Related Sections: Apple Home Theater Internet
Apple to sell movies on iTunes the same day as DVD release
Apple pulled the trigger on the DVD industry today, announcing that movies will now be available on its iTunes Store on the same day they’re offered on DVD. Lining up for the deal are majors such as 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Lionsgate. In its press release, Apple said there are 200 HD movies on iTunes, but didn’t indicate whether these newest titles would be available for download in HD.
This changes the landscape for movie downloading, putting the service on the same footing and timing as immensely profitable DVD sales. And think of this from the perspective of the studios: Wouldn’t you rather sell your content where one copy on a hard drive can crank out $14.99 for each sale among millions, rather than printing all those DVDs, putting them in cases and packaging them with expensive cover art, and then paying to ship them all over the world? Expect many more download services to follow suit soon.
By John Matrix at 10:52 AM ON 05/07/08
Ok, I am going to spend $15 for a movie that I have to download... tying my PC and Internet up for how ever long it takes to download 7 to 10+ Gigs of Movie, then burn it to a Blu-Ray (BD-R) Disc - $13 and provide the label and protective case - $3 plus time to burn, label the copy, myself, as opposed to the next time I go grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, just buying a copy for about $24? WOW! Let me think about this for a moment! Of course if you loath Wal-Mart, there is Costco, Best Buy or BlockBusters... just to name a few, of other retail outlets where you could buy a Hard Copy Blu-ray movie at $10 more, but no fuss, and you can still share the copy with your family or friends who don't have a Ultra-High Speed broadband connection or PC linked to their TV. This is just a deceptive way of making it harder for you to share your movies you buy with family and friends, as you would need the blu-ray burner setup in your PC, the blu-ray disc to burn it on and the case and label... if they don't have some anti-copy script embedded in the movie you just downloaded!!! This is just neo-DIVX. I guess if you live on Kodiak Island in Alaska and the nearest store is 100+ miles away, with no mail stop or anything else, and had complete faith that my Hard Drive would last forever without crashing (not to mention the fact that HD Movies will eat a Hard Drive up, before you know it... hello TB - (Tera Byte) Hard Drives!!!)
So why is this a good idea for consumers?
on your cellphone!
Text DVICE to 72434
editor@dvice.com
John Matrix:
Ok, I am going to spend $15 for a movie that I have to download... tying my PC and Internet up for how ever long it...More »