Apple Rentals – Review

So, I finally checked out the new Apple/iTunes electronic movie rental. As promised, here’s a review of the service.

(If you’re wondering, I rented “Disturbia” which I found to be much better than I expected from a blatant “Rear Window” rip-off.)

Usage

Being an Apple entity, it’s not surprising that iTunes rentals are incredibly user-friendly. All of the standard iTunes store search features can be used to browse through the movies in the iTunes library – making finding movies incredibly simple. What is lacking, however, is searchability and browseability of movies that are included in the rental library. As of the writing of this review, you can only search the iTunes library as a whole, with no way to distinguish which films are available for rental until you go to the movie’s individual page. I’m big on scanning titles and browsing through genre categories… It would be nice to be able to do that with only the movies that are available for rental since really I’m not interested in buying.

Once your find your film and see that it is eligible for rental, you can simply click “rent movie.” The movies begins to download onto your computer and is put into your iTunes library in its own little folder designated for rentals. The file remains on for your computer for 30 days or for 24 hours after you begin viewing it. Viewing it is as simple as downloading it: simply play it like you would any song or video file in your iTunes library. There’s even a little announcement of how long you have left to watch the film when you press play.

Selection

The movie selection that is available for rental is a good deal smaller than the movie selection available for purchase. While Apple has promised 1,000 movies by the end of February, they number in the low 100’s for now.

I must say, though, that for such a small selection there are many great choices. They have an eclectic group of old and new titles available, ranging from “Bananas” to “Mean Girls.” It reminds me of an independent music store in Greenwich Village – quality is more important than quantity.

That said, Netflix’s 4,000+ titles, including TV shows, is far more impressive and I think the success of Apple’s rentals will rely largely on how they compete with that.

Quality

The image quality was magnificent, at least on my iMac. I didn’t get a chance to test it out on my iPod, though.

Price

The price of the rentals is where I start to have major problems, though I doubt any of them will be solved. $3.99 is a lot for a 24-hour rental. A lot. Parents with young children may be forced to watch movies in segments across a few days, students often need to watch film several times over the course of a week or two for school projects, and honestly… Stuff happens. You might not get a chance to watch a movie in one sitting.

I think that either the time limit or the price has to change. I can get $1 rentals of new releases for 24-hours at the supermarket down the street… As can most of America. And those come with DVD extras. While I do believe in convenience fees, $2 would be much more fair that $2.99-3.99.

Overall

Netflix’s “Watch Now” is still a better deal for now. However, Apple rentals is off to a good start and is an excellent alternative for Mac users who are being left out of the Netflix festival of cinematic love.