New iTunes Extras For iTunes Movies.
Apple TV Users Lose Out This Time.

On Wednesday Apple introduced iTunes Extra for movies in the iTunes Movie Store. iTunes Extras for Movies are basically the equivalent of the extra content you might find on a DVD or Blu-ray disc. Up to this point movies purchased through the iTunes Store or the Apple TV did not come with extra content, a shortcoming which opponents of the iTunes Movie Store brought up as a negative when choosing between traditional media or iTunes digital downloads. Apple is initially offering only 14 titles with this extra content and 4 of them are pre-order. (Screen Shots Below)

One aspect of these iTunes Extra Movies which Apple TV users will notice right off the bat is that this Extra content is only viewable on a Mac or PC with iTunes 9 installed. Apple TV users seem to be left out of this initial launch. This hopefully means an update to the Apple TV in the near future which enables the play of this new content. The second catch to these iTunes Extras is that they are available only if you purchase the content, rentals do not contain the extras. For Iron Man, the size of the Extra content download was 687 MB, a fact which is also not listed on the movies iTunes page.

Once you purchase this extra content you will notice right away that two files are downloaded, the movie file and the iTunes Extra content. When the download completes, the two files all though separate, remain associated with each other. The iTunes Extra content plays just like extra content you might find on a DVD. I purchased Iron Man which came with Featurettes, Additional Scenes, and a Robert Downey Screen test. I don’t own the Iron Man DVD or Blu-ray disc so I can’t compare what extra content came with those discs.

For no additional cost these iTunes Extras seem to be a welcomed addition for movie buyers. As an Apple TV user I am disappointed that this content is not yet viewable on the Apple TV. It makes sense to add the ability to play this content in the future. My guess is that by keeping this new content accessible only through iTunes, Apple would like to drive initial interest and traffic to the new iTunes 9. Either way Apple, we Apple TV users will be watching and hoping you haven’t abandoned your hobby quite yet.

Written by Eddie V. on September 10, 2009

Filed Under: Movies, Purchase, Review

  • jimilee2
    It does seem the appletv has been neglected for a while,hopefully this will change soon,I loves my appletv!
  • BillG
    Eddie, I am hoping an upcoming ATV update will fix this. It seems to be the trend - like Genius support.
  • Barry Ward
    Has AppleTV been forsaken? It only makes sense to include access to iTunes Extras and LP on the device too. I am sure the menus can be navigated using the remote, and it will be a big selling point for the AppleTV. Surely that's what they want, right?
  • Jim
    You should keep in mind that neither the iPod/iTouch/iPhone nor the Apple TV support the extras. Pure speculaton, but I'm sure they are still working out the user interaction on those devices and will come out with an update as soon as they are satisfied with the user experience on those devices or their is enough momentum from other studios jumping on this concept, that they release something for those devices, including the Apple TV.

    As a tangential question - how do studios author the extras content? Is there perhaps a new version of iDVD in the works that can "compile" a DVD image and an iTunes movie/extras pair? This would open up the playing field even more for independent film makers to put their work into the ITMS.
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