iTunes movies - a step back?

I’m an impatient sort, I have to admit. In my job, where I’m often told about products and services that are coming down the line months or even years before they happen, that can be a bad thing.

You know how some people have problems committing to a computer purchase because they think something better is about to come out? Imagine how hard it is for me — I know something better is about to come out.

Anyway, a month or so ago I was told about Apple offering a rental service for downloaded movies via the iTunes Store. Obviously this is not in Australia yet — we don’t even have movies or TV shows on our version of the iTunes Store — but I am, as I mentioned, impatient.

I have an account on the US iTunes Store, so I can get all that luvverly content we can’t get here. Don’t ask me how — for one thing, it’s not entirely above-board to have an account on the iTunes Store when you don’t live in the USA, and for another if I told you how I got one Apple would close down the loophole. At any rate, I decided to try the iTunes Rental service.

I’ve never actually bought movies via the iTunes Store, mainly because it’s an odd sort of concept. It’s hard to decide on a film that I want to see sufficiently to pay DVD sorts of prices for, but that I’m not so keen on that I’ll be bothered by having a highly compressed itty-bitty version to watch on an iPod.

The Rental service gets around that, by charging me less. Renting from iTunes costs about the same as renting from a real video store, so you’re after basically the same class of films — stuff you want to see, but not keep.

I rented 3:10 to Yuma, the Russell Crowe western. I like Russell Crowe but I hate westerns, so it seemed a good fit. I started watching it on a plane down to Melbourne.

Here’s the problem. When I rent a DVD I can watch it as many times as I like. Services like BigPond movies and the ilk allow me to borrow movies with no set dues date, so I can watch them, then invite friends around the following weekend to watch them again if I so choose. When I’ve seen them enough I send them back and get another.

iTunes doesn’t work like that. On iTunes, you rent a movie, and you have 30 days to get done with it. But once you start watching it, you have 24 hours to finish — then it erases itself. It’s a rare film that I want to watch more than once in 24 hours. With children in the house, it often takes several days to get through a feature-length film. This is why I don’t borrow DVDs from Video Ezy and places like that where they charge overdue fines.

So Apple’s digital download revolution is, if anything, a step backwards from DVD rental by post.

As I write this, I have another six hours before it erases itself. I have a lot to do in that time, and I think it’s entirely possible I won’t get to it. I’ve paid a full rental price for 45 minutes of a movie. If I were Russell Crowe I’d be throwing a phone at somebody.

Matthew JC. Powell doesn’t have an iPhone, which is just as well. Contact him on mjcp@optusnet.com.au

a back itunes movies services step