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iTunes Movie Service Falls Short of Premiere Promise
Apple's download service is missing more than half the content expected.
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Apple’s iTunes Movie Rental service works with Macs or PCs, as well as iPods, the iPhone and Apple TV. 
March 02, 2008 | by Rachel Cericola

In case you haven’t had the chance to flip your calendar, it’s now March 2nd. In Geekville, that magical date means that Apple should have over 1,000 movie titles available on its iTunes movie service, right? Not exactly.

Macworld counted them up, and the iTunes Movie Rental service is running a little short.

When the service first premiered in January, Apple announced that the service would have over 1,000 titles by the end of February. As of today, they are 601 titles shy of that promise. And don’t even get me started on how many of the current offerings are actually worth the rental fee.

The good news is that Apple TV users can enjoy 91 titles in high-def. That’s close enough to the 100 that Apple had announced. If all of them offered 5.1 Dolby Digital, they could have almost squeaked out a pass.

No word on when or what Apple will add. Current rentals are priced at $2.99 for older titles and $3.99 for new releases; HD versions are a buck more for each.



Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer
Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.



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Comments (5) Most recent displayed first.
Posted by Rachel Cericola  on  03/02/08  at  10:48 AM

Duh! I just realized… the point is that the release said there would be 1,000 titles for rental. It’s picky, but purchase doesn’t count!

Posted by Rachel Cericola  on  03/02/08  at  10:42 AM

I have to say, Johnny… I do question whether the original source is accurate, but counting on the iTunes site is very confusing. I saw 40 indie films. Not sure if any were duped. However, I also don’t understand why they would list “40 Hours” under action/adventure!

Posted by Johnny  on  03/02/08  at  10:38 AM

Yup!

Posted by Rachel Cericola  on  03/02/08  at  10:33 AM

I did a count last night too, and got also got 399. Did you make sure none were duped? According to Macworld, some are duped in various categories. I will check again!

Posted by Johnny  on  03/02/08  at  10:29 AM

I just did a count. It appears that there are over 1,130 “movies” which are available for purchase or rental through the iTunes store. This list was compiled from the iTunes store category listings.

110 Action & Adventure
1   Anime
4   Classics
202 Comedy
24   Documentary
176 Drama
8   Holiday
48   Horror
5   Indy
109 Family
12   Music
23   Romance
54   Science Fiction
253 Shorts
1   Special Interest
15   Sports
60   Thriller
3   Urban
23   Western



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