itunes extras only with purchase. Why?

[Lynos]

I was very excited to hear back in the day that itunes was adding extras to their movie library... until I found out those extras are only available upon purchase.

I am not interested in buying digital movies, and I don't want to buy the movie just for the commentary track, especially when they cost almost as much as the physical disc sometimes.
Why isn't itunes offering this for rentals as well? I thought the point of purchasing was that you get to have the movie forever and not for 30 days. The point wasn't to get extras. If I'm equating this to a brick-and-mortar video store, then the video store would not force you to buy the disc just to watch the extras. Rental or purchase, you would get the same content.

I would gladly pay a dollar or two more for a rental with extras if that was the case. But 10$ more?

It's not like itunes is producing these extras. They get them from studios. It's usually the same extras that appear on the disc (I know, there are some exclusives, but it's the exception to the rule, is it not?)

What are your thoughts in this matter?

[steve_dave]

Rent a DVD/BD from Universal, Warner, and Lionsgate... rental only versions with just the movie. Lionsgate even goes so far as to only include 640kbs DD 5.1 audio.

iTunes Extras are an incentive for purchasing the HD/4K version.

[Fiffy]

Same reason why you don't get a bonus disc (and often a stripped down main feature disc) when you rent a movie from Redbox: the studios want to give you an incentive to buy instead of just renting.

[Lynos]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

Rent a DVD/BD from Universal, Warner, and Lionsgate... rental only versions with just the movie. Lionsgate even goes so far as to only include 640kbs DD 5.1 audio.

iTunes Extras are an incentive for purchasing the HD/4K version.

Is this a new thing? I was actively renting discs from a video store up until two years ago and don't remember coming across many barebones rental copies. i know Fox at one point started doing that with some of their titles, but I thought that was the exception, not the rule.

Is there even anywhere to rent physical discs except for Redbox anymore? Just for this itunes should be raking the money with their rental business.

[Lynos]

Originally Posted by Fiffy

Same reason why you don't get a bonus disc (and often a stripped down main feature disc) when you rent a movie from Redbox: the studios want to give you an incentive to buy instead of just renting.

Ok, but then, why would you buy a digital copy and not a disc (unless you have an all-digital collection to begin with)? If i love a movie I'll just buy the Blu-Ray. The whole point of renting is that I'm not interested in owning the movie, but I am sometimes interested in watching it once and listening to the commentary. Commentaries for bad/mediocore movies can be better than the movie itself, and even enlightening in some respects.

If I pay 14.99$ for a movie I wouldn't buy any other way, then I basically paid 14.99$ for a commentary track and a behind-the-scenes.

[The_Donster]

Originally Posted by Lynos

Is this a new thing? I was actively renting discs from a video store up until two years ago and don't remember coming across many barebones rental copies. i know Fox at one point started doing that with some of their titles, but I thought that was the exception, not the rule.

Is there even anywhere to rent physical discs except for Redbox anymore? Just for this itunes should be raking the money with their rental business.

I've been renting BD's through DVD Netflix since we made the switch. A few years ago some of the studios started insisting on Netflix having rental discs. So it can be hit or miss on extras. Although I have been pretty lucky and most of the movies I've watched have come with the extras lately.

[Lynos]

Oh, yeah, forgot about Netflix. :-)

Well, it seems the itunes pricing for older movies is a bit saner, but it's also inconsistent. I checked a few movies. Ender's Game for example comes with two commenray tracks and a slew of extras for 10$ (rental is 5$). Commando Director's cut isn't even available for rental and costs 17,99 with a bunch of nice extras. Cast Away available for 10$ (with Zemeckis's commentary) 9 to 5 also available with commentary for 10$. So it really depends on the movie. I would pay 5$ more for a nice set of extras even if I have no interest in owning the movie. But paying 21.99 or 14.99 when the rental is 5.99... that's harsh.

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by Lynos

Ok, but then, why would you buy a digital copy and not a disc (unless you have an all-digital collection to begin with)?

That's a whole different topic. Maybe you're out of shelf space, maybe you prefer the convenience of digital copies, or maybe it's just cheaper.

If I pay 14.99$ for a movie I wouldn't buy any other way, then I basically paid 14.99$ for a commentary track and a behind-the-scenes.

iTunes has frequent sales where you can buy movies for as low as $5. Some people also trade or buy digital copy codes from other people that can be redeemed in iTunes. And of course the main reason to buy instead of renting is that you can watch the movie as often as you like for one price.

[420vegan]

Originally Posted by Lynos

Ok, but then, why would you buy a digital copy and not a disc (unless you have an all-digital collection to begin with)? If i love a movie I'll just buy the Blu-Ray.

You make it sound so black and white as if people have to choose between a digital collection or physical and can't purchase and use both for whatever reason. A better question is, why would you care to watch the extras on a movie you're just renting?

You seem to not know or care much about the digital movie world but it's thriving right now and it might be worth it for you to look into it. There are ways of obtaining movies and codes for much cheaper than the rental prices.

[Lynos]

Originally Posted by 420vegan

You make it sound so black and white as if people have to choose between a digital collection or physical and can't purchase and use both for whatever reason. A better question is, why would you care to watch the extras on a movie you're just renting?

You seem to not know or care much about the digital movie world but it's thriving right now and it might be worth it for you to look into it. There are ways of obtaining movies and codes for much cheaper than the rental prices.

People can use both, I'm totally aware of that, and no, I have not as of yet purchsed movies digitally, although I redeemed a few codes I received with physical purchases but never actually watched the digital versions.

It's just a personal choice and not a critique of anybody buying movies digitally. Personally I don't have much use for it. And when I used to rent movies, or borrow from the library, I watched the special features. So I did care about it.

Not to derail the topic of the thread, but owning a movie as a file on the computer or in the cloud is (for me) not the same feeling as having a physical copy on a shelf. There's something ephemral about it that bothers me. But I like renting digitally. It's a whole different thing.

[Rik1138]

Originally Posted by Lynos

Is this a new thing? I was actively renting discs from a video store up until two years ago and don't remember coming across many barebones rental copies. i know Fox at one point started doing that with some of their titles, but I thought that was the exception, not the rule.

In general, yes, a lot of the studios do this now.

But it also depends on your rental store. There's a little mom-and-pop (still!) near me, and they just rent the retail versions of the movies. You can even ask them for Disc 2 if you know it has one, and they include that as well.

But the chains (if any are left), and Redbox/mail services now have 'rental versions' for most studios... Just the movie, almost never the extended cut if that's an option when purchasing, and never with any bonus material except maybe a trailer for some other movie.

It also significantly kills the resale value of the disc (which I think is another HUGE reason the studios do this, especially when Blockbuster was still around). The rental places can't sell them for nearly as much when they are done renting them.