Comments on: iTunes Movie Rentals Coming Soon

By: Bodega

Bodega — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 23:26:17 +0000

Now if they can just figure out a way to get it onto my 1080p tv.

By: WWDC Update at blakebrannon.com

WWDC Update at blakebrannon.com — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 23:33:31 +0000

[...] Paul did a good job explaining the new iTunes movie rentals as well as the new iPod Nano. Please check his web site for that information. [...]

By: Paul Stamatiou

Paul Stamatiou — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 17:12:05 +0000

It's a great concept and rental model as weisheng said, but if they cost $3-4, I might take my chances with Red Box. I've ditched BlockBuster for Red Box and have been using it for a long time now. It was beta-tested in Houston at McDonald's locations and I think they are now starting to spread out.

By: weisheng

weisheng — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 16:13:50 +0000

The rental model is more sensible for movies; I listen to my favourite music on a daily basis but only ever watch a home movie once, at most twice. If you’re a big fan of a particular movie, you’re probably better off buying and keeping the DVD.

From my point of view, they should limit viewing based on number of playbacks rather than a set period of time. Nobody actually watches a movie 10 times in 2 weeks, but they may want to watch it perhaps 2 months down the road. Having a time-based system is going to encourage people to share the movies by authorising a friend’s computer and then deauthorising it after viewing.

This initiative may be targeted solely at home viewing. I don’t think it’s going to be possible to view an entire movie on an iPod, the battery can barely last an episode of Lost at the moment. Having an iPod with a screen the size of the PSP would be nice though.

By: Prashant

Prashant — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:46:03 +0000

This is a great idea! I really hope it does go through.

By: viperteq

viperteq — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 12:39:52 +0000

So I guess that this will be no different than say Blockbuster or NetFlix. The only difference is that it’s a download. Me thinks that if the Jobs does enable something like this for iTMS (iTunes Media Store?), then NetFlix and Blockbuster will have to come up with a new paradigm for online rentals. They may also consider changing their price structure in order to compete with Apple. Seeing how big the NetFlix userbase is, I think they may be the only company who could withstand Apple entering the market.