Programs Download A Rental

Clearly, Amazon Video On Demand is not the ideal service for Mac users, but it does offer a couple of advantages over the iTunes Store.

At one time the idea of watching movies on a Mac seemed both quaint and inconvenient.

After all, you already had a TV and its accouterments in the rumpus room.

Why gather friends and family around the desk in the corner of the living room to watch movies on a 17-inch iMac.

A home media center that includes a Mac mini is no longer a crazy idea.

Nor would anyone look askance if you moved your 27-inch iMac into that same rumpus room and devoted some of its time to entertainment.

Once you accept the notion of a Mac as a home media player, your next thoughts naturally turn to movies and, likely, the iTunes Store.

But the Store isnt the end-all-and-be all of online movie sources.

Although outfits such as CinemaNow and Blockbuster demand that their content be watched on devices that dont bear the Apple brand, there are a handful of other sources for movies that you can play on your Mac.

We can hardly begin without mentioning what the iTunes Store provides.

Offering thousands of movies for purchase or rental, the Stores movies are playable on a Mac, Windows PC, Apple TV, iPod, and iPhone.

You can transfer them to and play them on any computer authorized with the Apple ID used to purchase or rent the movie.

The Store sells and rents both standard definition and HD movies.

There are currently more than 280 HD movies, available in the 720p (1280 by 720) format.

Apple characterizes movies as being library (meaning older ) or new.

Prices generally shake out as follow: standard-definition library titles cost 10 to purchase; new standard-definition titles are 15; all HD titles cost 20; iTunes Extras movies, which contain bonus DVD-like material, cost 15 in SD format or 20 in HD (there are some exceptions to iTunes Extras pricing, however).

Library HD rentals cost 4, and new HD rentals cost 5 (iTunes Extras content is not available for rentals).

Programs Download A Rental

After you download a rental movie, you have 30 days to watch it.

After you start watching it, you have 24 hours to finish it; the movie is automatically removed from you Mac after that period.

During those 24 hours, you can watch the movie as many times as you like.

Like all videos sold at the Store, you cant burn movies in a form playable on a DVD player.

It can afford to be magnanimous because it streams movies via a Web browser, even one that sits on your Mac.

You can also watch the services movies on TiVo, Roku players, compatible Sony Bravia devices, Panasonic TVs that support Viera Cast, and compatible Samsung HDTVs.

Youre allowed to download videos to up to two compatible devicesa TiVo and Windows PC, for example.

Movie Programs For Mac