"Lord of the Rings" extended edition - two of the movies are MONO!

Since I've not heard back from WB (surprise, surprise), I'm wondering if anyone else has had a response from iTunes.

I also realized that I should have specified that this problem is with the STANDARD definition movie files. I have no idea if the same problem is occuring with the HIGH definition movie files, as I did not purchase those versions.

mario-64, which version did you purchase?

Thanks.

Good to know, thanks. And did you by some miracle get a response from iTunes when you said they should escalate it with Warner Bros, or did they leave it up to you?

I will soon be writing another letter to the WB president of digital distribution. It just irks me to see mediocrity in full bloom.

Wow. This is getting really interesting. I had placed reviews in the iTunes Store of the two mono movies in question, to warn people that they would be purchasing mono movies until iTunes and/or Warner Bros takes responsibility and fixes it.

iTunes removed my reviews, with the message "Reviews with spam, profanity, hate speech, explicit/pornographic content, or commentary that is completely off topic are prohibited."

I can categorically say that there was none of that in my reviews - just the suggestion that iTunes needs to fix a problem.

I'm now expecting that this discussion thread will be similarly censored some time soon. Welcome to China.

You will probably find that the first movie is stereo, so no problem. It's just the second and third that are mono. But if you're happy watching these movies anywhere, anyhow, then maybe you'd be content with mono sound too. If you do end up downloading the second and third movies (just to be clear, we're talking about the EXTENDED editions), please let me know if they're still mono, thanks.

By the way, I got an email from the head of Digital Distribution of Warner Bros (after I sent him two letters) saying he was going to look into it. A month later I asked for an update and got no reply. That was about a month ago. :-(

Please if you want to take action, I urge you to write a letter to...

Thomas Gewecke

President

Warner Bros Digital Distribution

4000 Warner Blvd

Burbank, CA 91522

I sent him two letters, and I did get an email from him saying he would look into it and get back to me, but I have not heard from him in the three months since then (I emailed him for an update and got no reply). Hopefully if he hears from more than one person, action will be taken.

I even sent a letter to Peter Jackson in New Zealand a few weeks ago, to let him know how his movies are being sold. No reply, though I'm sure he has bigger things on his plate right now!

SUCCESS!! THEY HAVE FOUND THE PROBLEM!!!

I am very happy to report that today I got a phone call from a gentleman at Warner Bros Home Video. He told me that...

1. They're sorry that it was not communicated to me that they had been looking into the issue.

2. The letter I had sent to Peter Jackson was forwarded by his people to Warner Bros.

3. There had been some previous misunderstanding about exactly what my complaint was, but now that they've looked at it more closely, they did some tests and discovered that, yes, the files they sent to iTunes were MONO!

4. They will be sending new audio files to iTunes, and iTunes will eventually be communicating to those who have purchased the movies that they can download them again in their correct stereo form. This may take a few weeks.

For those people who have been holding off purchasing "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King" extended editions, I'll let you know when the new files are in the iTunes Store.

And there's no longer a reason to write to Thomas Gewecke at Warner Bros, so please don't.

It's taken me seven months to get them to fix this, but it looks like the end is in sight! Yay!

Sometimes being obsessively pig-headed pays off.

:-)

You mean was it worth the seven months of effort? Well, as I said in my letter to Peter Jackson, I will probably never watch the digital movies anyway. Like you, I have the Blu-rays, so why would I settle for crappy digital files on a small screen? It might be handy to be able to refer to them on a portable device, but the thought of listening to them in glorious mono sound is abhorrent to me!

It was the principle of it. They're supposed to provide consumers with a product of a certain quality, and they were not. And when I brought it to the attention of iTunes and Warner Bros, they just passed the buck back and forth and stopped communicating with me. Their "Customer Service" was not serving the customer at all. There are people out there who WILL be watching those digital files, and they deserve at least a stereo soundtrack.

Hopefully next time someone brings a problem to their attention, that customer will be listened to, instead of being swatted away like an annoying fly.

So yes, it was worth it.