About

Posted July 21, 2006
← Go to home page
← See all articles

Ads

Article

Renting vs Buying

Rumor has it that Apple will offer movie rentals, not sales, through the iTunes Music Media Store.

I certainly hope this is true. Renting is the right model for movies — it matches the nature of the medium. DVD sales are a huge business, but at least for me, owning movies is a waste of money. I don’t want to watch any film more than twice (if I do, I’ll buy it; that’s the exception, not the rule).

Movie rentals may not be edgy enough, and it may be a “piece of the pie” type revenue stream, but “the pie” is shifting away from Blockbuster — and even away from Netflix, who has made no moves into internet distribution — and toward Apple.

Guess we’ll find out soon enough.