by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz
Apple has announced the addition of HD quality movies to its popular iTunes platform this week, giving users a chance to rent or purchase the movies in a much higher bitrate than current standard definition versions.
HD rentals were formerly only available to Apple TV owners but is now available to all Mac and PC users that have an iTunes account.
An new release HD movie rental will cost $4.99 and older catalog titles will cost $3.99 USD. The standard definition counterpart runs $1 cheaper. If you prefer to purchase the movie, the HD film will cost $19.99 USD, a discount from a physical Blu-ray film for the most part, but a steep premium from SD purchases.
Apple notes that over 250 million TV episodes have been purchased from the iTunes store along with 33 million movies.
Showing posts with label iTunes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iTunes. Show all posts
Monday, March 23, 2009
SpiralFrog kicks the bucket
21 March 2009 11:25 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz
In September of 2007, the advertisement supported free music download site SpiralFrog debuted with 700,000 songs available , including the entire Universal catalog. In June of 2008, the service added more music, this time from the EMI catalog, putting available tracks at over 2 million.
Today, that service has shut down, leaving all users who purchased any music with 60 days to play their DRM-crippled tunes before they disappear.
SpiralFrog was once dubbed a possible "iTunes Killer," but financial issues and an executive shakeup shook many consumer's confidence in the company.
At the time, the service was one of very few that allowed users to listen to music for free but since then much bigger companies have made similar services available, including MySpace, Last.fm from CBS and imeem. Also notably, the behemoth video sharing site YouTube shows music videos, for free, from three of the Big 4 labels.
The difference is of course, that SpiralFrog offered downloads whereas the other services offer streaming, but SpiralFrog downloads did not have iPod support so there is arguably no difference.
In September of 2007, the advertisement supported free music download site SpiralFrog debuted with 700,000 songs available , including the entire Universal catalog. In June of 2008, the service added more music, this time from the EMI catalog, putting available tracks at over 2 million.
Today, that service has shut down, leaving all users who purchased any music with 60 days to play their DRM-crippled tunes before they disappear.
SpiralFrog was once dubbed a possible "iTunes Killer," but financial issues and an executive shakeup shook many consumer's confidence in the company.
At the time, the service was one of very few that allowed users to listen to music for free but since then much bigger companies have made similar services available, including MySpace, Last.fm from CBS and imeem. Also notably, the behemoth video sharing site YouTube shows music videos, for free, from three of the Big 4 labels.
The difference is of course, that SpiralFrog offered downloads whereas the other services offer streaming, but SpiralFrog downloads did not have iPod support so there is arguably no difference.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Apple to sell copy protection-free songs
Apple has agreed to start selling digital songs without copy protection software from its iTunes store along with over-the-air download songs for its popular iPhone, according to people familiar with its plans.
The maker of the iPod is also set to announce a deal to roll out variable pricing on digital songs at the iTunes Music Store with songs priced between 79 cents (53 pence) and $1.29.
Apple is expected to announce the changes at the Macworld Expo trade show in San Francisco later on Tuesday.
Copy protection software, also known as digital rights management or DRM, has proved a controversial topic with music fans and record labels alike.
DRM was designed to prevent fans from illegally sharing digital downloads on file-sharing services. But it also prevented many fans from moving their own songs between devices and became increasingly unpopular.
Apple's founder, Steve Jobs, publicly called on major record labels to drop DRM in February 2007.
In exchange, labels have been asking that iTunes agree to sell songs at variable prices. Currently, iTunes sells all individual songs at 99 cents regardless of their popularity or date of release, unlike most other retail outlets.
Apple is also expected to announce details to allow iPhone 3G and iPod Touch Wifi users to buy songs while on the go, over the air through its popular App Store.
(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke, editing by Matthew Lewis)
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