Movies now showing in NZ and Australian iTunes stores
They may be first to see the sun, but they've been waiting quite a while for movie rentals and purchases from the iTunes store -- now that patience has paid off, as movies have now arrived in a land down under. Aussie and Kiwi iTunes users can purchase and rent movies to their hearts' content. New releases on DVD will premiere day-and-date on the iTunes store at the same time as they're on sale in physical form in the two new countries of service.iTunes movie purchases in Australia will kick off the price tier at A$9.99 for catalog titles, A$17.99 for recent releases and A$24.99 for new
releases; rentals will be A$3.99 for library title rentals and A$5.99 for new releases. iTunes movies in New Zealand start at NZ$9.99 for catalog title purchases, NZ$17.99 for recent releases and NZ$24.99 for new releases, rentals are NZ$4.99 for library titles / NZ$6.99 for new releases. As in the US store, getting the high-def version costs an additional dollar. Rentals can be held for 30 days before you start watching and then you have 48 hours to finish (a whole day longer than US customers? Must be the International Date Line).Thanks to everyone who sent this in
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lachlan Hunt said 4:11PM on 8-14-2008
I'm an Australian and I think the films are too expensive. I'm really tired of Aussies being forced to pay significantly more than the US for the same content.
If it's supposed to be $24.99 for new releases only, then why does a movie like Finding Nemo, released in 2003, cost that much?! That's about $8 more expensive (at current exchange rate) than the same film in the US store, and about $5 more expensive than the 2-disc DVD set, which also has extra features included.
The TV shows they sell are similarly overpriced, sometimes costing twice as much as the equivalent DVD box set for a whole season.
Also, the DRM is still a big problem. I know requiem will easily strip it, but as long as they're ripping us off and keep using DRM, I won't be buying.
Reply
Nick said 6:25PM on 8-14-2008
Yet, Drillbit Taylor that doesn't even get released to DVD until 4th September is available for $24.99 right now.
If you don't like the price, don't buy it. Buy it on DVD instead. No one is forcing you to spend the money on iTunes.
Trouble is, you, and many others are more likely to illegally acquire it than do the right thing, which is why these prices are as they are.
If I sound bitter, it's because I am somewhat. I run a DVD store, and while the iTunes Movie store doesn't bother me too much, what does get my goat is that they are selling movies before they are even released on DVD.
James said 4:19AM on 8-15-2008
Stop whining about 'current exchange rates', they have absolutely nothing to do with the actual value of the money in your pocket and what it should buy.
People think that changes in exchange rates mean prices should magically change, but that's crap. There is absolutely no way the Australian dollar is worth anything close to US$0.95 in real terms, which is where it was at a few weeks ago on the forex market. Now, it's firmly on the slide and may well be on its way back to its natural historical rate of around US$0.65 or so.
A US$15 movie selling for A$25 is not a bad deal at all, face it.
Not long ago, UK iTunes users whined endlessly about their 79p tracks being overpriced relative to European tracks (99c), because the euro was only 'worth' 65p. Funnily enough, now that the euro is 'worth' 80p, people have shut up about it all of a sudden. Imagine that!
But has the actual value of the pound in people's pockets deteriorated? Last time I checked, inflation rates were running about the same in the UK as they are in the eurozone.
Exchange rates are meaningless in the everyday real economy. You need to look at what currencies are worth in real terms against one another. Here are a couple of hints:
£1 = US$1.3 (if that!)
US$1 = A$1.5
US$1 = NZ$1.8
Time to drop this tired old argument, people. Non-US iTunes users aren't getting nearly as bad of a deal as the whiners suggest.
Lachlan Hunt said 4:27PM on 8-14-2008
One more thing... Why are films only available in HD via the AppleTV?! I don't have an HD TV capable of viewing HD content, but I do have a 24" computer monitor capable of it. Therefore, I don't want to buy an AppleTV, when I get a better viewing experience from my computer. It's just one more reason to stick with Blu-ray rips downloaded from Usenet or BitTorrent.
When will Apple and the MPAA learn to respect their customers and stop imposing unnecessary and arbitrary restrictions?!
Reply
Nick said 6:24PM on 8-14-2008
"When will Apple and the MPAA learn to respect their customers and stop imposing unnecessary and arbitrary restrictions?!"
That's a joke coming from someone who obviously has NO respect for the movie industry by downloading ripped movies.
Jai said 5:23PM on 8-14-2008
I am in NZ and have to say that I am happy we are starting to get the features the rest of world have had for a long time (if only we could get tv show's now).
The big problem here is that the broadband plans are so expensive, limited in data amounts and limited in bandwidth that if you were to buy a movie, a majority of users would be throttled back to dial-up speed long before they got the whole movie. I honestly can't see many people buying them in NZ due to our dodgy broadband.
Reply
Lachlan Hunt said 4:03AM on 8-15-2008
Nick wrote:
"Trouble is, you, and many others are more likely to illegally acquire it than do the right thing, which is why these prices are as they are."
No, you are making incorrect assumptions. If they lowered the prices, dropped the DRM, increased the quality for everyone (not just AppleTV owners), more people would buy.
I do buy things on DVD quite often, and prefer to legally acquire content when it's available at a fair price without DRM. iTunes is clearly not selling at a fair price for some content.
I do the same thing with music when I want it. If it's available on iTunes Plus or any other DRM-free store that doesn't lock me out with regional restrictions (like Amazon's US-only MP3 store), I'll buy it.
Reply
Matt said 5:50AM on 8-18-2008
what happened to TV Shows? it seems they took them away after releasing movies.
Reply
Eugene said 6:31PM on 11-07-2008
I think the industry is completely on the wrong track with DRM and pricing etc. I used to buy CD's, but stopped some years ago when they started putting copy protection on them. Since then the music industry has made not 1c from me.
I have no interest in piracy, never have, never will, but I do believe I should be allowed to rip MP3's (for my own use) or make a backup copy of my CD's.
If they remove DRM, yes there will be slightly more piracy, but there will always be a lot of people who want to do the right thing and continue to purchase the content.
They should accept that piracy to a certain extent is innevitable, prosecute where they can, but stop treating legitimate buyers as potential criminals.
To those who believe that $25 is reasonable price for a downloaded movie, that is nonsense. If I can go to my local Big W store (equivalent to Wallmart) and get the same movie on DVD for $10 less, then something clearly is amiss.
Online content should always be cheaper, as the overhead costs are much lower. There's no printing or packaging costs, no freight costs, no stocking costs etc.
There really should just be the media royalties, plus some profit margin. Since the royalties presumably would the same as for DVD media, clearly their profit margin is too high.
Reply