Apple will sell new movies through iTunes
Apple, maker of the iPod media player, said yesterday that it would start selling movies through its iTunes online store the same day they are released on DVD. New releases from studios, including Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., will cost $14.99, Apple said in a statement. Previously, customers had to wait several weeks after the DVDs debuted. The service will start with such movies as “American Gangster” and “Juno” this week. Chief executive Steve Jobs is counting on movies to increase sales of iPods, Macintosh computers and Apple TV devices, which let users watch downloaded films on their widescreen televisions. In January, Jobs said customers had bought 7 million movies, which was below his expectations.
Apple began selling movies and television shows on iTunes in October 2005. “People want to watch a movie as soon as it comes out, and they don’t want to have to wait,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch in New York. “What Apple is doing is knocking down one more barrier for why you wouldn’t want to buy a movie from them.” New titles will also be available from News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Co., Universal Studios, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios.
Source: Washington Post
Comments(16)
Good stuff, but once again this sort of stuff won’t be available in Australia.
First.
DRM movies for 14.99$……il stick to torrents/usenet thx
This is stupid. I dont get why you would pay this sort of money for a digital copy? this isn’t just a “just torrent it” commnt but surely buying a hard copy will > than downloading a digitial copy for a simlar price?
15 bucks is tooo much for a hard copy!
I agree with the above, not even close to being worth the money.
Remove the 1 and we could have a reasonable deal
“People want to watch a movie as soon as it comes out, and they don’t want to have to wait,”
EXACTLY, which is why nobody (nobody on here anyway), waits for the DVD release.
Torrents are the future. Hell, torrents are the PRESENT.
Big business will catch up one day. Maybe.
They need to release the movie same time as it opens at the cinemas. Is time for the movie companies to take it to the next level. When this happens, they can offer someting I would pay for, if the price level is ok.
@7
I agree. I just went to Iron Man and it was a good movie except I was forced to crunch between two strangers and the people around me talked through the whole thing. One Azzhole read the subtitles out loud, I was ready to slap the prick. I would much rather be able to pay for a downloaded version then to see it in a crowded and uncomfortable room with a bunch of low life loser pricks.
Oh boy I can’t wait to pay my cold hard earned cash for something that is non-tangible and I can’t even put it up on a shelf to look at.
I’ll stick with buying my regular DVD’s at my regular price of 10 euros (maximum) instead of PAYING for non-tangible downloads.
I mean… that’s the true rip-off. Paying for something that has absolutely NO production costs!
Everyone keeps complaining more or less about paying the content costs rather then the packaging costs for a movie, yet that is exactly what happens when you go out and buy a game or a new OS, or even a Console game (for those that buy anything
). I don’t see the larger companies dropping price even when they do offer them for digital delivery. We have ALWAYS paid for content, the case and media it came on tacked about a penny onto the cost. More, it just comes down to if you prefer having something you can touch.
The funny thing, is the charge $14 for the content of dvd, which is legally suppose to be viewed by the owner…. now a theatre is charging what 15 these days at some places yet the studios only receive about $2 per seat, the rest is for theatre upkeep, employee pay, etc… so to the one that commented about get it as it is released, they want to do it, it was discussed, but no one will see it happen until their is airtight copyright protection, or they stop giving a crap.
I love Apple but I prefer owning a hard copy with the packaging including cover etc. Its not the same printing a cover yourself and sort of just becomes another file on the computer this way. Maybe if they lowered the price slightly I would purchase.
They need to release the movie same time as it opens at the cinemas. Is time for the movie companies to take it to the next level. When this happens, they can offer someting I would pay for, if the price level is ok
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Absolutely agree. People would still go to the movies because the theatre offers a unique experience, but it would harm cinemas in some ways but I’m sure it will happen in the future, the cinemas will have to adapt somehow.
>>People would still go to the movies because the theatre offers a UNIQUE experience
Yeah ? such as flying popcorns, cell phones and mofos who talk all the time during the movie!
LOL
“Yeah ? such as flying popcorns, cell phones and mofos who talk all the time during the movie!”
Word. A decent price, lower than DVD costs simply because there is no disc and mass production of it along with no DRM with an efficient digital trasnfer method might interest me. They also need to make sure they don’t exclude people wanting to play it on their DVD/HD players simply because they aren’t apple brand.
If these things happen and I can burn my own copy from a digital version that I can play on my DVD player then yes I will buy films online. As for the cinemas maybe a few weeks after the release it can be released for sale online and then a few weeks after it can go on DVD. This way you would encourage people to buy it online and make their own copy if not go buy DVD a few weeks later.
I hope they will sell in HD format.
)
pahh! cinema! give me a wide screen laptop and a decent set of earphones and im happy, In my own little world.
Who the hell watches movies on ipods anyways? Are you seriously going to sit there for 2 hours staring at that little screen?
And why would being able to download a movie through iTunes make me want to buy an iPod or iMac?
Unless I could burn it on to some sort of media and play it through a DVD player (or whatever else is hooked up to my TV) then I wouldn’t consider buying through iTunes.
And cinema prices are getting ridiculous nowadays. I would only go to the cinema now for huge blockbusters with lots of special effects that deserve to be seen with a big screen and big sound.