The Reason Why Movies Disappear from iTunes

[BoulderBum]

I found this interesting and frustrating all at once:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10119509-93.html

Bascially, the movies disappear from iTunes because of antiquated licensing that fits the established business models, and the movie industries don't feel the need to change until more people start getting their movies online.

What do you think of the article?

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Tell me about it. I bought an AppleTV the day they came out and on the same day 'Days of Thunder' was available to buy. I was going to buy it later in the week. Then when I went to buy it, it was only available for rent.

Then it disappeared! It has since come back (twice) but is still only available for rent.

There have been a few that I have noticed disappear.

On something not particularly related to the above issue I noticed on the UK AppleTV iTS that there was no 'all comedies' section under comedies and so you could only see about 30 comedies in total on the ATV unless you did a search. But if the film you were searching wasn't on iTunes you obviously got nothing in return. So you had to buy/rent most comedies on your comp and not ATV. I mentioned it to Apple and they promptly replied stating they had fixed it (which they have) and gave me an iTS Gift card for spotting it.

 

[ninjadex]

A bag of hurt, no? Not entirely Apple's fault though.

 

[BoulderBum]

Yes, I think Apple has some responsibility to influence the movie industry, but I put the blame on the studios and their ilk for hurting the online experience.

In a way, they seem like GM choosing to build SUV's at a time when gas prices were rising and the economy was getting worse. Mind you, I doubt the studios are going to go bankrupt, but I do think they'll get caught with their pants down because they aren't seeing the writing on the wall and preparing for the future.

 

[Michael CM1]

This same crap is hindering Netflix streaming. I was going to watch "Walk Hard" streaming so I wouldn't have to waste a few days with a shipment. Well it went away for no good reason. So now it's coming tomorrow on Blu-ray. Neat, but I'd rather stream stuff at DVD quality if I can. There are a TON of movies going bye bye on Jan. 1, which further angers me.

No, the movie studios don't get it. Hell, the recording studios still don't get it. They're so busy trying to ward off pirates that they forget about the other 99 percent of the country that pays their bills. Does McDonald's run a credit check on every customer that comes in? No. But the movie and music people seem to be doing something similar to us. Therefore, I use HandBrake and get what I friggin want -- my DVDs on my computer. Phhhbbbt on them.