Look inside the code of the latest version of iTunes (version 7.5), and you will find eight lines that speak volumes about Apple’s next move in video. Movie rentals and video-on-demand, it appears, are now baked into iTunes, just waiting to be turned on.
When Evan DiBiase bothered to look at the code of the new version of iTunes and compare it to the last version, these eight lines popped out at him:
rental-content
rental-bag
rbsync
source-rental-info
dest-rental-info
getvodaccountselectionlist
GET VOD ACCOUNT SELECTION LIST
supportsRentals
Apple has not announced anything on the movie rental or video-on-demand (VOD) front, but these lines suggest that these options may be turned on soon. It is not clear what the difference between a rental and a digital VOD would be. Perhaps the VOD option will be for Apple TV?
When it comes to movies, rentals are more appealing to consumers, who tend to watch most movies only once or twice and have been trained to rent them cheaply. Who wants to fill up their hard drive with huge movie file downloads that cost $9.99 apiece? (A digital rental would presumably disappear after a certain time, as opposed to a permanent download that you might be hesitant to trash after you watch it because you actually paid for it). Sounds like Apple is finally coming around to the realization that movies are for renting. Too bad Amazon and Netflix are already way ahead of Apple on the digital movie rental front.
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With the distribution that itunes already has in place, I would assume they could catch up with netflix fairly quickly. I think it’s a good move. Now if I could just get it into my tv…
Amazon Unbox is the clear leader here, but it looks like Netflix is locking down their “watch now” service
http://brentevans.blogspot.com.....using.html
so their likely to ramp up their service as well.
iTunes could easily squeeze in though and I doubt it would take them long to become the market leader for Rental “streaming.”
If I could put a rented movie on my iphone, then that might be useful. I’ve used Unbox a couple of times for TV shows I missed since I can copy them to my Tivo instead of sitting in front of my computer to watch them (like on iTunes). Just the thought of sitting at my desk watching a movie makes me ill.
Wired online just ran an article about vudu which is a set top box that allows rentals as well. They are boasting contracts with seven major studios and rentals go from 1.99 to 3.99.
It also has the ability to run the movie at you TV’s max definition-
I am just regurgitating what I read- I’d like to hear if anyone has used ir yet, because it looks great! But I usually prefer to wait until 2.0 or a bunch of reviews come in.
On that note, it apparently updates as well so replacing units is not an issue.
Anyone have experience with this yet?
I remember reading something about iTunes movie rentals several months ago. With Movie Gallery filing chapter 11 the game is wide open for online movie rentals.
“Too bad Amazon and Netflix are already way ahead of Apple on the digital movie rental front.”
Interesting. What do you mean by “way ahead” (besides official launch date)?
Are either Amazon or Netflix’s digital movie services doing well at all?
Amazon announced earnings a couple weeks ago, I didn’t see anything about Unbox…are there any indications they are gaining substantial users?
And Netflix’s online movies aren’t a rental at all..its free with your DVD rental subscription, right? Are there any numbers showing its doing well/being adopted/accepted?
1) I don’t see any indication this is a market anyone is doing well in (much less being “way ahead” of anyone else.
2) I don’t see any indication Apple’s entry will change this :p
I think in order to “win”…it has to be easy enough to get the movie to the TV…
who does that will be the winner
Neither Amazon Unbox or NetFlix streaming services work on the Mac. So from the perspective of the average Mac user, both Amazon and Netflix are actually way behind.
“…Too bad Amazon and Netflix are already way ahead of Apple on the digital movie rental front.”
Maybe, but I wouldn’t put it past His Steveness to put a two or three month exclusive on all Pixar, Disney and Touchstone films for iTunes - to the detrament of being able to ever rent them from Netflix.
Long overdue! Most people watch most movies once (TV shows, too). This is what will finally make AppleTV compelling.
I love netflix on demand. If you haven’t tried or use the service or software, then don’t make assumptions based on what others have said.
Can Amazon just buy Tivo already? It would be great for getting those Tivo boxes out to those that dont have them, and Unbox/Tivo integration is great and simple to use with your TV. The Amazon could do deal and cut out the cable/sat companies and let us choose the shows we want a la carte.
apple has had a brutal time getting content for purchases through itunes. with rentals, they’ll have a robust catalog.
assuming appletv can leverage this (which i gotta believe it will), this blows a dvd player out of the water. every dvd available instantly for rental. good bye netflix subscription.
i’ll willing to sacrifice the picture quality (appletv movies i buy are acceptable) for this kind of killer access.
This rumor has been floating around for quite some time. I hope Apple can deliver and open up access to a large body of content. An easy way to get online rentals has been needed for quite sometime now. The Netflix model is old, this should be the new: http://fishtrain.com/2007/09/2.....old-media/
I use Watch Now from Netflix often and think the service is surprisingly good. The quality is decent (laptop connected via DVI to 42” 1080p LCD) and playback smooth most of the time. I can’t say much about the audio quality because my laptop lacks a 5.1/digital out. I’d much rather see an expansion of the library than an improvement in video quality. I agree. Movies are meant for renting. I think Amazon has the most potential in this space.
I’d love this on my Apple TV, but only if it is HD. I have no desire to rent (or own for that matter) the current iTunes quality.
Better late than never…
Yep. Chalk me up as another big fan of Netflix’s streaming option. I discovered it right when I was recovering from surgery and laid out on the couch. It worked almost totally flawlessly, with a decent selection of movies/shows.
Apple’s big hurdle is picture quality. I purchased Season 1 of The State from iTunes and the quality was horrible. I won’t be making that mistake again until their quality is at least as good as Netflix’s.
That being said, I picked up another 10 shares of AAPL today anyway.
Are the Amazon and Netflix digital offerings still only available on Windows? Apple’s rentals through iTunes will work on both Mac & Windows machines, which is certainly an advantage for me.
iTune rentals? Hmm.. What’s the point of renting movies of iTune?
A 24-hour rental which began when you first started viewing a flick is/was the whole business model of MovieLink from the beginning. I only point this out because for some reason, the company which first started this service years ago isn’t mentioned above, so it definitely might call into question how being “way ahead” might not have a lot of value.
How do you access the source code in iTunes?
Oddly similar post over a year ago…
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006.....t-forseen/
pretty cool
Most of people don’t like to watch same movie again and again so it will be good move by apple if they baked into movie rental , however it is too late to capture the market.
-Paul
I think a majority of people are looking at this the wrong way. Apple won’t be offering the movie rental service to compete with Netflix or Amazon (except with the Apple TV which is a benefit the competitors can’t offer). Netflix and Amazon don’t offer portable music/video players for one thing. This will be used as a another way to please both current and future iPod/iPhone customers. Whose to say iTunes won’t be using a service from Netflix as well. There’s been many rumors…
“it will be good move by apple if they baked into movie rental , however it is too late to capture the market.”
I don’t get it. How is it “too late” to capture the online movie rental market? Who dominates that market today? Who has an insurmountable, formidable head start?
Personally, I don’t even know if there ever will be a market for it, but I’m pretty sure right now the market is pretty open to any and all comers.
iTunes is getting desperate!
The Zunestore is nipping at their heels, the zune is out selling the original ipods on ebay!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
I’d buy Apple TV in a second if they did this. That’s what is holding it back. I have no doubt that Apple could jump right to the top of this service, because it’s relatively untapped and undefined.
Just this weekend I had my first experience with renting a movie online. We were in Escondido for thanksgiving at the in-laws. We pick a 93 minute movie for download (this is through COX Cable). We go to the hot tub thinking it will be done when we get back. Half an hour later…no deal. We then watch an episode of Greys Anatomy on the TIVO. After that, the movie is still not done! In fact, it appeared there were still 42 minutes left! It was taking longer to download than it would be to watch! We finally cancelled it. How lame.
Thus making do better for the end of the experiment, many may believe that the change would be the best version of the technical issues and I versa require the new test period to be put into action. Not to mention the huge number of problems at the start of test
Thank you