iTunes Movie Store
Apple Matters has a good overview and review of buying a movie through the new Apple iTunes Store. Based on this info, I don’t think I’m going to try it unless there’s a movie I really want to watch.
The first aspect that made me frown was the prohibitive file size: 1.33 GB. I have broadband and even then the file would take two hours to download, which not only is a long time to wait for a movie, but it also will likely tie up the use of the internet during that time. The second bug-a-boo is the rather questionable, fuzzy image quality.
Keeping these two things in mind, buying an iTunes movie is no longer an impulse buy. In that amount of time, someone could go to a video store, rent a DVD, rip, and encode and likely get a file with better image quality.
The last gripe I have is the selection, which isn’t really Apple’s fault. It’s obvious the big movie studios are holding back in a large way, keeping the best titles close to the vest largely due to fear of piracy. It’s sad, because any movie people want to download is already out there, so part of me really thinks, what do they have to lose? At least by putting a download out there for a reasonable price, you’d get people buying the film rather than just turning to other means.
So the iTunes Movie Store is close, yet not quite there in order for me to take the plunge. I’ll outline what would make me jump: compress the file down to under a GB. Reduce the image quality if need be, because a movie will be priced at around $4–5. At that price and quicker download time, it becomes less cost-effective to spend time ripping a DVD.