iTunes movie rentals: A generally strong opening

After years of simply selling movies, iTunes last month added the option to rent them. The service adds a welcome and relatively painless way to view films on your iPod, iPhone, or computer—though the service does have a few minor annoyances. After renting and viewing on a number of computers and players, here's what we liked and disliked about the new service:

HIGHS

It's less costly than buying. If you're like me, you've resisted movie-watching via iTunes because you don't want to pay $9.99 apiece to own films that you'll likely watch only once, especially given the restricted size of computer and iPod screens. The rental costs—$3.99 for new releases, $2.99 for catalog titles—are in line with those for pay-per-view offerings from satellite or cable companies. Apple says selection will also be comparable by the end of February, when it promises more than 1,000 titles.

Decent picture quality. We viewed movies on a laptop and desktop, two iPods (a Touch and a Nano), and an iPhone. They looked good on all platforms—bright, clear, and surprisingly sharp. Unsurprisingly, it was hardest to appreciate that quality, and the movies themselves, on the tiny Nano screen, though the images were still surprisingly watchable.

LOWS

Limited visibility of rental movies. Apple appears to be adding rental titles films steadily, mostly focusing on releases that are a month or so old along with a smattering of catalog oldies. But it's frustratingly hard to browse these offerings. There's a link from iTunes movie page to "Top Rentals" but not to all rentals. We thought we'd solved the problem, albeit awkwardly, by clicking on "Power Search" and checking the box to shown only movies that are available for rental. But when we subsequently browsed the genre listings, we found titles for rent that hadn't shown up in the search, possibly because the search results appear limited to 150 titles.

24-hour viewing limit. It's handy that you can purchase movies for rent, and then hold them in your iTunes library for up to 30 days; that avoids having to wait the download time (of about 20 minutes via our very fast fiber optic Net service) before you view. You can also view them as many times as you want, within a 24-hour period that begins when you first start the film. But that limit is too restrictive if, like me, you mostly want to watch on an iPod during commutes on public transit—since it allows for only three viewing sessions before the film expires. Tip: If the rental expires as you're viewing the movie, it appears you're allowed to continue viewing until the end, at least on an iPod or iPhone. Also, if you pause the movie before it expires, and leave the device on, you should be able to finish it later in the day. But that's hardly an easy or dependable way to get a few additional hours to finish a film.

The need to transfer the movie when switching platforms. It's handy that your movie rental can be viewed on any number of platforms within the rental period. We just wish it didn't have to be transferred to do so. To switch viewing platforms—say, to continue viewing the movie you've been watching on your iPod on your desktop computer once you get home—requires connecting the iPod to a computer via cable and transferring the film. That process generally took about 5 minutes—not fatally long but a hassle nonetheless.

BOTTOM LINE

Rental movies are a welcome addition to iTunes, and yet another content-based reason to consider an iPod or the iPhone over competing media players. Presumably, Apple will deliver on the promised flood of rental movies over the next few weeks. It would be nice, though, if Apple considered extending the rental period—even an extra 12 hours would be a real convenience—and to improve search capability.

—Paul Reynolds