iTunes Movie Rentals

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iTunes Movie Rentals

Can someone tell me who in their right mind is going to start using this rental download service? How many people have gigabit internet connections? I'm certainly not going to go to my computer or iTV (btw - this product is a dud, why keep beating a dead horse) then in the evening, I'll click on a few movies I want to rent and leave on the computer all night to download movies. For a service to be viable and useful, it has to be convenient. What is Apple thinking? This has to be the worst Macworld offering ever. If anyone can explain why this is such a good idea, then please explain it to me. I just don't get it. No wonder my stock plummeted almost 10 percent.

G4 gray tower 450mhz + 450mhz installed, Mac OS X (10.4.7), 3 Drives: 2:10gb, 1:40gb

Posted on Jan 16, 2008 9:36 AM

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Answer 1

PT

Level 7

20,888 points

Jan 16, 2008 10:18 AM in response to christo101

Well judging from the tons of posts here with people trying to rent movies, I guess there are tons of people who want to. My question is, why do you care? If you don't want to rent movies, then don't, but why does it apparently get under your skin that others will?
Just like I still buy my music on CD and import them which allows me to have any quality level I want, put them on any machine or playing device I want, and have a built in back up (the CD itself). So I don't know why people would have wanted to buy 128 kbps protected AAC songs from the iTunes store. But I also couldn't care any less if other people do want to. Doesn't effect me at all (other than maybe killing of production of CDs sooner rather than later).
Patrick

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Answer 2

christo101 Author

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Jan 16, 2008 11:28 AM in response to PT

Well that's great news for Apple that so many people want to rent movies. I do think it's a great idea, but when I first visited the rental store it appeared to me that I had to download the entire movie first. The 1.5 gig file size scared me away. Nowhere can I find on the website or in the iTunes browser that movies will stream instantly or if I have to wait over an hour to download a movie. If it is the latter and I have to download a 1.5 gigabyte movie that seems like a nuisance rather than a convenience. Netflix begins streaming the movie within 30 seconds.

BTW - I've been a big Apple fan for over 10 years and I have to say this year's MacWorld was the worst ever. Even my coworker who was excited was very disappointed.

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Answer 3

Jan 16, 2008 11:46 AM in response to christo101

I rented a film last night. I have a 10mbs connection with Comcast (which is rarely up to promise) and it didn't take long to get the entire film on my Mac. I didn't keep track, but I'd say it took about 20 minutes for the 1.6GB file.

It's easy to move to iPhone, a bit buggy to get it back to the originating Mac. I don't like the fact that I can't (that I'm aware of, and I've looked into it) move the rental to another Mac on my local network.

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Answer 4

Jan 16, 2008 11:55 AM in response to christo101

The movie will actually start playing about 30-45 seconds into the download. You'll be able to watch the movie while the rest of it continues to download.

If you watch the demonstration that Steve gave. He rented a movie live in the iTunes store, and, in a matter of seconds, he received a pop up saying that the movie was ready to start being watched.

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Answer 5

christo101 Author

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Jan 16, 2008 1:21 PM in response to kevin morehouse

cool. i'll have to try it out then. i think Apple does need to mention something about streaming or viewing takes approx. 30 seconds to begin. there's no mention of streaming, just downloading a huge file and that was enough to turn me away immediately. little things like that will make people question what they will get and how long it will take.

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Answer 6

Solid

Level 5

4,370 points

Jan 16, 2008 1:27 PM in response to christo101

Apple does mention you can download the rental and start watching it within "seconds":

http://www.apple.com/appletv/rentals.html

Also, in the Keynote, Jobs did mention that it might take 30 seconds before the movie is ready to start watching.

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Answer 7

christo101 Author

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Jan 16, 2008 1:56 PM in response to Solid

Thanks. That's the only place where it's mentioned? On the iTV page? I couldn't find it anywhere on the iTunes page. It also doesn't say anything in the iTunes browser. I don't have an iTV so I wouldn't think to go there.

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Answer 8

Jan 27, 2008 9:50 AM in response to Solid

As far as I can tell, you can't watch the movies within seconds. I had to wait for the entire movie to download

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Answer 9

Jan 27, 2008 7:03 PM in response to oregonryan

Sounds like the first poster needs an enema, and even with then he/she wouldn't be a happy camper being un-plugged. His/her and other comments like this are useless.

What I can tell you is this: Pick a movie (yes, the pickin;s is a bit slim right now) click download, go get dinner ready and in a bit over an hour you have your movie.

Or if your not cheap, like me right now, go get an Appletv and apparently the movie starts even as it downloads(STREAMING).

Christo101 is obviously an Apple fan that Apple could live without. I'd rather wait for a movie to download however long it takes than to have to ever step foot in another stinky vid-rental place again.

Here's to Apple!

Jonathan

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Answer 10

Jan 28, 2008 7:18 AM in response to oregonryan

oregonryan wrote:
As far as I can tell, you can't watch the movies within seconds. I had to wait for the entire movie to download

If you haven't tried this already, playback won't work if you double-click the rental appearing in the Downloads queue. You have to double-click the rental in the Rental queue under Library.

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Answer 11

Jan 28, 2008 10:54 AM in response to christo101

I've got Netflix by mail, so no. However, their download service doesn't work for Macs. I suppose people who want to rent movies this way now have an outlet through iTunes.

I personally would rather see my movies on a bigger screen than what I use for my computer!

I realize this isn't solving anybody's PROBLEM...

Message was edited by: Iris Gross

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Answer 12

Jan 28, 2008 10:58 AM in response to PT

I use iTunes plus to get away from CDs and other landfill fodder. But, if you like clutter, I don't mind. 🙂

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Answer 13

Solid

Level 5

4,370 points

Jan 28, 2008 1:38 PM in response to oregonryan

In response to Oregonryan: Well, that's not my experience at all. My daughter downloaded Pirates of the Carribean 3 this past weekend onto her laptop with a wireless "g" connection, and she gave the download a couple minutes and then started watching the movie from beginning to end. The movie did not hesitate or stutter once. She certainly did not have to wait until the whole movie downloaded.

But you do have to do what Matthew Wanderer said and double click on the movie from the "rental" section, not from the downloads section.

Message was edited by: Solid

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