iTunes extras finally on Apple TV

[Zu Nim]

Originally Posted by Rik1138

I haven't really looked at it in iTunes, but does that mean you just can't get iTunes Extras on the computer right now for that title? I didn't think the new version worked on iTunes yet, so the old versions were still available for download...

I think if a title offered old-style extras, you can still download them. In the Planet of the Apes collection, only the original 1968 movie had old-style extras and the other titles had none. Now they all have new-style extras and the 1968 movie has both. The new-style extras definitely work in iTunes 11.3.

I'm just pointing out that you aren't 'buying' it at all, you are 'renting' it. It might be a 'life time' (or 'as long as the company exists') rental, but it's still a 'rental'.

And I'm pointing out that the practical life time of your physical media is about the same. It doesn't last forever for a variety of reasons. My laserdisc players and VCRs died and the media is obsolete. My HD-DVDs were more of a rental than a purchase, too. Who cares if it's the studio that determines when a title stops working? If my dog scratches my DVD after I unwrap it, does that make it less of a purchase and more of a rental? Either way, I have to buy it again.

But I've bought UV movies. Those are perpetual licenses. Once the CFF is released, I can download a copy and won't have to worry if a movie is temporarily unavailable to stream. The license is good forever (or at least the lifetime of the player).

What happens if UV goes belly-up? I can still play the movies I bought. Even if a retailer goes out of business they're obligated to provide 5 years' of support.

None of this seems very different from the practical situation with physical media.

Of course they would, they don't care... Did you ever buy a DIVX DVD? They shut that whole system down without a care at all... 'Oh, you want still want to watch that movie? Buy another copy on a normal DVD.' Even if you have the player, you can't make it work now. (And that's just one example...) People complained and screamed, threatened to sue, etc... But they simply weren't going to keep the servers running for a format they no longer cared about.

Here's why they no longer cared about it: DIVX had terrible revenue numbers. It was used primarily for rentals, not purchases. Those 'people' were hardly anyone because they sold maybe 165k players. It was canned after a year. There were a lot more HD-DVD buyers (over 1M players sold) than DIVX and the practical outcome is the same for both. Good luck to the studio that decides to can their iTunes copies and their (inflated) hundreds of millions of customers. UV is smaller than iTunes but still far larger than any of previous electronic formats. It would be remarkable if the studios canned UV and provided no way forward for 17 million consumers (and counting), and would make selling a consumer on a new format nearly impossible. Then what?

What if Apple goes out of business?

I have 'digital copy' discs that came with Blu-rays just a few years ago that I can't load on my computer if I want to as there's no way to activate them anymore.

Did you fail to activate them before they expired?