Filed under: iTS, Rumors, Flickr Find
Flickr Find: evidence of iTunes Store movie rentals?
Mac developer David Watanabe posts a very interesting picture to Flickr. Apparently the result of some kind of error in iTunes, the drop-down menu on the iTunes Store "Report a Problem" page disclosed some very revealing strings. They all seem to fall into the "RentalMovie" category (separate from the "Movie" Category that follows it) and include things like"DidNotReceive" and "WrongVersion." I find the "DidNotReceive" one kind of confusing; that would seem more appropriate for something like Netflix or Blockbuster than a download service. In any case, this should definitely add fuel to the iTunes Store movie rental rumors.
[via Digg]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim A said 2:08PM on 9-08-2007
It's worth noting that regular movies also have the 'did not receive' error, so it's not unique to the rental movies. It may be internal Apple speak for an interrupted download perhaps, or some kind of transmission error.
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Quix said 2:08PM on 9-08-2007
Give me 720p and *real* discreet 5.1 surround sound and I'm in. Otherwise I'll stick with Netflix.
My money is on the table, Apple and Hollywood. Your move...
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bibi-pov said 4:22PM on 9-08-2007
I actually makes sense. My first experience with the then iTMS when I first tried it from work (nazi firewall courtesy of IT), was that the file downloaded, but the activation failed and iTunes swiftly removed the file that was just downloaded. End result ? I got charged €.99 for nothing and I would have loved to find a "did not receive" entry back then...
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Lastof said 5:12PM on 9-08-2007
While downloading a TV show the other day I had a problem where iTunes crashed mid-download, and did not resume afterwards. I'm fairly sure that DidNotRecieve would correlate to the slightly nicer worded option I chose on the Report A Problem page.
Also, you can see there that there is the same for both ringtone and nonrental movies. So, clearly it must be for a download that for some reason didn't complete.
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Christina Warren said 5:24PM on 9-08-2007
Yeah - I think that's just to make it easier from a customer service angle (since they don't have a direct phone line - other than the number the Slate guy dug up) when people have download transmission errors. Back in November, one of my pre-orders didn't come with the first track (and it was a problem for everyone who pre-ordered the album) and there was some similar option on the Report a Problem page, so I'm guessing that's what it is.
Rentals are of no interest to me. I beta tested the Amazon Unbox download to TiVo feature, and that's pretty cool - you know, because you can download it directly to your TiVo and that eliminates having to hook up your PC or laptop to the TV or streaming from a media server. I don't doubt Apple will try to get into the digital rental game - but still, I don't really see the use, considering it's basically identical to what Pay Per-View has been for years (and if you have On-Demand, for Comcast anyway, they have a few hundred catalog titles available for free every month in addition to the new and catalog paid rentals - and if you subscribe to HBO or Showtime or something, you get even more free on-demand movies) and the quality isn't going to be any better than VHS, which is what pretty much kills the whole thing for me from the get go. Well, that and the fact that the whole rental market has pretty much collapsed thanks to DVDs not following the whole home-video window thing that allowed Blockbuster to get so big (with VHS, the price was like $89.99 per tape for movies for a certain period of time, only after the rental window, was the product sometimes, and not always, released at a home video price of $24.99 or lower). NetFlix does well because it allows people to rent lots of stuff at once and get obscure titles that not all stores carry - but the traditional rental market is dead.
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ShawnDC said 9:43AM on 9-09-2007
If apple starts renting HD movies, I'll go out and buy an AppleTV immediately!
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