Audio Video News

OK, I know this is remedial reading, but Apple's introduction of movie downloads through the iTunes Store and the coincident unveiling of its iTV player is clearly the biggest news that happened last week outside of the CEDIA Expo in Denver.

First, in a long anticipated move Apple has finally announced that it is selling movie downloads from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone and Miramax through its online iTunes Store. New releases will sell for $12.99 when pre-ordered or ordered during the first week of availability, and then move to $14.99 after seven days. Library titles are $9.99 and 75 titles were available on introduction. It's probably only a matter of time until other studios jump on this bandwagon.

The resolution is, ahem, "near-DVD quality" 640x480 over iTunes 7. According to Apple, while downloads take 30 minutes to complete via broadband, users can start watching the movie after about one minute while the download continues.

This move by Apple has been anticipated since Apple's Steve Jobs became Disney's largest single shareholder by virtue of Disney's "acquisition" of Pixar. Given Apple's smashing success at selling music and TV shows through the iTunes Store it was only a matter of time until Apple went to the movies.

As big and bold as this move is, perhaps even more significant is the accompanying introduction of what is currently being called the iTV player. This Mac Mini-sized box will sell for $299 and will allow users to stream movies and other content from their computers to their televisions via Wi-Fi. The iTV, which will have a different name upon official release, is slated to hit stores in the first quarter of 2007.

The convergence of computers and home entertainment system is something that gives most people a strong sense of both fear and loathing. But Apple's entry into this market is significant as the company is renowned for its clean, intuitive, and user-friendly interfaces, which have garnered the company a small but rabid (and growing) following in a Microsoft dominated world.

Although it took McDonald's decades to peddle a billion burgers, Apple sold its billionth song over the iTunes store after just three years. If Apple enjoys that kind of success with movies the so-called format war between the high-definition disc formats could simply be the proverbial rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic (and no, that's not a veiled reference- I have no idea when Titanic is coming to HD DVD or Blu-ray!). After all, who won the war between DVD-A and SACD if not iTunes?