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iTunes rentals and the system date

by Brett Terpstra Jan 16th 2008 at 11:00AM

We got an interesting tip from "Jack", who noted that you could affect the time remaining on an iTunes movie rental by altering your system time. I gave it a shot to be sure. It's true, if you're willing to offset the date on your computer until you finally have time to watch that movie, you can get past the 30-day time limit.

It was also noted that if you fast-forward your calendar to the due date of a rental, iTunes will remove the movie from the library but apparently not from your drive. That seems odd to me, but that's the way it works, at least if you switch the date up yourself. And sure, you could get a little creative with a DVR and some streaming output, but the price isn't so bad to me that it warrants the extra effort. My movie-watching habits seem to be in line with Apple's plan: I generally watch a movie once no matter how good it is. Ultimately, it's just a matter of finding the time to do it.

Thanks, Jack!



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We got an interesting tip from "Jack", who noted that you could affect the time remaining on an iTunes movie rental by altering your system...
 

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Roberto Guzman

I rented The Simpsons Movie, i thought it was the typical resolution as the rest of the films but according to the information, the video dimensions of the film are 853x356.

A link to show you that its true, it may be a typo or something but it's there.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2190/2199495065_3155c04272_o.jpg

January 17 2008 at 2:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
brian.padilla

you can change date on your computer, in itunes it says that you have more days to watch it then you actually do, but when you try to watch it, it connects to server, and your rental expires immediatley, so this cheat does not work. it only displays "fake time" remaining. i assume when it connects to server it sees that your computers date and time is earlier than your rental date and time and it screws up your rental....

should have known better

January 16 2008 at 6:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jim

This might sound like a crazy question but does anyone know if you can watch the same movie more than once within the 24 hr period?

January 16 2008 at 3:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Jim's comment
mbaudis

yes

January 17 2008 at 3:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mikko

This is a bit off topic but Engadget says HD rentals are only available with AppleTV, not with iTunes. Is this true?

January 16 2008 at 2:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Mikko's comment
Ryan

This is true

January 16 2008 at 4:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mune360

Does anyone know what the size of the movies when we could rent it?
HD and standard?
Because, not all ISP offer unlimited bandwith to our Internet connection.

Thx

January 16 2008 at 1:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mr Lizard

any chance of an Applescript/automator action for this?

January 16 2008 at 1:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
stevebr

A caveat for anybody intending to try this out:
Screwing around with your system date and then doing just about anything on a network can have unintended (and potentially serious) consequences.
Also, Leopard users will want to turn Time Machine off *completely* for the duration that they're cheating the rental timeout using methods like this.

January 16 2008 at 1:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joe

And can you use Time Machine to "go back" and watch the movie after your rental expires?

I'm definitely curious if you can set your clock to, say 2033, start watching the movie, and then set your clock back to the correct time. Time to start watching is no bggie, but time to watch after you start is the big important part.

January 16 2008 at 12:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
cole

well this wont last long... :D

January 16 2008 at 12:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Why Steve, Why?

does this work with ipod viewing? would you have to set back the ipod clock or just your mac's clock?

January 16 2008 at 12:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Why Steve, Why?'s comment
Dave

Doesn't the iPod's date/time get sync'd from the Mac anyways.

January 16 2008 at 2:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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