iTunes Review

Overview

iTunes is a free program that consists of a store, media player and organizer, and device manager. You can use the iTunes Store to purchase all types of digital media (TV shows, movies, music, books. apps). It also offers free services such as subscribing to podcasts and iTunes U, where you can download lectures and course content from universities around the world. It is an Apple product, but works on Windows computers as well as Apple devices. If you’re familiar with iTunes for downloading music, it is very similar for TV shows and movies, although it allows you to rent movies in addition to simply purchasing them.

What We Liked

• New releases—iTunes give you access to more new movies and sooner than most other services
  
• iCloud—all your purchases are automatically available to download on all your Apple devices and even your Windows laptop
• Season Pass—if you subscribe to the current season of a show you will get all the episodes from that season as they are released (usually a day after airing on TV) for a discounted price; for past seasons you can also purchase the entire season for a discounted price
• Complete My Season Pass—if you have purchased 1 or more episodes individually for the current season of a TV show and then decide that you will want the rest of the season iTunes will still allow you to get the entire season for the overall price of the Season Pass (your episode purchases are counted towards that price)
• iTunes Gift Cards are often sold at a discount at stores like Costco and Best Buy or other retailers, so if you take advantage of these offers you can be saving up to 20% off the listed price when making purchases from the iTunes store
• Works internationally—many content services will not currently work when you are outside of the United States, but iTunes allows you to download new content from all over the world and to watch the media in your library since you own it
• Movie Rentals—iTunes lets you rent a digital movie, which after you download you have 30 days to watch, and 24 hours to watch once you start watching it (in the US; 48 hours outside the US)

What We Didn’t Like

• TV shows: you watch it, you own it—when you purchase the Season Pass for a TV show you get the new episodes as they come out, but you are paying to own those episodes when a cheaper season pass that let you just watch each episode once might suit your needs better for most shows
• No commentary—if you love listening to the commentary tracks then stick with DVDs, as while iTunes movies and TV shows do sometimes come with special features (sometimes even exclusive features), commentary tracks are currently not available

What hardware is this available on?

• A Windows PC or any of your Apple devices (computer, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)
• Apple TV with your TV
• A compatible digital media player with your TV

Who is this recommended for?

• People who want to own the TV shows they watch
• Owners of other Apple products who enjoy watching content on their computers or on the go
• Those who aren’t intimidated at the thought of hooking a computer up to a TV
• People living, working, or traveling abroad
• Those who want access to a wide variety of the newest movies available when renting online

Cost

• TV shows are $1.99 in standard definition (SD), $2.99 in HD (there is often some extra content available to download for free)
• The cost of a full season or Season Pass varies as the number of episodes varies from show to show, but it will always be cheaper than purchasing each episode individually
• Movies: there is a good deal of variance, but new releases are typically $14.99 in SD, and $17.99 or $19.99 in HD (there is even more variance for older films, but seems to most often be $9.99 in SD, and $17.99 in HD)
• Rentals: new releases are $3.99 in SD, and $4.99 in HD (older movies are $2.99 in SD, and $3.99 in HD)

Requirements

• Windows or Apple computer
• http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ will automatically detect which version of the program you should download and will list the specific hardware requirements