes is gaining more features that will help keep it ahead of Microsoft.

 

[blueflame]

bah

This is stupid, I want to qon my movies and be able to burtn them to disc, i still want this ability currently, I should be able to burn the movies I buy, and when will the companies learn this will amke pwople buy more, they will buy one for their ipodf and one for themselves
AK

 

[nagromme]

I hope the rental thing is true--I don't want to own. I'm not with Steve Jobs on this one (assuming the rumors are true that he opposes rentals).

Owning music downloads fits my habits/needs. Owning movie downloads does NOT. The vast majority of movies I watch I never see again. And I don't want to store big movie files long-term. And I don't want to pay a higher price! Lower the price and make it short-term. I like that better.

For the few movies/shows I'd want to own, I want the discs (Blu-Ray preferred ) and the ability to take them to a friends' house.

Also, if it's a rental model, I can be more forgiving on quality. They'd have to be better than iPod 320x240 (except, obviously, when played ON an iPod), but if they're a little bit short of DVD quality, I'd still be bored enough to seek instant gratification and rent some. The price would have to be right, of course. Netflix rentals cost about $2.50 each on my plan. For slightly-sub-DVD quality and near-instant delivery, I'd pay maybe $2. For FULL DVD quality I'd certainly be willing to match Netlflix's price, or even pay a little more (for iTunes convenience/speed).

How often would I rent? Depends on selection... which means, probably not often At first. But it would be cool to see it grow to a collection that could rival Netflix.

After all, I already do all my movie watching on my Mac (sometimes connected to TV).

 

[bankshot]

A major consumer announcement at a developers conference? Not gonna happen. End of story!

ThinkSecret hasn't been right about anything since they got in trouble over leaks.

 

[nagromme]

people wont like spending a lot of time downloading a file only for it to become completely useless a while later.

I disagree: people already spend time/gas/money DRIVING to a video store to rent something that become worse than useless: you have to drive again to return it Or, with Netflix you just have to mail it, but the wait is days--much longer than a download.

 

[zv470]

...ok, and what about an iTunes Music Store for New Zealand and all the other countries that are missing out? please

 

[JackSYi]

Too bad Steve couldn't cut a deal from the studios.

 

[Will_reed]

Rental is such a dumb idea Maybe purchase but I've seen the quality of the video on the music store and personally I don't think it's worth the money.

 

[rikers_mailbox]

If true, an iTunes movie download service could drive sales of Mac Minis as a home-entertainment device. Not that it is (of ever will be) an all-in-one solution... but development of Front Row will continue and this is just one step towards something good for Apple and consumers alike.

I, for one, am all for the movie rental model. I'm interested in actually purchasing only very few movies. The others I watch only once, maybe twice. If I had to buy them, they'd sit on the virtual shelf until the next video format (VHS, DVD, BluRay/HD-DVD, ???) comes out and I'd just have to buy the same movie again. Please, let me rent.

As for quality, I'd expect nothing less than DVD. Apple thrives on progress. Although I'm willing to bet Jobs is pushing for some level of HD, 720p for starters?

 

[petej]

Movie rentals good. I rarely watch a movie more than once so this would suit me fine. I don't rent as much as would like to currently because I hate the trudge of taking the damn thing back to the rental store.
Movie subscriptions bad. I don't watch enough of them for it to be worth my while to subscribe to any Movie service. Work and kids make sure of that.
Movie download to own - no way. The last thing I want to do is fill up my HD with mountains of films that I'll probably never watch again and then have to back them all up to CD/DVD.
Kid's movies - These do get watched over and over again so hey, I can buy the DVD.

Now what would be cool added value is if I could choose the movie I want to rent from anywhere in the world and get it downloaded to my playback device (doesn't have to be a mac as such could just be an apple media center box) at home so that it is sitting waiting there when i get back. That could be great use for WAP / 3G mobile phones.

Streaming movies are hopeless. My broadband may be fast but it still suffers from way too much congestion at my ISP for this to be reliable for anything other than a low res movie.

 

[swingerofbirch]

I think there already are online download rental sites, presumably for WMP a la Windows.

Rental makes more sense if the quality is comparable to the current shows they offer. Plus if you buy a movie, with the restrictions the way they are, you most likely won't be able to burn it to a DVD to watch on the plasmas everyone seems to be getting.

And if this truly is a service for some sort of iPod, then they won't be offering HD movies unless of course by some miracle they have an HD screen in the iPod (although HD at any conceivably sized iPod screen would be a waste).

I actually would like a subscription service for both movies and TV shows. I have spent way more than I care to think about on TV series, and honestly I can only watch them but so many times. What do I do with them now? I "own" them, but as we all know, I can't sell them. I just have them forever.

 

[swingerofbirch]

I think there already are online download rental sites, presumably for WMP a la Windows.

Rental makes more sense if the quality is comparable to the current shows they offer. Plus if you buy a movie, with the restrictions the way they are, you most likely won't be able to burn it to a DVD to watch on the plasmas everyone seems to be getting.

And if this truly is a service for some sort of iPod, then they won't be offering HD movies unless of course by some miracle they have an HD screen in the iPod (although HD at any conceivably sized iPod screen would be a waste).

I actually would like a subscription service for both movies and TV shows. I have spent way more than I care to think about on TV series, and honestly I can only watch them but so many times. What do I do with them now? I "own" them, but as we all know, I can't sell them.

 

[TheIguana]

Thing is Steve Jobs is going to pull the usual trick (stupid contracts) and only release this to the American public. Rubbish if you ask me, we live in a world of more than one country. Which is why this sounds like another stupid pipe dream that the rest of the world will never get to enjoy *points at TV shows*.

Iggy

 

[VanNess]

Didn't read the article yet, but why on earth would Apple announce an iTunes/Movie rental service at the WWDC? With Leopard and the probability of new hardware announcements, it looks like Jobs is already going to be plenty busy giving that slide clicker of his a workout. So unless there is some sort of special tie-in with yet to be disclosed Leopard whiz bang technologies and the Video service, why WWDC?

It also strikes me that the WWDC isn't really the venue for this sort of announcement. It always gets a lot of media attention, but mostly the kind of attention that appeals mostly to nerds and not the general public per se - the target audience for Apple's video what-have-you wares. One of those hasitly assembled Apple "special events" or Macworld seem more logical for this sort of thing.