iTunes Rentals
So what is everyones experience with this?
So far I have rented two movies, but either the selection of movies is tiny, or I am looking in the wrong place. I thought all the studios were on board and that thousands of movies would be available. I saw a few, and unless I was lookin in the wrong place, I wasn't too impressed by the selection.
How was your experience with the rentals?
So far I have rented two movies, but either the selection of movies is tiny, or I am looking in the wrong place. I thought all the studios were on board and that thousands of movies would be available. I saw a few, and unless I was lookin in the wrong place, I wasn't too impressed by the selection.
How was your experience with the rentals?
Comments
BTW,his method finds 364 movies and I won't argue with any body that claims that this is a tiny amount.
I don't know what your definition of tiny is, but Christopher Breen of Macworld had an article this week about finding movie rentals and their apparent lack on the iTMS front pages. Here is the link: http://www.macworld.com/article/1320...terentals.html.
BTW,his method finds 364 movies and I won't argue with any body that claims that this is a tiny amount.
I found roughly 100 movies (for rent), and found it quite difficult to navigate through iTunes. There is no clear distinction on where to find rentals. Both rentals and purchasable movies are grouped together under "movies". The only way you can tell which one is a rental is by the occasional buy or rent button, but usually you have to distinguish by price, especially in the sub-categories. There definitely should be a separate Rentals page/tab/menu.
I think 100 or 300-something movies altogether is nothing. I figured there would be at least 100 new movies available, and hundreds of older films available for rent. With all the brouhaha at Macworld, it sounded like there would be thousands of titles available!
Also, the available amount of movies for sale is almost embarrassing. After a year or so, I would have expected tons more than I saw. No wonder the online movie sale business in iTunes isn't flourishing... there is a poor selection of available films! With content, people need choice! If there was more available content, things would explode!
Right now... not very user friendly. Much harder than going to the video store. It took us 20 minutes to browse and find something to watch, 10 of those minutes were spent debating which movie is actually worth seeing. Rental browsing needs improvement ASAP. Can't they do a simple cover flow browsing experience with categories (newest additions, classic, westerns, drama, etc...)...
Chris also points out that the movies will have one of three buttons; Rent, Purchase and View. Rent and Purchase are self explanatory. View means you can do both.
While you may have hoped that there would be thousands of movies available, Jobs only said that there would be a thousand by the end of February not thousands. I would had thought that iTMS would have 364 by now, but it appears to be otherwise.
I agree about the lack of movies being available. But that is Hollywoods fault not Apples. Right now they can not see beyond their current cash cow, DVDs (thus the 30 day gap between DVD availability and iTMS rental). Similarly, Hollywood will not release old movies for sell on iTMS until they have rung out every dollar they can from DVD sales. So don't expect much of an improvement on movie selection until we see $2.99 DVD bins everywhere.
Did you read the article? I agree, the iTMS is very poor and leaves much to be desired. But even this poor interface gives you the newest additions on the front page. It is trying to find older titles that becomes the problems. One of Chris Breen's method will put you into the browse mode where the movies are grouped by genre. Another will give you a list of all movies available for rent. (This list shows 150 movies per page. So you you will have to go to multiple pages to see all the movies for rent.)
Chris also points out that the movies will have one of three buttons; Rent, Purchase and View. Rent and Purchase are self explanatory. View means you can do both.
While you may have hoped that there would be thousands of movies available, Jobs only said that there would be a thousand by the end of February not thousands. I would had thought that iTMS would have 364 by now, but it appears to be otherwise.
I agree about the lack of movies being available. But that is Hollywoods fault not Apples. Right now they can not see beyond their current cash cow, DVDs (thus the 30 day gap between DVD availability and iTMS rental). Similarly, Hollywood will not release old movies for sell on iTMS until they have rung out every dollar they can from DVD sales. So don't expect much of an improvement on movie selection until we see $2.99 DVD bins everywhere.
I read the article. From my experience, it was annoying that everytime we looked through the list of films (by genre, for example), everytime we found a movie we wanted we were disappointed because it wasn't available for rent. Rentals should be grouped separately, I don't want to sort through a pile of for sale/for rent films when i specifically want to rent. Can you imagine if it was like that at Bockbuster? People would be outraged! Mix the for sale and rent movies together and put them on the walls side by side, only differentiated by a small sticker that says "buy" or "rent"?!? ridiculous!
rentals need their own section.