The long-rumored iTunes rental service is finally up and running. For many users, the most attractive part of the service (and certainly the only part that really sets it apart from any of the other online rental options) is the ability to transfer your rental to an iPod, iPhone/iPod Touch, or third-generation Nano for playback on the go. Actually, let me rephrase that: your iPod Classic, iPhone/iPod Touch or third-generation Nano. That's right boys and girls -- if you are one of the millions who have 5 and 5.5G iPods with video, no iTunes rentals for you. I suppose that's one way to get people to upgrade. There was an explosion of applause during yesterday's keynote when Steve Jobs announced rental compatibility with every iPod. Something tells me that if it had been understood that it only included every current generation iPod, the response might have been more akin to the boos that erupted when it was announced that the iPod Touch software update is $20. Update: Evidently, Steve did say "current generation iPods" - in any event, it was not made clear that 5/5.5G iPods would not be compatible. I mean, I for one was not expecting the message below when trying to test out this whole Rentals scheme:

Well, at least I now have an actual reason to look at buying an iPod Classic aside from capacity. Still, this and the lack of Front Row rental access is not really doing the best job of convincing me that iTunes rentals have a place in my digital life.
Update: As some of the comments have pointed out, the reports about the iPod Classic's only working with certified Apple TV-out cables might be untrue. I don't have an iPod Classic so I can't verify it one way or another. Again, that was just pure speculation on my part for some logical reason for 5/5.5 G incompatibility. Update 2: After looking at iLounge's dissection of the AV cable, I feel confident that an authentication chip is infact required for the new models. If this is related to the iTunes rentals remains unknown.
Other comments have raised the question of the quality of the rentals being too high for the 5G iPod. This I can unequivocally state is NOT true. As a test, I went ahead and bought "Chuck & Buck" from iTMS. Not only was the file size identical (1.06 GB), iTunes itself saw no difference between buying the movie and renting it. I was able to transfer the newly purchased copy of the film to my iPod with absolutely no problem. This is NOT a matter of hardware not being capable, it is a decision for whatever reason, not to update the software on older generation devices to work with the new rental system.













Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
1-17-2008 @ 6:15AM
Alex said...
Christina Warren: "If it had been understood that it only included every current generation iPod..."
Steve Jobs: "You can watch them on all current generation iPods" [reiterated several times and shown clearly on slides during the keynote]
Reply
1-17-2008 @ 7:16AM
James Madley said...
Exactly. My dad said asked me about this while we watched it and at the time I was under the impression Steve was just promoting the latest iPods, so I told him his 5.5G would be fine.
Looks like I was wrong.
1-17-2008 @ 6:26PM
Cycomachead said...
My guess is that there is a reason: I know other PlaysForSure players that use music rental services have a special little chip in them, so that it's near impossible to hack.
Maybe something like this?
1-17-2008 @ 6:26AM
ctmike78 said...
I made the switch in November... a shiny new Macbook, an Airport Extreme (with external drive), have a 5G iPod... And to benefit at all from the announcements at Macworld, I have to a) buy an Apple TV, b) buy a new Airport Extreme, and c) buy a new iPod.
Bleh.
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1-17-2008 @ 9:31AM
Sten said...
Yeah, Shame on Apple to introduce new software and hardware! No other company does that.
1-17-2008 @ 11:22AM
Kalessin said...
Oh come on, who knew Apple would release new stuff at Macworld?
They *what*?
/Every/ year?
1-17-2008 @ 6:28AM
bob said...
just so ya know, there is no authentication chip in the classic, apple changed vid out from the jack to the dock conector. Should prob research before spreading speculation.
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1-17-2008 @ 7:48AM
itguy05 said...
Naah. Makes better reading to support the conspiracy theory of an authentication chip.
In fact, when you google it, you only get this site and ilounge. And when I asked the author of the article on ilounge where he got his info as it contradicts what Apple says on their support pages, he got all huffy and nasty....
1-17-2008 @ 7:51AM
Hawkman said...
TUAW really ought to issue a correction on that one. It was stupid, reactionary and groundless at the time, let alone the fact it's been disproved since. It keeps getting trotted out by people all over teh intarwebs, though.
1-17-2008 @ 7:00AM
Mark said...
Didn't steve mention a software update for iPods?
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1-17-2008 @ 7:27AM
geddy76 said...
Might older iPods get this feature a little later down the line. I can't remember what, but I remember in years past that new features were eventually given to the older iPods as firmware updates. Maybe in a few months the 5Gs will get rentals.
Of course, this doesn't affect my 3G... 2nd battery, but still going strong. What I'm bitter about is the lack of HD rentals on anything but the ATV. I have a Mini hooked up thru DVI to a 60-inch Sony SXRD; drives it at full resolution. But no, I can't rent HD movies...
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1-17-2008 @ 7:30AM
Michael Davis said...
The 5G iPods have real world support for up to 640x video with 2500kb/s encoding. The iPod Classics can support up to 720x resolution with the same bitrate. This is not stated by Apple, but has been discovered by the people who develop apps like Handbrake and VisualHub.
Steve promoted the SD rentals as 'DVD Quality'. This means the videos might be 720x resolution, therefore not supported by the 5G iPods. I don't know if this is a hardware or software issue.
You may also remember that when movie purchasing was introduced a year or so ago, Steve referred to them as 'near DVD quality'. But he refers to the rentals as DVd quality.
So perhaps Apple really wanted to be able to say the SD rentals match the quality of what you get down the road at the video store, and the older iPods do not support it (for whatever reason).
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1-17-2008 @ 7:48AM
Hawkman said...
Yeah, see, that's what I'd thought. But the FAQ states 640*XXX. So I guess it's just a marketing decision, there's no technological barrier.
1-17-2008 @ 3:45PM
Chirstopher said...
From the Tech Specs page for AppleTV: "iTunes Store purchased video: 320 by 240 pixels, 640 by 480 pixels, 720 by 480 pixels (anamorphic), or high-definition 720p"
So that means that "DVD Quality" means 480 lines.
1-17-2008 @ 7:54AM
kapgar said...
When I found out that a majority of the games I bought for my 5G iPod won't work on the new Classics, that sealed the deal. Either I lose out by not getting some new feature or I lose by not being able to use what I already paid for.
Hmmm... I'm sticking with Netflix.
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1-17-2008 @ 8:04AM
emil h said...
That error you get is a pretty generic and common one. The problem might not be "Steve Jobs out to get 5G iPod owners" , but that you need to re-authorize your machine for iTunes.
1-17-2008 @ 8:18AM
DistortedLoop said...
Could it be that the older versions of iPods don't have h.264 playback ability? Apple's pushing everything towards that compression method, which came out post 5.5 Gen ipods, right?
Sometimes older hardware gets left behind as better stuff comes out.
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1-17-2008 @ 8:22AM
DistortedLoop said...
Let me correct myself before anyone else feels the need to. My prior post is inaccurate. 5th gen iPods do support h.264 per the specs here: http://support.apple.com/specs/ipod/
1-17-2008 @ 8:36AM
Eric Warnke said...
Bad apple.
This marks the first time media will not be backward compatible for non-technical reasons. One of the things that I always found remarkable about the iTMS was the fact that every track purchased was still playable on every generation of iPod. The games fiasco between 5g and Classic was, i believe, a big mistake to screw those people that have invested into an ideal.
Now again they go and stab existing users in the back by making them pay again ( Games ), making them pay for simple software updates ( Touch ), locking them out of content that they payed for ( 5g iPod ), or denying them a promised feature ( AEBS ).
This is a disturbing pattern and one that I'm watching closely.
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1-17-2008 @ 3:48PM
Christopher said...
Every audio track and video purchased still are playable on every model. Videos rented and games purchased are not.