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

Well, I can now confirm that "The Two Towers" extended edition is finally stereo. I was expecting I would be overjoyed, but now that so many people cannot buy it, the victory is bittersweet.

JiminSF, the iTunes rep didn't address my query about the sudden unavailability at all. I'll email him one last time and forward your comments to him (without your ID, which is pretty anonymous anyway).

I hope they make the movies available again soon.

Below is the reply from the iTunes rep. He's basically saying it's Warner Bros, not them. I have no idea if that's true, but if you want to voice your frustration to Warner Bros, I suggest you email wbdigitalcopysupport@wb.com

I did send the same question to the guy from WB who phoned me on Friday night. Unfortunately, I don't really have an email address for him (he said he was going to email me, and once again, that did not happen), so I just emailed the general support email address and asked that it be forwarded to him. I have no idea if that will be successful.

Anyway, here's what iTunes says...

"Unfortunately, Apple has no say in the content that is provided on the iTunes Store. If the distributor choose to add a file, remove it a week later, and then add it again 2 weeks after that, they have the right to do so. The only time Apple will step in is if it is apparent that the distributor is doing this for some form of financial gain. (like causing customers to be unable to re-download free of charge, cause the newly added content is now "new" items, and not the same past customers purchased) In theses situations we will step in. However the iTunes Store is just a platform for retailers to distribute there content to Apple Devices, this helps us ensure the safety of our customers, and the integrity of our devices.

We are making great leaps in the stipulations we require the providers to follow, to help our customers get the best quality content available. Just as an example, we have just made it mandatory for all films to have 'Closed Captioning' files provided, within one year from release date, or else the content will be pulled. This ensures our hearing impaired customers have access to the same great content that non-hearing impaired customers receive.

If the content has been removed from the iTunes Store. It would have been removed from the providers themselves, or by Apple, in the best interest of our loyal customers. However I could not state specifically for the content you are referencing, as this is not information we are entitled too.

I hope you have found this information helpful. I'd like to thank you for your continuing business with us at Apple."

You're welcome!

I never imagined they would be selling mono movies for an entire year (and that some people would accept that) but at least it's fixed now.

I wonder if Warner Bros took down the movies for a few days to do some digital housekeeping. I got the impression from the guy who phoned me last week that they've realized their workflow with the iTunes store *****.

Enjoy your stereo movies!

Are you saying the movie itself is missing subtitles for the Elves, or the extras? And is it just "Fellowship" or all three movies?

In answer to your question, sorry, I don't have the energy. I think it would be more appropriate for someone who is experiencing the problem to take this on.

It sounds like you would do better to contact Warner Bros directly, rather than going through iTunes. I'm afraid I've lost track of WB Home Video Customer Support's email address, but you can probably get to their website by Googling. You will almost certainly get an unhelpful response indicating that they did not really read your email. Then you should reply saying "You didn't answer my question" and you will hopefully then get a real response.

They have an online form you can fill out.

http://www.wbdigitalcopy.com/support/#landing-content

Alternatively, you can phone their office via Warner Bros' main number 818 954 6000. Their extension will probably ring and ring and never pick up. Then you can ask the receptionist to connect you with the voicemail of the head of home video customer support (whose name I forget) and she will probably call you back after a couple of days. She seemed like a nice lady, and things moved pretty quickly once I had a conversation with her.

Hmm, I'll check it out if I have time this weekend. Thanks for pointing it out.

Wait a minute - "The Fellowship of the Ring" was stereo from the start when I downloaded it in March, so I wasn't aware that they had put up a new version - that's a new version with extras, is that what you're saying?

If you're telling me that the original FOTR file was fine, and now there's a problem, chances are good that the one I downloaded in March will not have the subtitle problem, in which case, I'm not in a position to complain to them.

But as you say - if some new customer downloads it and finds it now has a problem, by all means, they should complain to Warner Bros.

First, you should make sure that the title in question is SUPPOSED to be in stereo. Does the file info claim it is stereo?

Next, make sure that whatever you are listening to it on is set up correctly. If you can hear other iTunes movies in stereo, and only this one is mono, then you know that "Old Dogs" only is mono. If EVERYTHING is mono, then it is most likely a problem with your monitoring.

Apart from that, there is no setting in iTunes that needs to be changed, or can be changed. It is a problem with the digital file, and you should let iTunes know.

But be aware that it took me eight months to get them (and Warner Bros, the provider of the files) to fix the "Lord of the Rings" files, so it's not for the faint of heart. Good luck!