macnn
05/01/2008, 3:15am, EDT
Thursday, May 1st
Apple's iTunes to sell movies same day as DVD release
Days after celebrating iTunes' fifth anniversary, Apple on Thursday is expected to announce a breakthrough movie distribution deal that would allow it to sell new releases at the iTunes Store, offering a digital content delivery alternative to DVD sales. The new agreement will include major studios such as Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate and New Line as well as smaller boutiques such as Magnolia and Image Entertainment, but will leave out new titles from MGM, the report said. The Hollywood Reporter notes that the move would allow a broad slate of top-shelf films to be offered day-and-date with home video releases, potentially cannibalizing DVD sales, while simulataneousl putting "significant" pressure on iTunes competitors ranging from Amazon's Unbox to Microsoft XBox Live Marketplace.
In January Apple announced it had signed all of the studios to movie rentals, with each title costing between $3 and $4 for consumers to access for a 30-day period, while movie purchases could cost as much as $15.
Apple, however, failed to meet its self-imposed goal of 1000 iTunes movie rental titles by the end of February. Reports indicated that the Cupertino-based company nearly achieved its promise of 100 HD movie rentals, with only 91 hi-definition movie rentals and under 400 standard titles available for rent by the end of February.
Filed under: Apple
Other story tags: iTunes, movies, digital media
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The problem is...
Apple just has one guy with a Mac Mini ripping DVD's and Blue-Ray disks and it just takes forever with this setup. But the guy is hopeful that once Apple gets some traction with this service, they'll invest some of the profits into getting a Mac Pro. Maybe even with 2 DVD drives.
Disappointing at best.
Sell iTunes movies on same day as DVD releases? What a lie! Whatever iTunes purchased movie releases today are at least a week old. As for not meeting the self-imposed 1000 movie rentals by end Feb, Apple has been pushing or passing off old rentals as new rentals. Another lie. And Apple has been busy covering all these up. Apple is definitely becoming more evil than any tech giant out there. Be warned.
Mac mini ripping DVDs
I can attest to that fact that a Mac mini ripping DVDs would indeed be a slow process -- I do that myself to transfer movies to my iPod touch for later viewing when on the road.Seriously though, you really believe that Apple would be doing this do you? No, I think a group of Mac Pros running together would be providing some serious video decompression and re-compression down to H.264 with tweaks to make the movie downloads a tad smaller is a more likely scenario.As it is, I use Handbrake to do the work, albeit slow, I just let it run overnight... and doing TWO of them via connected DVD-ROM drives lets me do two rips, not at once, but in sequence. If I start around 10:30pm, they are usually done about 4:30am, depending on the length of the movies.
Mac mini ripping DVDs
I can attest to that fact that a Mac mini ripping DVDs would indeed be a slow process -- I do that myself to transfer movies to my iPod touch for later viewing when on the road.Seriously though, you really believe that Apple would be doing this do you? No, I think a group of Mac Pros running together would be providing some serious video decompression and re-compression down to H.264 with tweaks to make the movie downloads a tad smaller is a more likely scenario.As it is, I use Handbrake to do the work, albeit slow, I just let it run overnight... and doing TWO of them via connected DVD-ROM drives lets me do two rips, not at once, but in sequence. If I start around 10:30pm, they are usually done about 4:30am, depending on the length of the movies.
Mac mini ripping DVDs
I can attest to that fact that a Mac mini ripping DVDs would indeed be a slow process -- I do that myself to transfer movies to my iPod touch for later viewing when on the road.Seriously though, you really believe that Apple would be doing this do you? No, I think a group of Mac Pros running together would be providing some serious video decompression and re-compression down to H.264 with tweaks to make the movie downloads a tad smaller is a more likely scenario.As it is, I use Handbrake to do the work, albeit slow, I just let it run overnight... and doing TWO of them via connected DVD-ROM drives lets me do two rips, not at once, but in sequence. If I start around 10:30pm, they are usually done about 4:30am, depending on the length of the movies.
Sorry about the multiples
Sheesh... sorry about that... MacNN better get that fixed!:-(
Sorry about the multiples
Sheesh... sorry about that... MacNN better get that fixed!:-(
overblown
, potentially cannibalizing DVD sales,It has very little, if any, ability to 'cannibalize' DVD sales. People who buy new movies when they come out are generally the types who want the whole DVD experience, not just wanting to watch the movie (this can be attested to by the fact they're stupid enough to drop $20-$30 on a new DVD, rather than renting or waiting a couple of months for it to become cheaper).They aren't going to give up all those DVD features just so they can download it at home (esp. since most don't have an AppleTV, let alone a Mac with Front Row hooked up to their TV set).
ha ha ha
You think Apple is ripping these videos from DVD's?? That's hilarious. They get the content from the original masters from the studios. The time it takes isn't much of an issue. It's getting all of the rights in order to put them online that slows things down.
wow
I can't believe anyone thought that was serious. That's hilarious.Cue the responses that claim they were just playing along. :)