Apple are the only dinosaurs that refuse to alter the "must finish movie within 24 hours" bull****. My family likes to share rentals, and that's far more easy to do with a 48-72 hour window offered by Google or Amazon. Not to mention being restricted to i-devices just to watch an iTunes rental is completely stupid. So I'm happy to see Apple struggle in this regard. Maybe they'll change for once in a way that benefits the customer.
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.
iTunes Movies Market Share Losing Out Against Rivals, Say Hollywood Sources
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I've been saying this for years now. £20-30/month an iTunes store subscription for unlimited new and classic release movies, TV shows and music streaming and I'll subscribe in a heartbeat.
Until then, Netflix and Amazon will have my money.
Until then, Netflix and Amazon will have my money.
Apple needs to do Apple Music for video. Call it Apple Video for all I care. Just get it.
They are getting crushed by Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. Of course, with all their cash, Apple could buy Netflix (which they should have done many years ago IMO).
They are getting crushed by Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. Of course, with all their cash, Apple could buy Netflix (which they should have done many years ago IMO).
Would like to see Apple come back with some genuine competition to the Amazon/Netflix hegemony. As an Apple TV/iPhone/iPad user, ther is much I like about iTunes rentals/purchases:
And given Amazon et al already enjoy H265 support on their cheaper-than-Apple hardware, those with data caps can rest a little easier. Not to mention Amazon's Fire Tv and tablet advertising here in the UK is ubiquitous next to Apple's barely mentioned.
Christmas advertising and occasional sales ensure I know WAY more people with Fire TV/Fire TV Stick than I do with Apple TV. And with The Grand Tour etc vs 'planet of the apps' it's a no brainier on content for most people too.
(I own 4th gen Apple TV and 2nd gen Fire Tv to cover ITunes, Netflix, Prime and NowTv content here in the Uk, most people I know only own Fire Tv - and Apple self excludes themselves from that)
- iTunes extras (purchase only, obviously) replicate the DVD/BluRay extras experience. Given that most extras are awful, the few films that warrant them are likely to have them on iTunes than on other services. The extras on the Star Wars/Alien Anthology are mostly the same as their disc counterparts, just way more convenient than loading multiple discs and menus slowed by excessive java and copy protection checking.
- For those of us without a dynamic range killer on our AV amps, the same built into Apple TV and always accessible with a top down swipe is a godsend for late night listening.
- Dolby Digital Plus on newer titles goes some way to closing the gap relative with DTS-MA/TrueHD on BluRay.
- No more room for discs in our house! Only buy discs for films that are going to get seriously rewatched and warrant the absolute best in AV quality. For everything else, digital streaming is good enou
And given Amazon et al already enjoy H265 support on their cheaper-than-Apple hardware, those with data caps can rest a little easier. Not to mention Amazon's Fire Tv and tablet advertising here in the UK is ubiquitous next to Apple's barely mentioned.
Christmas advertising and occasional sales ensure I know WAY more people with Fire TV/Fire TV Stick than I do with Apple TV. And with The Grand Tour etc vs 'planet of the apps' it's a no brainier on content for most people too.
(I own 4th gen Apple TV and 2nd gen Fire Tv to cover ITunes, Netflix, Prime and NowTv content here in the Uk, most people I know only own Fire Tv - and Apple self excludes themselves from that)
If its a service, its gotta support all platforms or NO please.
Any device that has a youtube app can play a google rental. Any device without a Youtube app isn't a device worth owning.
Last edited:
I only started buying music on iTunes when it became DRM free. The same now applies to video. It simply annoys me that I could spend £100s/£1000s on digital content, only for that to be lost when (if ) I move on. At least I can leave my blu-ray collection to family/friends. It seems stupid that to leave my digital collection I would need to 'will' someone my iTunes user name and password (but no doubt that breaches the T&Cs of iTunes).
Plus DVD's can be had dirt cheap. The biggest turn off for me is the high cost of movies and TV series on Itunes. That is followed by the frustration of all the missing stuff.
For example the HBO series Lexx stops after 3 seasons. I picked up a DVD set from Wally World covering all four seasons for about the same cost as one season on Itunes. The fact is NEW DVD's are so cheap it is hard to justify Itunes even if some of the downloads are from Itunes are better quality. The economics gets even better with used DVDs.
Beyond that Itunes is a complete horror to navigate. I dont think ive ever gotten a complete list of the librarys "Sci-Fi" collection. ITunes is basically a joke as far as an app goes often doing things to my local library i just dont understand. Frankly the software appears to be designed by an idiot that enjoys excessive complexity. ITunes is perhaps the most frustrating of Apples supplied software!!!
For example the HBO series Lexx stops after 3 seasons. I picked up a DVD set from Wally World covering all four seasons for about the same cost as one season on Itunes. The fact is NEW DVD's are so cheap it is hard to justify Itunes even if some of the downloads are from Itunes are better quality. The economics gets even better with used DVDs.
Beyond that Itunes is a complete horror to navigate. I dont think ive ever gotten a complete list of the librarys "Sci-Fi" collection. ITunes is basically a joke as far as an app goes often doing things to my local library i just dont understand. Frankly the software appears to be designed by an idiot that enjoys excessive complexity. ITunes is perhaps the most frustrating of Apples supplied software!!!
Get rid of DRM and rework the pricing and how flexible you are to contest competing going prices, physical media included and you'll dominate the market.
Glassed Silver:ios
PS / bonus: allow styled subtitles to be included in movies.
Glassed Silver:ios
PS / bonus: allow styled subtitles to be included in movies.
No surprise
1) Limited only to apple devices
2) Codes inserted in Blu-Ray/DVD purchases are not as widespread as other services
3) Itunes itself is a big bloaded mess nobody likes going into anymore these days
4) Lack of promotion and sales like other rival services. Even when there are sales, the only way I know about them is alerts through slickdeals otherwise they would of gone unnoticed. This gets back to iTunes being clunky ugly mess.
5) Lengthier rental time with rivals
6) Lack of streaming service
I dislike digital movies. I purchase music like crazy because the mp3 files lack DMA so I can use them on any device as well as anytime I want. Movies do not have this. I purchase blu rays and burn my own MKV files. I'm not fond of this digital world. If their servers go down, if your goes down, then your content is unaccessible or useless. If they shut down, like target, you lose your files. Its sad that when Xbox Live goes down, you can't even watch a bluray on your own xbox and many games alert you that they won't function even though you have the damn disc in hand and the game is single player.
1) Limited only to apple devices
2) Codes inserted in Blu-Ray/DVD purchases are not as widespread as other services
3) Itunes itself is a big bloaded mess nobody likes going into anymore these days
4) Lack of promotion and sales like other rival services. Even when there are sales, the only way I know about them is alerts through slickdeals otherwise they would of gone unnoticed. This gets back to iTunes being clunky ugly mess.
5) Lengthier rental time with rivals
6) Lack of streaming service
I dislike digital movies. I purchase music like crazy because the mp3 files lack DMA so I can use them on any device as well as anytime I want. Movies do not have this. I purchase blu rays and burn my own MKV files. I'm not fond of this digital world. If their servers go down, if your goes down, then your content is unaccessible or useless. If they shut down, like target, you lose your files. Its sad that when Xbox Live goes down, you can't even watch a bluray on your own xbox and many games alert you that they won't function even though you have the damn disc in hand and the game is single player.
It's coming from Hollywood sources. Of course that's the narrative they want so they have more leverage when they negotiate their terms with Apple.
Considering Apple is getting a cut from subscriptions from the App store, as long as people are watching through Apple devices, I do think think they are too worried
Considering Apple is getting a cut from subscriptions from the App store, as long as people are watching through Apple devices, I do think think they are too worried
Agreed, especially in terms of "buying" content. We have a mixed-platform household as do a lot of people. My wife has an iPhone and a Mac, while I have a PC and Android. The TV is hooked up to a Blu-Ray player and a Roku.
It makes no sense to buy anything on iTunes instead of Amazon (or Google Play), because with those services I can watch wherever I am, whatever device I have handy.
Same with the Apple Books, or iBooks, or whatever it's called. Why would you use that service over the Kindle app? I don't see the value of either unless you have a 100% Apple household.
I'm been a loyal Apple guy but I bought an Amazon Fire TV & never went back go iTunes. Also bought an Amazon Echo. I'm worried about Apple.
I wouldn't do that! Mainly because the cost to have online access is way way to high. By the time you pay for the internet connection and the online services you are out hundreds of green backs a month. I can get DVDs for less than $4.
The few times i buy through Itunes is usually due to availability of something i really want to watch. Even here i often feel bad about paying Apples high prices. The good thing us that this doesnt happen often so it isnt a monthly expense.
Cool we're finally getting to the Apple Superfan reactions. It's just Hollywood lying, guys, pack it up. Nothing to see here. Nothing but lies in an attempt to take down poor little Apple. It couldnt possibly be that iTunes being inferior in nearly every single way has driven customers to infinitely better competing services. Nah that makes no sense.
Actually there are sales all the time. See e.g. here:
http://www.blu-ray.com/deals/?sortby=time&category=ituneshd
I think the prices are primarily set by the studios. And there is no Apple tax, since competitors such as Amazon have mostly the exact same prices (except for some store-specific sales).
I agree though that particularly rentals (new movies are $6 in HD) are too expensive when compared to Redbox ($2 for a Blu-ray).
[doublepost=1499695226][/doublepost]
iTunes has some advantages over all the competitors. You can download the movies, back them up, and copy them between compatible devices or stream them on your local network via iTunes Homesharing. Some of the other services don't allow downloads at all, and if they do they are tied to a single device by DRM. iTunes also has much better support for special features than the others.
I agree though that Apple should provide a way to play them on Android devices (similar as they have already done with Apple Music).
Not on an Apple TV.
Last edited:
As much as I like iTunes, it sucks that you cannot just stream your movies to your mobile devices, and you cannot stream movies over cellular too. While most Apple users are only having 16GB how in the world you're going to fit those movies. Some of us already ditched our home internet and no way I can watch any of my movies if they're not available on my computer. AppleTV cannot even store those movie. This is really a good excuse not to deal with Apple services sometimes.
I thought Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services basically killed off single movie rental/purchases, like how Spotify and Apple Music killed off iTunes music purchases.
Until Netflix releases new movies when they come out and not 6 months later it will never be killed off.