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Apple squashes 24hr movie rental workaround

updated 11:10 pm EST, Thu January 17, 2008

24hr film rental bug fixed

Apple has corrected an issue where users were able to circumvent iTunes' 24 hour time-limit on its new movie rentals service. Earlier today Gizmodo reported that changing the system time -- on either Windows-based PC or a Mac -- by moving it forward or rolling it back, effectively allowed users to continue to watch the movie past the designated 24-hour period. In a follow-up report, Gizmodo notes that Apple has now disabled the circumvention technique by adding an additional check in iTunes. Changing the date/time, now yields a 5103 error from iTunes, according to the report.

"Alright so it appears to no longer work. Here's what happened on our end. Before, we had set our computer date to 2009, and started playing Ratatouille (and Benny started playing The Simpsons) to start the 24-hour timer in 2009," the site wrote. "Came back to 2008, everything was gravy. We go to play it again just a few minutes ago, and it tries to connect to iTunes, and then gives us a 5103 error. Benny gets the same deal."

by MacNN Staff

(31)

TAGS :

iTunes, hacks, movie rentals, circumvention

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coldfusion1970
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2004

0

01/18, 06:57am | report spam | close Reply |
spider-pig

Marge - "You can bring Spider Pig if you want."

Homer - "He's not Spider Pig anymore he's Harry Plopper."

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

-1

01/18, 07:28am | report spam | close Reply |
So...

what if you don't have the network connection? It appears that iTunes keeps phoning home everytime you watch a video....

Hey, Apple, maybe if you didn't limit the time to such a stupid and small interval people wouldn't be trying so hard to circumvent it.

mark@pageworks.co.uk
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Joined: Jan 2008

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01/18, 07:53am | report spam | close Reply |
So...

> Hey, Apple, maybe if you didn't limit the time to such a stupid and small interval people wouldn't be trying so hard to circumvent it.

I imagine the studios will have had a significant input into the time your have to watch the movie.

climacs
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Joined: Sep 2001

0

01/18, 08:06am | report spam | close Reply |
mark

you're new 'round these parts? Testudo is our resident Apple troll.

mgpalma
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Joined: Sep 2000

0

01/18, 08:32am | report spam | close Reply |
re: Hey, Apple...

"Hey, Apple, maybe if you didn't limit the time to such a stupid and small interval people wouldn't be trying so hard to circumvent it."

Yeah, like no other movie service does the same thing. Like Amazon's Unbox...

nat
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2002

0

01/18, 09:02am | report spam | close Reply |
jobs

testudo has a thing against jobs. catch his post a few days ago about jobs wife and being small (this from the dear boy who never resorts to the personal attack).

if it was 7 days people would try to hack it and our dear boy would trash apple for such a stupid and small interval. that's what he does. that's all he does.

Bol3p2p
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Joined: Jan 2008

0

01/18, 09:39am | report spam | close Reply |
time server?

Is it just checking the time against one of apple's time servers? If so, couldn't you run a ntpd and spoof apple's hostname? Just a guess, still haven't tried the new rental service.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

-1

01/18, 10:04am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: so

I imagine the studios will have had a significant input into the time your have to watch the movie.

But I thought Apple could yield their big stick and get what they want. Why not say "24 hours, that's nuts! Make it 36 or 48!" (and what is the big deal with just 24 hours. Are the studios fearful you'll enjoy it so much you'll want to watch it twice over a weekend, stealing money from the poor craftsmen who've put their time and efforts into it?).

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

-1

01/18, 10:07am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: hey apple

Yeah, like no other movie service does the same thing. Like Amazon's Unbox...

I always find it funny when people bring up these type of arguments. "Oh, you can't do that with Unbox, so why complain to apple!"

I don't know, I thought Apple tried to be different, not just one of the many. Then again, they've also arbitrarily determined that HD rentals can only be viewed on the AppleTV. But I'm sure that's OK, because you can only view HD content on an Unbox or XBox or whatever...

chromos
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Joined: Nov 1999

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01/18, 10:38am | report spam | close Reply |
re: hey apple

I believe that Apple had little of its usual leverage power in the video arena, given that it was more or less desperate to get all studios on board ('content is king'). Given that, it's up to the studios to wake up and be more consumer-friendly.

As for the AppleTV, the fact that HD rentals are only on AppleTV doesn't sound so arbitrary given the fact that the device is HDCP-compliant and most regular PCs/Macs are not.

mblase
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Joined: May 2002

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01/18, 11:04am | report spam | close Reply |
24 hrs = normal

IIRC, Blockbuster still has "two day rentals" for all their new releases -- which comes to 36 hours only if you rent it early in the day and return it late the next night.

And back when video rentals were new and Blockbuster was just a gleam in some venture capitalist's eye, every movie was a one-night rental that had to be back in by the next day or you'd get socked with a second $3 rental charge -- not the one-week grace period Blockbuster offers today.

Give it a couple of years, and Apple and the movie studios will both be relaxing that 24-hour window a bit. Considering that a year a go they weren't offering the rentals at all, to anyone, under any circumstances, I think it's a darned good start.

tindrum
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01/18, 11:08am | report spam | close Reply |
jobs lives next door

to testudo, and often forces him to buy apple products and services that he doesn't want, or Jobs will trash-talk him at the next Association meeting. Testudo has "out of spec" colors on his front door, and Jobs knows it, and has been lording it over testudo for years. I'd be grumpy too!

dpicardi
Forum Regular

Joined: Sep 2006

0

01/18, 11:19am | report spam | close Reply |
Why the 24 hr Time limit?

Frankly this makes it an unusable feature for me.

I see no reason why this could not be extended to 3 days. As the saying goes "$hit happens." I might plan to watch the movie when I order it but life has a funny way of making your plans change.

It is a serious concession to the studios by Apple that will result in far less adoption and revenue for Apple.

ZinkDifferent
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01/18, 11:19am | report spam | close Reply |
oh boy, testudo...

Getting all testy. What's the matter kid, running low on meds?

You really need to deal with your feelings of inadequacy concerning Steve Jobs, one of these days.

It's funny to see little lord fauntleroy pretending to wield his armchair CEO wisdom...

ramallite
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01/18, 11:23am | report spam | close Reply |
Degeneration of English

"Apple has corrected an issue..."

In pre-sanitized (i.e. correct) English, an 'issue' is either "discussed" or "read" (i.e. an issue of a magazine). An 'issue' cannot be 'corrected'. Rather it is a 'problem' that can be corrected. This neo-sanitization of the English language in order to sound more important is getting way too sickening...

dwoodruff
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Joined: Jul 2006

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01/18, 11:42am | report spam | close Reply |
again

If you don't like the product and can't follow the simple agreement... don't buy it...

And Testudo.... suck my balls

Terrin
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Joined: Jan 2006

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01/18, 12:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
Stinks

I think the time interval stinks. It should be at least 27 hours. Most people watch movies around the same time every day. So if you start watching at 8 today, but have to stop watching for some reason, you can't resume around 8 tomorrow.

Other services also have a twenty four hour cap, however, it should be longer for everyone.

malax
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01/18, 12:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
30 days and 24 hours

It's not that you have only 24 hours from the time you download the movie. The 24 hour clock only starts when you start watching it. You have 30 days to start watching it. But, 24 hours is a bit too restrictive. What if you get the kids to bed at 9:00 and start the movie and then your parents call and talk for an hour? If your window for watching movies is 9-11pm, then you're SOL. All I can imagine is that the studios don't really trust the security built into the system and see this as an extra layer of protection again you renting the movie and giving it to all your friends to watch. Otherwise 24 makes very little sense.

Toyin
Mac Elite

Joined: Nov 2000

0

01/18, 12:40pm | report spam | close Reply |
24 hours the standard

Unfortunately if I want to sit on my fat a** and rent a movie, I have 24 hours to watch it. With Comcast, it's 24 hours from when you bought it. X-box and Apple TV 24 hours from when you start watching it. Seems reasonable to me, I do wish it was 30 hours as suggested by a few above.

unity@mac.com
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01/18, 01:57pm | report spam | close Reply |
...

I would have appreciated 48 hours. I work 13 hour shifts, when I go home I may fall asleep watching it. 24 hours later I may not be able to watch the rest of it.

ClevelandAdv
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Joined: Jul 2004

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01/18, 02:24pm | report spam | close Reply |
Blockbuster, PPV, Unbox..

The whole point is not that other service have the same time limit, it is that the studios could make a lot more money if they did two simple things. 1. Give a much longer time limit to watch a rented film. 2. Allow you to Apply a rental toward a purchase. These both would be a boon in revenue, but the studios are so short-sighted they can't see past their next 3.99 rental fee. Hopefully this bread of executive will soon be extinct, like their Music Label counterparts.

As for physical rentals, there is a good reason to limit them - you need the DVD back to rent it again.

The only reason to limit rental time of a download is to try to get multiple rental fees from the same person. So we get 5% of the users to re-rent, and loose 80% of the potential market.

I'll never rent a single title from this service, and I am a avid Apple fan (iPod, iPhone, Final Cut Studio, Aperture, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, TV shows and music among my last 12 months purchases).

iTunes movie rentals will fail on this alone.

ApeInTheShell
Senior User

Joined: Nov 2002

0

01/18, 03:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
That's life people

Just like everything else in life you make time to do an activity. You set priorities and get it done and if you are too busy then buy the DVD. Plus if you get an DVD with a iTunes Digital Copy you can now copy it to your computer allowing you to avoid the rental system completely. Put your cell phone on silent, request a day off, and ignore the doorbell. It's movie time.

mooncaine
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2003

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01/18, 04:47pm | report spam | close Reply |
None for me, thanks

LOL@Apple.

You can keep your stinking movie rental. I have Netflix, and I can watch 'em as often & as long as I want, on my TV.

Online movie rentals to watch on my computer can't compare, so the price needs to be a LOT less to even get me interested, and the 24hr limit has got to go, or no sale.

nat
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2002

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01/18, 05:08pm | report spam | close Reply |
why testudo

"But I thought Apple could yield their big stick and get what they want."

according to...? where did you get this information? you "thought" this or you have some kind of evidence? you're putting this forth as some kind of argument so let's see some data.

nat
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2002

0

01/18, 05:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
huh?

"I don't know, I thought Apple tried to be different, not just one of the many. "

how does being different and NOT getting every major studio on board help apple? "hey, s**** them, we're going to be different!" yeah, there's a game plan.

macuserssmelllikebum
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2006

0

01/18, 06:19pm | report spam | close Reply |
dude, dude...

There is no point arguing with t*******-udo. Forget it and move on, now.

FYI, arguing on the Internet is like competing in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded...

not_too_shabby
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Joined: Dec 2003

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01/18, 07:03pm | report spam | close Reply |
dst?

Hopefully you won't get that error when you turn your clock back an hour for daylight savings time.

nat
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2002

0

01/18, 08:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
why thanks

for that insight mac, but i rather enjoy jousting with the dear boy. he presents himself as the authority here yet leaves these wide openings to walk through. it's irresistable i tell ya, irresistable!

that's a real nice analogy you have there. perhaps some sensitivity training might be in order? just a thought. always striving to better ourselves you know... not a bad thing.

JeffDM
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2006

0

01/19, 08:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
Not that easy

apeintheshell, it seems like you've put movies onto a ridiculous pedestal. People shouldn't have to work their lives around a freaking movie. People have jobs, children, parents, friends or whatever. 24 hours is just shy of being useful for being able to watch the next night. Maybe a person without a life might make it work.

"You set priorities and get it done and if you are too busy then buy the DVD." - apeintheshell

I've heard of a system that handles this far better - Netflix or Blockbuster's subscription service. They actually work pretty well, with no late fees or time bombs to worry about for people with real lives.

Eriamjh
Addicted to MacNN

Joined: Oct 2001

0

01/19, 10:20pm | report spam | close Reply |
Simple check...

Apple probably added something to the server that checks to see that the date code on the movie isn't more than 24 hours from expiring.

Funny that they let it happen in the first place.

ApeInTheShell
Senior User

Joined: Nov 2002

0

01/20, 03:20pm | report spam | close Reply |
Gasp!

You have a life? What are those...

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Apple squashes 24hr movie rental workaround

updated 11:10 pm EST, Thu January 17, 2008

24hr film rental bug fixed

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spider-pig

So...

So...

mark

re: Hey, Apple...

jobs

time server?

Re: so

Re: hey apple

re: hey apple

24 hrs = normal

jobs lives next door

Why the 24 hr Time limit?

oh boy, testudo...

Degeneration of English

again

Stinks

30 days and 24 hours

24 hours the standard

...

Blockbuster, PPV, Unbox..

That's life people

None for me, thanks

why testudo

huh?

dude, dude...

dst?

why thanks

Not that easy

Simple check...

Gasp!

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