Apple unveiled yesterday (12/09/06) during a keynote presentation, some new introductions into their way of life, including, iTunes 7, and the upgrades to the iTunes Store (formerly the iTunes Music Store), including the addition of movies. However the movies are currently only available to the US iTunes Store. However Apple is hoping to take it internationally in 2007.
Currently only Walt Disney and its subsidaries (Pixar, Touchstone and Miramax) have videos in the store. Among these videos you can purchase some of your favourite Pixar films such as Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, The Incredibles, as well as you can pre-order Cars. (however strangely enough, not Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo or Toy Story 2).
There is also a great collection of Disney movies too.
All of the Pixar movies available are currently $12.99US. However unless you pre-order your copy of Cars from the iTunes Store or buy it in the first week, you can expect the cost to go up to $14.99US. Most library titles will be priced at $9.99US every day. Also note that new movies added to the store i.e. Cars, will be available for download the same day as its release on DVD.
When you download movies from iTunes, you get near DVD-quality, 640-by-480-pixel video perfect for watching on your computer and positively brilliant for syncing to your iPod. All movies are in Dolby Surround Audio The file size ranges from for eg. Toy Story (920mb) and The Incredibles (1.29GB) for downloading the movie. However you can start watching the movie within about 1 mintue of downloading.
And also very exciting news (I think the most exciting of all), Steve Jobs during his Keynote at the showtime presentation, he announced a new piece of hardware that will be available Q1 of 2007 codenamed “iTV”. This new piece of hardware will connect wirelessly to your Mac or PC via an ethernet or wireless connection. It also has a USB 2.0 port. It also connects to your TV. Using the cute little Apple Remotes you can use it in a very similar way to Front Row that you would find on your Mac, except with the addition of the ability to view photos as well. You connect the small, Mac Mini looking box (except it is about as thin or thinner than the modern DVD player) to your TV via either HDMI port or one of the other many ports on the back. The “iTV” will set you back around $299USD, but I think it will be worth every penny. You can find out heaps for about the “iTV” and all the new additions to Apple’s product line by watching the Keynote. So how about that. From Q1 2007 you can watch your Pixar movies that you download off the iTunes Store on your TV, as well as probably any other Pixar type video you store on your computer i.e. the trailers etc, and also view all those cool Pixar images and listen to your Pixar movie soundtracks. All of this on your TV direct from your computer. How exciting is that!
I’d also like to point out that The Incredibles is No 3. on the Top Movies selling at the iTunes Store behind 2. National Treasure and 1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
I am geekin’ out about all this. It is tooo exciting! Be sure to check it all out!
Last modified: September 13, 2006
movies available on iTunes the same day they open at the cinema…
Thomas,
While I think the iTV is cool. From a marketing stand point, it feels like an extra step. It is very cool, but if seems to me to be redundant. I think it will be sucessful, but perhaps not nearly as much as iTunes is.
Why would consumers go out of their way to buy yet an other “DVD” player for $299, when the majority of house holds already have one? Plus when you buy a DVD you get a physical product. If the movies were availible for $5.99 then I would understand. $12.99 just seems too expensive to download movies, when NetFlicks makes pirating movies soo easy(hehe jk).
I’ll read more up on it because it does sound cool though. Maybe there’s some great feature I’m missing that makes it all worth while.
Cheers for the heads up
andy
Andy, you make a fair point. I agree with you on most points you make. I think $299 is quite expensive. But it’s around about the same price as an iPod i think. And I don’t own an iPod or need one so it would be an iPod or the iTV for me. I am seeing it as a way to uztilize all video on my computer and get it to my tv without having to burn it to disc.
The price of the movies does seem a little high. I mean you are getting about 50% off the DVD price if its say $12.99 but then again your arent getting full DVD quality and all the fancy extras that we love so much. Maybe as more studios come on board the price may go down.
I can’t wait till it comes out though so I can go to my local apple reseller and give it a whirl.
I agree. I didnt know it was gonna take the place of the iPod for some. If you can store and listen to music on it too. I think that was teh feature I overlooked. thanks
andy
I don’t have an iPod, nor do I plan on buying any movies from Apple any time soon, but I really want an iTV just because it’ll be the first hassle-free way to get all my home movies, photos, and music from my computer into the living room. I wouldn’t complain if Apple releases a iTV Deluxe with a built-in DVD player, though.
That said, the only reason Steve Jobs unveiled iTV at all was (IMO) because he wanted to put pressure on the other movie studios to jump into the iTunes Store. “We’ve got a road map to the living room, are you coming along or getting left behind?”
$250 USD seems like the right price…
I have something similar that cost $400 NZD. I bet the iTV works far better though.
Luxo jr., you should do a post about you being interviewed on Radio Pixar
Yeah, when are we going to see that episode ? I’ve been waiting two weeks. Do a post on it, Luxo Jr. We haven’t had a post in awhile.
Bill, somebody tould me that the new show would be on today.
That’s the same thing I heard. I’ll wait today and see if it pops up, if not I’ll post anyway. There has just been no Pixar news lately.
Luxo Jr. you should put that post up about the Radio Pixar Show we been talking about on today even though it is still not up on Pixar Planet.
Hey Luxo Jr. want to hear some news relating to late May/early June??
Remember the Cars Digital Trading Card Game?? Guess what? Our team: Team 9159, is STILL in the TOP 100! Number 31 to be exact!
I have the 8th most points (20095) and you have the 9th (18101)!
Our number one team memnber is Andromestar with 22103 Points!
Really? I had totally forgotton all about that. That is pretty cool!
I don’t get it – The one movie I did want to download from itunes was Monsters, Inc, and they don’t have it!!!!