MATT HARTLEY
Globe and Mail Update Published on Wednesday, Jun. 04, 2008 9:58PM EDT Last updated on Monday, Mar. 30, 2009 3:50PM EDT
Buying and renting movies in Canada is entering a new age that could end the Friday evening trip to the corner video store.
Another step in the change occurred yesterday when Apple Inc. announced that the Canadian branch of its iTunes marketplace will begin selling and renting movies on the same day they are released to video stores.
That follows Bell Canada's creation of its Internet-based, download-to-own video service on May 21.
Even with two competing Internet video download services, however, Canadians still could be slow to adopt the new technology because of a myriad of complications.
Apple originally built the iTunes store to sell music as a means of driving sales of its iPod music players. Since then, the company has added television shows and movies to iTunes in hopes of selling more video-enabled iPods, iPhones and its Apple TV set top-box video player.
Consumers, however, have been more reluctant to ditch DVDs and adopt all-digital movie formats the way they turned their backs on CDs.
"The music market was propelled forward by the ability to rip your CDs legally and create robust digital libraries, but that's just not the case with movies," said Yankee Group analyst Josh Martin.
"It's illegal to rip movies … it's challenging and they take up a lot of room."
Complicating matters further is the lack of a universal digital video format that would allow movies to be played on any device, the way music in the MP3 format can play on virtually all music players. Movies downloaded from iTunes can only play through devices that support Apple's digital rights management software, while Bell's movies can not be loaded onto iPods and other incompatible devices.
Apple's new service, which has the backing of all the major U.S. movie studios, will start with a library of more than 1,200 titles, including 200 available in high definition. Rentals will cost between $3.99 and $5.99 and users will have 48 hours to play the movie from the time they begin watching it. Download-to-own titles will cost between $9.99 and $19.99.
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