iTunes UK TV Shows. Is Apple Kidding?
August 29, 2007 – 7:32 amThe Apple UK iTunes Store started offering television shows and boy, what a rip-off. First, the price is too high. Second, you get lower quality, third, it’s locked to your Apple hardware.
In the US. The price for series 1 of Lost is $34.99. That’s about £18 including tax at the current exchange rate. So what is Apple charging for the same thing in the UK? £34.99. That’s about $70. Nice profit margin for someone, but I’m sure not going to pay it.
Even leaving out the UK/US price comparison, you can buy the series one DVD box set from Amazon UK for £32.97. That’s the total price with free shipping and look at what you get for money:
- A higher resolution picture (720×576 for PAL vs. 640×480 for iTunes video)
- Dolby Digital 5.1
- Lost Flashbacks All New Unaired Flashbacks
- Welcome To Oahu The Making Of The Pilot Behind The Scenes Featurette
- The Genesis Of Lost
- The Art Of Matthew Fox
- Audio Commentaries
- Before They Were Lost Audition Tapes And Personal Stories From The Cast
- Deleted Scenes
So, not only is it slightly over two pounds cheaper, but you get 5.1 audio, a higher resolution and a bunch of extra scenes and content.
But surely you get something unique in the iTunes version right? Yup, here’s what:
- Available to watch within a few hours
- Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) to prevent you from playing back your purchase on anything other than Apple’s devices
So why in the world would I buy the iTunes version when I can have the DVD version for the same price? And if I want to watch it on my iPod or AppleTV, there’s always Handbrake.