Next-Generation Movie Rental System: Will Apple Change the Way We Rent Movies?

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TOKYO (MacHouse) – Yesterday, Apple, Inc. launched a new service called iTunes Movie Rentals. It’s a new service where one can rent not only SD quality but also DVD and HD quality movies over the Internet. Let’s go over the features that Steve Jobs addressed during the Macworld 2008 presentation.





  • Apple launches iTunes Movie Rentals with films from such movie studios as 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate, New Line Cinema, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films.
  • One can watch movies on computers (Mac & PC), iPods, iPhone and Apple TV.
  • There will be 1,000 films available for rentals by the end of February.
  • New films will be available 30 days after their DVD releases.
  • Once a movie is rented, one has 30 days to start watching and 24 hours to finish watching the movie.
  • The DVD-quality rental price for library titles is $2.99, $3.99 for new releases.
  • The HD-quality rental price for library titles is $3.99 and $4.99 for new releases. Currently, there are 100 HD titles.
  • HD movies support Dolby 5.1 surrounding sound.






    • Steve Jobs also introduce an Apple TV software upgrade. In the meantime, the new price for Apple TV is $229, $70 less than before. With this software upgrade, available for free in 2 weeks, one can directly access iTunes Movie Rentals server, YouTube, .Mac Web Galleries, Flickr photostreams and more without a computer.


    Apple TV iTunes Movie Rentals
    Screenshot 01    		 Apple TV iTunes Movie Rentals
    Screenshot 02    		 Apple TV iTunes Movie Rentals
    Screenshot 03


    Apple TV iTunes Movie Rentals
    Screenshot 04    		 Apple TV iTunes Movie Rentals
    Screenshot 05



    Let’s see what you can do with Apple TV. You can rent DVD/HD movies over the Internet by connecting the iTunes Movie Rentals server. (See Screenshot 1.) You can find movies you want to watch by search them by names or genres (See Screenshot 2 & 3.) After finding your favorite movie, you can watch a free preview with its brief description to read or just go ahead and rent it by pressing the ‘Rent‘ button. (See Screenshot 4.) You have 30 days to activate the movie once it’s rented. And you can watch it as many times as you want for the next 24 hours by clicking on the blue Play button. (See Screenshot 5.)

    All these features being mentioned, one will no longer have to go and rent a movie. He or she can rent a DVD-quality or HD-quality movie without even stepping out of the house.






    Apple TV is a product of Apple, Inc.
    All screenshots come from Macworld 2008 Keynote Address

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