Somebody tell iTunes that I just bought The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring extra special extended schnazzy 4 disc edition this weekend for $9.99.

why am I paying more when distribution has been stripped out of the equation and material costs are non-existent. Like hell I am paying $15 for movie.

Boo to that crap!

That's a pretty hard sell for Apple. I can go to WalMart and get a DVD for $15, which I can put (special features/commentary and all) on my computer or iPod in higher quality than I can download from the iTunes store.

Songs - yes, TV shows - maybe. But I really can't get behind selling movies online. I'll be all about the iTunes rentals, though.

Exactly why would I bother doing that when DVDs and CDs are so cheap on Half.com, usually in shrink wrap even?

They're out of their mind.

Rentals, Rentals, Rentals!!! I hope they anounce that during Mac World. Bye bye block buster/netflix. Well, as long as they have new movies.

highly doubt it

I think it is the movie studios pushing prices up to make up for lost revenue. They still have the backward view that if people aren't buying our stuff we should raise prices so we make more money on the few that do sell.

I don't buy movies now and won't buy them when they go up. I would buy them at $5 per show.

HA!

If this is true, then it's a bone-headed move.

I cant see this happening like Dirk says its a bone-headed move. I mean hell how many people truly buy movies now at the current rip off prices...

Rentals wont go over well unless its based as a monthly fee like netflix.

The more you tighten your grip, MPAA, the more people will go back to bittorrent.

Seriously though, where do they get off raising the price? They're making users pay for their distribution, there's no materials...what are they offering anyone, except a special magic integer?

They must have a combination of balls the size of atom bombs and an IQ lower than Bush's.

Lame.. Hope its not true..

I'll believe it when I see it.

They're movies are the weakest selling point. Why in the hell would they increase the price? They're not NBC.

I kinda like buying a few movies from them, since I know that I'll probably never buy the solid DVD version of it, such as Pirates of the Carribean, which releases tomorrow.

Like fun I am paying $15 for a digital version of a movie.

Why are these movie studios so greedy? $15 for a digital download pockmarked with DRM is sheer insanity.

"...a pre-encoded version isn't that huge of a deal."

Depends on your Mac, I guess. Ripping can take an hour or two or three, depending upon processor speed, output size, and quality level, whereas reading a gig from a DVD can probably be done in about five minutes.

As to movie prices, I can understand the relutance to pay more, but then again DVD prices have remained flat for years now, while prices for nearly everything else have increased.

I picked up 7 DVDs for 5 bucks each out of various bargain bins over the weekend. 4 of them were special editions. Now, why would I want to pay $15 each for itunes only copies?

kinda funny when the whole reason nbc left was over something very similar (except apple wouldnt let them charge more)

Still not clear why digital downloads cost less than the "manufactured, shipped, and stored" DVDs. Seriously, economically don't digital downloads eliminate a ton of costs? Why not charge the same as DVDs and just be happy making more profit? Is there something I'm missing here?

I've no desire to own most movies I see. Not saying they are bad, just the number of movies that I would watch multiple times is small compared to the number of movies I watch as a whole. If they had rentals at the same price as brick and mortar stores, they would make much more money off of me over the long term than raising the prices on movie purchases. Rentals....where I don't have to go to the fricking video store and go "damn....all the good stuff already rented, nothing but crap left".

With all the in-movie advertising, they should be paying us to watch it. At least TV shows indicate to you that it is a good time to tune out and make a snack.

Yeah, that'll help convince me to buy more movies. At the current price point, I buy zero. Make 'em $5 or so and I'll consider it.

Is it just me, or is Apple getting more and more stupid with their handling of iTunes content?

Rumor: People stop buying movies via iTunes due to movies being too 'spensive.

This smells to me like a concession to the studios to either expand the itunes movie catalog or to allow rentals. Hopefully, both.

This is absurd. I've paid less than that for high def BluRay movies. Asking $15 for a less than DVD quality release saddled with a ton of DRM is insane.

*****Loads up favorite Warez website and wonders why the Movie Industry deals with piracy in the first place. Come on, it was hard enough to pay the price it was at, but now its just pointless. I'll take my chances with the RIAA, and all that good stuff

From now on, every time I download or copy a movie that's on iTunes, I'm going to send an "I Don't Owe You" letter to the studio head.

they can keep that shit

Let me get this right; no overhead, no rent, no physical items changing hands, just packets of data, no retail staff to pay...their only bill really is to keep their server up, and that is nowhere near as expensive as running several thousand Best Buy's across the nation.

This is a purely dick move.

A movie should be max $5, you have zero overheads and you're nobbing the traditional retailer and manufacturer in both cost and profit. Yet you think that shaving off a few bucks is going to fly as you double or triple your profits. Oh please do go f*ck yourselves.

So would it hurt so much that people could easily and without great thought download a movie at such a low cost. Is it beyond comprehension that if every movie on the planet is one click and $5 away that people would go the easy path rather than running through websites and torrents to save $5.

Here's a neat idea you can have for free if you stop your insane pricing. Want to maximize your profits? Offer the extras AS EXTRAS then charge $1-2 for them.

Phew. :)

Rip Off! No pun intended. You might as well by the DVD and rip it yourself. You can use "HandBrake" for free to rip them.

Color me skeptical, because these things are often wrong. But if it is true:

You can kiss my sales goodbye, iTunes. I'd much rather buy a DVD that I can do what I want with (though it's a pain to convert) than have a small, DRM'd "movie".

I would take rentals, or DVD-like purchases - meaning I can watch them where I want them - on a dvd, maybe a zune :)

at $9 I MIGHT consider paying for a downloaded movie - at $15 NEVER EVER!!!

Way to minimize your profits Apple/movie studios! Who makes these kinds of decisions, Bizarro Superman?

What will the resolution be?

For $15 I'll pay Kevin Costner to come to my house and act one out for me.

This is complete BS! I thought Apple wanted to market to consumers, not the damn movie studios!!!

Anybody who forks over $15 for a downloaded movie should be outted, dragged into the street and beaten to death with a claw hammer along with his/her family as an example to the rest of the idiots considering it.

when will they ever learn?
customers dont want to pay almost the same price for a digital download compared to a *real* product they can put on a shelf. plus you get minor quality to the dvd product and can only watch it with fricken itunes/quicktime. boo!
keep your stuff, but stop blaming pirates for bad business