Warner Bros, Paramount join iTunes movie rental discussions

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 58
    successsuccess Posts: 1,040member
    I think it will be 24 hrs to download it. It would be odd to be forced to watch it within 24 hrs of downloading it. People's schedules change all the time. How can you be forced to watch it within 24 hrs?



    If they force it then they should allow you to also return the purchase within the same 24 hrs as well.
  • Reply 42 of 58
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bommai View Post


    I can go through about 8 movies a month on Netflix one at a time plan that costs $8.99 per month. That works out to about $1.12/movie. I can even get Bluray or HD-DVD movies. So, $3.99 is a lot. However, for people that watch only a few movies a month, this service might be useful.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by steviet02 View Post


    I don't know what you are used to paying for rentals, but my Netflix ratio of cost/movie rental works out to be about ~$1.00 - $1.25 a movie, depending on my viewing habits. While $0.50 is almost impossible to hit with bandwidth costs and studio payouts, it's not as far off from my ratio than $3.99.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dave K. View Post


    No it isn't. While 50 cents isn't going to happen, most people will not be spending $300 for the privilege of renting movies with no extras for $4 that must be watched within 24 hrs. Sorry.



    Dave



    The OP said there is nothing inconvenient about Netflix. Having to wait for a video to arrive when other services are instant is an inconvenience and will be more so as society progresses. They also said that VOD is sufficient. It is if you plan to watch video on your TV.



    iTunes rentals presumably have the added benefit of being able to play on your iDevices. Cable and satellite VOD, Netflix or Blockbuster do not offer an easy (or legal) way to watch video on the go. I have purchased plenty of video from iTS simply because it was convenient.
  • Reply 43 of 58
    Could these jackass studios do anything more to stunt the growth of a promising new market??



    These are the wackos that fought the VCR tooth and nail, until they realized how lucrative it was for them. Good thing the courts prevented these chimps from suing the VCR out of existence, which is what they tried to do.



    Now they're imposing ridiculous terms on an online rental model, making it NO BETTER or BARELY BETTER than what exists today. Is that the purpose of technology, you idiots.....to NOT improve on the status quo? Gosh, and here I naively thought that technology was supposed to make things better, faster, cheaper and more convenient! Silly me!



    $3.99 for a movie rental that involves no physical product, and barely costs anything to store the inventory? Movie rentals at Blockbuster are $3.99, why are these rentals being kept at that artificial level? To protect Blockbuster's 30+ year old model?



    And you may point out that $3.99 is the price of Movies on Demand through cable. Fair enough, but cable companies are notoriously inefficient and monopolistic. Pricing these movies at their level is by no means progress.



    $2.99 folks. $2.99 is a fair price, and it would sell a lot more product than $3.99 ever will. Isn't the failure of the iTunes movie store, with new releases at $12.99 or $14.99, enough of a lesson for everybody?



    Really, what kind of apes are running these studios? Shouldn't they be in some test lab, or appearing on Animal Planet, rather than making lamebrain decisions that sink entire new markets? Where's Jane Goodall when you need her? Maybe she could talk some sense into the primates.
  • Reply 44 of 58
    lantznlantzn Posts: 240member
    Same here. My son and his friends were over this weekend with his new MacBook Pro. We watched some video from his laptop, jumped over to Tivo for awhile, switched to some videos on my G4 tower and wife's MacBook libraries, played some new tunes, then took some time to see what was playing at the movie trailers and then set it to slideshow some recent pictures while conversing with everyone. It made for an enjoyable evening and everyone loved it. I mentioned it might be doing movie rentals and purchases right from the box in the near future and they ALL wanted one.
  • Reply 45 of 58
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Geez, I hope it's worth it to you. I'd rather wait for the DVDs to hit the bargain rack and buy them with all the extras (commentary tracks, deleted scenes, etc.).



    I don't need extra languages or subtitles. I usually don't care about bonus scenes and bloopers. I do like that while traveling I can pay and watch a TV Show or movie right away, when the mood hits me. Rentals may save me some money as I will be able to rent movies, but since my purchases are mostly TV shows this probably won't be much. But even at home buying from iTunes is much simpler and faster than trying to torrent an older TV show that may have only a few seeds... if that. The convenience is very much worth it to me.
  • Reply 46 of 58
    $2.99 or $3.99 makes zero difference to me as a consumer. I'm sure it makes a difference to a large part of the potential market, but I'm interested in two things, selection and convenience.



    I was one of the very early subscribers to Netflix and have never let my sub lapse. Overall I love the service. The selection is amazing. The ability to find movies I'm interested in on the website is almost worth the price of admission by itself (is it just me or do almost all of the reviews on iTunes seem to rave about even the worst of movies???).



    I have a few problems with Netflix as well. There have been many nights where we want to watch a movie but we don't have a new one from Netflix yet. On occasion we will find something we like on HBO or on demand from the cable company. Many times we don't. I've also had several times where I either had a scratched disk that wouldn't play properly or had to clean a disk in the middle of watching a movie to get it to play. That is not convenient.



    I also have an Apple TV. I have not used it much for movies. I don't want to buy every movie that I want to watch. In fact, I hardly ever want to buy a movie. I primarily bought it for kids shows. My kids can destroy a DVD in record time. I even tried getting a 400 disc Sony player to keep them safe and out of kids hands. It didn't work. Even the youngest one can get the disks out and scratch them! This is no longer a problem with my Apple TV.



    The other huge benefit I've found with the Apple TV is the complete lack of commercials. I don't even have to speed through them. And I don't have to see all of those ridiculous little graphics that pop up over the bottom of the screen during a show. You can't skip over those.



    Bottom line is that I find $300 of value in my Apple TV. I would find it far more useful if I could get movie rentals. I may be in the minority, but I am willing to spend a lot of money for the convenience. I hope that they have good selection.
  • Reply 47 of 58
    icfireballicfireball Posts: 2,594member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gustav View Post


    While the rumor says 24 hours from when you purchase, are we certain it's not 24 hours from when we start watching? I guess we'll have to wait until next week to know for certain.



    24 hours from when you start watching makes a lot more sense. What if I purchase it, the download gets interrupted, and I continue the download the next day, 12 hours later. Once it's done, that leave a pretty small window to watch it. Or even if it were 24 hours from when the download completed, what if I purchased the rental to put on my iPhone on a trip, but I don't want to use it today?



    What makes the most sense is 24-hours from when you start watching it. 24-hours seems a bit stingy though seeing as the only reason Blockbuster new releases are 2 days (where I am) is because the media itself is limited and they want to maximize how many people can rent it. With a digital media thing, it seems like it should be a week at least.
  • Reply 48 of 58
    It could get a bit confusing timing the 24 hours with a movie that can be put on other players, ipod iphone, etc... What if I copy it to my iphone and watch it. Can I still play the copy on my Apple TV 48 hours after that?



    Not that it matters much, just curious how they will handle that aspect.
  • Reply 49 of 58
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by damian73 View Post


    I was tired of reading that a decade ago! No one writes "GM, the Detroit based auto maker", "Allstate, the Northbrook, IL based insurance seller" or "Chevron, the San Ramon, CA based oil company". It doesn't make you sound like a super duper extra smart real journalist. It makes you sound just as stupid as the idiots who started the Cupertino and Redmond thing. Anyone else feel the same?



    Every time I read that particular phrase and its variants

    I was wondering what the heck do they possibly want to express.



    Thanks for pointing out that ... issue.
  • Reply 50 of 58
    I think when I was visiting my parents (I don't watch cable TV at home) I saw that VOD HD content was $5.99 for 24-hour rental (Charter). Apple really has no choice but to comply with the studio demands if it wants to offer this service. They've seen Apple's rise to a major player in the digital music biz and aren't going to let the something happen in the video business. Unfortunately, if Apple really isn't offering anything more than what most people get via VOD, then this method of movie watching/shopping/renting is not going to move like music has. Whatever, since I don't watch commercial TV I'll see what Apple has to offer, if the box isn't too much and I don't have to subscribe in addition to paying for a movie rental (like VOD) then I might jump on, but I think my situation is far from the norm.
  • Reply 51 of 58
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by g5man View Post


    Bingo





    People are missing the big picture.



    AppleTV was not created for rentals only. This will be one more feature to compliment all the other cool features.



    To be honest, it sounds like you are going to buy into no matter what. All of our cable boxes offer this type of service without having to wait for it to download, and I will bet the selection is wider than what Apple will offer. How much easier can it get than that?



    I'm not saying it can't work, but at 3.99 and 24 hour watch period, thats just not gonna work. We'll find out what the truth of this is in a few days.
  • Reply 52 of 58
    bsenkabsenka Posts: 799member
    Four bucks. Twenty-four hours. Nowhere near DVD quality. You still need to buy an Apple TV, and you have to wait while it downloads. That's the worst deal in movie rentals I've ever seen.



    I pay less to rent 2 physical DVDs at my local video store, keep one of them for 7 days, and I can be there and back in ten minutes.



    If this rumour is true, even $1.99 would be really pushing it for this service.



    UNLESS....



    Apple builds in a "nudge-nudge-wink-wink" way of circumventing the DRM by burning a DVD copy within that 24 hour period. THAT I might pay for.
  • Reply 53 of 58
    successsuccess Posts: 1,040member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bsenka View Post




    UNLESS....



    Apple builds in a "nudge-nudge-wink-wink" way of circumventing the DRM by burning a DVD copy within that 24 hour period. THAT I might pay for.



    Thas what I said above. Someone will find a hack anyway even if Apple doesn't provide an easy way out.
  • Reply 54 of 58
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay View Post


    17 bucks to buy a movie is daylight robbery though. There's no physical purchase, and no special features, no movie artwork insert. You're getting a lot less, and I rarely if ever pay that much for a DVD anyway. Now if it were 720p, I might feel different.



    Yeah, that seems high. I wonder if it's possible that Apple is accepting the movie purchase prices, while pushing for the rental deals?



    Also, I expect there'll be some other forms of surprises next week. Perhaps they'll offer unlimited online "backup" of purchases (ie: redownload anytime to a licensed device), or HD (5Mbps 720p), or include the special features in the download (so it really works exactly like a DVD. All this will happen in time, I believe... I just wonder what's ready for next week



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ericgorr View Post


    I figure this service would be worthwhile to me at ~$0.50 per rental. $3.99 is simply a ripoff and I hope the Apple can eventually force the studios to recognize this as well.



    That'll never happen, of course. The bandwidth costs, the movies have a minimum fee (the VOD charges are probably indicative). It also seems similar to video store prices... though I'm not in the US.



    Hopefully rental of old films will be cheaper, with longer watch times too.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dave K. View Post


    While 50 cents isn't going to happen, most people will not be spending $300 for the privilege of renting movies with no extras for $4 that must be watched within 24 hrs.



    Yeah, it's an investment, and if you're net isn't fast (or if you pay for quota), with no extras etc, then I think it'll be relatively unappealing.



    I wonder what an AppleTV costs to make now (1 year later). Could the same device be sold for $200 or $150?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by heyjp View Post


    The $3.99 doesn't bother me as much as the 24 hours. It would be nice to make it 48 or 72. Then you could download 2 or 3 movies on Friday and have the weekend to watch them. With 24 hours, you can really only download 1 at a time.



    As others have said, many services give you a longer time to START watching. Once started, you have 24hrs.



    Looking forward to next week. Come on Steve... announce that Fox/Warner/Disney etc have given you international distribution rights
  • Reply 55 of 58
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Beachin View Post


    It could get a bit confusing timing the 24 hours with a movie that can be put on other players, ipod iphone, etc... What if I copy it to my iphone and watch it. Can I still play the copy on my Apple TV 48 hours after that?



    Not that it matters much, just curious how they will handle that aspect.



    The players themselves can record when you've started watching, and probably limit their life to 24hrs after playback etc if that's Apple's agreement.



    In terms of watching it on the iPod and NOT resyncing, so that you can also watch it elsewhere... I imagine it's possible for Apple to be notified that you watched it again (outside of your rental period) and charge another fee.



    Actually, it'd be nice if Apple allowed a half price extension of your rental.
  • Reply 56 of 58
    g5mang5man Posts: 91member
    Everyone complaining about price reminds me of the reaction when news came out about the cost of the iPhone. Everyone screamed about how expensive it was and there were no discounts for 2 year contracts. They complained about one carrier and the fact that it lacked so many other features.



    6 months later Apple has sold several million phones. Yes there was a price cut, but the iPhone is still one of the most expensive cell phones out there.



    The $3.99 is a good price for renting a movie without leaving your house, waiting for the mail, or paying extra for cable TV.



    I think if you download a movie and then decide to watch part of it and then don't get back to it 2 days later, you might as well own it. If our attention span can not last then 24 hours, then we can just stick with Blockbuster and Netflix.



    This feature will be very successful and by June SJ will announce some numbers that will blow many away.
  • Reply 57 of 58
    as far as the rental price goes, I live in the "just off the by-pass near the sticks"' There is just one Family Video that is 9 miles from my house. That means I drive 36 miles for 2 round trips using 2 gallons of gas =$6.50 Movies are $3.00 with tax. The cost of renting is very expensive to people like me. It is why I will be a regular customer of itunes movie rentals.

    We have had an apple TV since last march and love it. We use it all the time for music, photos, and movies. We look forward to enhancements of the device that is the main media hub o our entertainment center
  • Reply 58 of 58
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    maybe two price points a 1 day and 3 day rental say for a dollar more
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