Online films are here

So online films are finally arriving in the mainstream. I guess one should not be surprised that Apple has the most promising platform, with their new iTunes movies option. I recommend watching Steve Jobs' presentation of this (and the new iPods).

I tried the service, selecting one of the few comedies I had not yet seen, Shakespeare In Love. And lo and behold, it turned out I had seen it! How such a forgettable film won all those Oscars I'll never know.

Apple says the films are "near DVD quality". Well, while they certainly are at least as good as VHS, I would never confuse them with DVD. Also you don't get subtitles (which I like to have even though I understand English fine: There are always things that are hard to hear). And you don't get all the extras typically on DVDs: interviews, commentaries, etc.

So altogether I think that it is a pity that Apple clearly was not able to negotiate as good terms for the films as they did with TV shows. While a TV show on iTunes is just two dollars, a film is thirteen, fifteen, or ten dollars, depending on how old it is. It is too expensive in my opinion. About half would have been right. Convenience is the only area where iTunes Movies is competitive with DVDs, at this price.

It could be that prices will come down. But unfortunately history (CDs, e-books) show us that a market quickly becomes entrenched at a certain price level, no matter if it is reasonable or not. Quelle fromage.