EDIT: New information has been brought to my attention regarding iTunes film pricing. Please read this correction notice in conjunction with the article.
iTunes launched film downloads in the UK this week, with the sort of comedy prices more typically reserved for Apple’s computers. For a download which has lower video quality than a DVD, and has none of the extra features like commentary and deleted scenes, you might expect to pay about half the price of a normal DVD. In fact, the iTunes downloads are generally much more expensive than getting the same film on DVD. To illustrate this, here are the current top 10 film downloads on iTunes (to keep, rather than to rent), with their prices compared to the DVD of the same film. In the only case where iTunes was cheaper it was only £1 cheaper than a film which is only available as a 2-disc Special Edition. In some other cases the price gouging was astonishing.
I should also add that none of these are affiliate links - I’m not making anything out of this, just trying to highlight Apple’s price-gouging on iTunes films. For the sake of fairness I’m not comparing iTunes to online shops’ sale prices, only their standard price. I’ve also added in the cost of P&P for sites that charge it, since the iTunes price includes delivery (so to speak).
- I Am Legend (Play.com) - DVD price £9.99, iTunes price £10.99 - £1 more
- Team America: World Police (DVD.co.uk) - DVD price £4.95, iTunes price £10.99 - £6.04 more
- National Treasure 2 (Play.com) - DVD price £11.99, iTunes price £10.99 - £1 less than a 2-disc Special Edition with tonnes of extra features
- Batman Begins (Play.com) - DVD price £5.99, iTunes price £10.99 - £5 more
- 300 (Amazon.co.uk) - DVD price £5.42 (£3.96 plus P&P), iTunes price £10.99 - £5.57 more
- Jackass Number Two (Play.com) - DVD price £5.99, iTunes price £10.99 - £5 more
- Shooter (Play.com) - DVD price £5.99, iTunes price £10.99 - £5 more
- The Matrix (Play.com) - DVD price £2.99, iTunes price £10.99 - £8 more
- Jackass the Movie (Play.com) - DVD price £5.99, iTunes price £10.99 - £5 more
- School of Rock (Play.com) - DVD price £5.99, iTunes price £10.99 - £5 more
Total cost on DVD: £65.29, Total cost on iTunes: £109.90.
That’s a price premium of £44.61 (or 68%) for substantially LESS content (which can only be played on Apple devices), over DVDs with better video quality, more features, and the ability to play on anything with a DVD drive. I think I’ll pass on this brave new world, thanks!
Tags: Apple, Computers and Internet, DVD, iTunes, News, ripoff
I think calling it “Apple’s price gouging” is a little unfair. It’s the studios that set the prices.
True, although as the song pricing shows (the studios apparently hate the 79p-for-every-track model) if Apple tells the studios where to go it generally gets its way, since iTunes is the only way to sell DRM’d content to 70-odd percent of portable media player owners.
Er dude most of the prices for the films you’ve quoted above are 6.99 and not 10.99? Check for facts before you shoot your mouth off!
Is it? Damn, I was under the impression that the movies were flat-rate priced. Correction notice coming up, thanks!
[...] that iTunes film downloads were using a similar flat pricing structure to the music downloads. A comment has brought it to my attention that this isn’t actually the case and many of the films in the [...]