According to the Los Angeles Times, Apple is in talks with movie studios to finalize deals that would allow users to buy through iTunes once, and then access movies on any device, likely via a past purchases section of the store like the one that currently exists for apps, books, music and TV shows. We’ve heard about such negotiations in the past, but the new report suggests the talks are nearing completion, and will result in a cloud-based movie distribution system to go live either late in 2011 or early in 2012.

Apple currently accounts for two-thirds of digital movie sales and rentals through its iTunes Store, according to IHS, so it makes sense that movie studios would be interested in working out some kind of arrangement with Apple, especially with sales of physical media dwindling.

Nearly all major movie studios, with the exception of Disney, have signed on to a project called Ultraviolet, which provides digital, cloud-based copies of movies to customers who buy them in physical formats. Despite this apparent iTunes competitor, however, the L.A. Times reports that studio executives would be happy to see Apple join the efforts.

Apple has a strong bargaining position, and studios will have a tough time selling customers on Ultraviolet with iTunes already so entrenched, despite lots of studio support and many hardware partners. With iTunes in the Cloud already in place, and TV shows now on board, I expect it’s only a matter of time (and sales numbers that show Apple’s hardware platform is the right place for content producers to be) before movies come to the cloud, too.

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According to two separate sources speaking to AppAdvice, in the coming weeks, Apple will launch iTunes Replay, which will work by providing a little arrow next to TV show and movie content available in the iTunes store that qualifies for the service. Content marked with the arrow will be able to be downloaded multiple times to different devices and likely streamed to some as well. The blog reports that some content will be limited to only five subsequent downloads, likely dependent upon rights negotiations with content providers, but that users will also be able to use iTunes Replay with previously purchased content, so long as it was bought after Jan. 1, 2009.

If Apple has been working on such a service, it makes much more sense that we’d see it actually released to the public now, in 2011, rather than in 2009. First, digital video sales is a completely different landscape. Netflix has prompted aggressive growth of streaming distribution, and Blockbuster has since declared bankruptcy, putting a huge dent in physical rentals. TV Everywhere initiatives by cable companies have also helped make device-independent digital distribution more commonplace. Also, mobile video is a much more influential force, so providing greater access to iOS devices is in the best interest of content sellers.

Apple’s recent actions also indicate that the time for iTunes Replay to go public may have finally arrived. With the introduction of iCloud, users (in the U.S.) can now automatically download purchases made on one device, an iPhone for instance, onto another, like their Mac or iPad. And thanks to the latest Apple TV update, iTunes customers can already stream some TV content to that platform directly after purchase. Broadening the availability of multiple downloads and streaming of TV and movie content on iOS, Mac and TV is a logical next step.

I have no doubt that Apple would love to offer something like this to iTunes customers. The only question remains, Are film and TV content providers ready to take that step? If rights negotiations began back in 2009, when this service first hit the radar, then that is definitely possible, especially given all that’s happened in the meantime.

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The prospective iCloud service has managed to steal a lot of the spotlight away from iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion, the other two products being shown off by Apple at WWDC. That may be because we know less about iCloud than we do the other two, or because all things cloud seem to be capturing the tech media’s attention lately. Whatever the reason, the past few days have seen a bevy of reports describing what a shipping iCloud could potentially look like.

Everything That’s Fit to Stream

In addition to music streaming — a feature widely reported on as music licensing negotiations are said to have reached a successful conclusion – Cnet also reports Apple is also in talks with film studios to allow for cloud movie storage and streaming, too. Presumably, this service would be similar to the one being discussed for music, but there’s a barrier according to Cnet’s sources: the so-called HBO blackout, which allows HBO exclusive broadcast rights of films from three of the top six movie studios when it’s actively airing their content.

Apple could still negotiate deals with the other three in time for launch, but even if the reports are accurate, don’t count on seeing movies and TV show streaming and storage announced this time around.

A Data Center That Means Business

Apple’s North Carolina Data Center is a serious beast. According to Envisioneering Group  Analyst Richard Doherty in an interview with USA Today , it “may be the most powerful data center ever, outside of government,” and “will be able to handle millions of streams per minute without any network hiccups.”

Apple clearly wants to make sure that when it unveils the future of consumer cloud technology, it’s more than able to meet demand and scale rapidly.

MobileMe Upgraded

Apple will most likely use the iCloud brand to take over the duties of its current cloud syncing and storage offering, MobileMe. That means it should provide email, notes, calendar and bookmarks syncing, along with the Find My iPhone and Find My iPad services. There have also been reports that a Find My Mac service could make its way into OS X Lion, but the service might fall under the iCloud suite of offerings, too. It would allow Mac owners to register their device, so that they can later be tracked easily via a web-based interface, and be locked or wiped remotely to prevent unauthorized use.

Free or Fee?

The MobileMe service iCloud will reportedly replace costs users $99 per year, but AppleInsider reports that some of iCloud’s services will be offered free to users who upgrade to OS X Lion, the next generation of Apple’s desktop operating system. But other features, such as music streaming, will cost extra based on the fees associated with Apple’s licensing agreements with content providers, reports say. One early report pegged Apple’s streaming music fees at around $20 per year, but little else has been forthcoming on the subject since.

People who want to use iCloud services without upgrading to Lion will reportedly have to pay the $99 annual fee currently associated with MobileMe.

We won’t have to wait long before we see what Apple has in store for iCloud, but in my opinion, it’s the unknown variables that make it the product to watch for during Monday’s keynote. Can Apple do for consumer streaming what it has done for PCs and mobile devices? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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Apple is paving the way for true, two-screen viewing in a way that no company has been able to do before now. And it’s a change that could benefit traditional content providers just as much, if not more than new players on the scene. Movie studios, cable companies, and gaming hardware manufacturers should all be looking at the iPad not as competition, but as a new route to customer engagement.

Content providers that are taking the hint are seeing benefits. Real Racing 2 HD is an early mover in the dual-screen gaming space, and it’s seeing the rewards. The game is currently at No. 57 in the top paid apps charts on the iTunes App Store, and it garnered lots of media attention and downloads with its innovative approach that used the iPad screen in addition to full HD output on a connected television. The game displays supplemental information on the iPad 2, which also serves as a motion controller for the primary racing action displayed on the TV.

It doesn’t feel awkward, contrived, or unnecessary, and that’s because it doesn’t try to compete with the much larger display for a user’s attention. It delivers just the right amount of information in just the right way so as to inform without distracting.

Ryan wrote about the new VH1 Co-Star iPad app last week . The app acts as a companion for VH1 programming, offering content-specific info and trivia, as well as curated social streams from Twitter and Facebook. It’s an app that aims to capitalize on the fact that social network interaction during broadcasts is becoming more and more common. It’s a great way to encourage engagement, which, when successful, can turn casual channel surfers into dedicated repeat viewers. It can also be a great avenue for making money from targeted ads since it gives networks a great idea of what viewers are watching what content. A second-display experience makes even more sense when it comes to televised sports programming, where a supplemental screen can provide the kind of statistical info and league scores and highlights without interrupting the main action.

A third way that iPads show promise as second-screen devices is as control surfaces for complex applications. Adobe  recently showed off its Photoshop touch apps, and the company is releasing a public SDK so other developers can come up with equally innovative ways to use the small screen as a control or enhancement device for what’s going on a much larger computer screen. There’s great potential for similar implementations for other media manipulation applications (like DJ and film editing software), as well as for supplementary computer control surfaces in general.

The iPad’s success is perhaps most impressive because it’s done so well without impacting Apple’s other lines of business; people aren’t buying an iPad instead of a Mac or iPod. Rather, if anything, they’re getting them in addition to those things. Likewise, the iPad need not pose a threat to other means of media consumption. Instead, the tablet can act as a way to make users spend more, not less time with their existing entertainment devices. Companies hoping to use the iPad to achieve this goal need to be smart about development, but it’s a far better prospect than simply putting your head in the sand and hoping the iPad simply goes about its business with little or no negative impact on your business.

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The infographic takes users who responded to the question “Are You a Mac Person or a PC Person?” and cross-references those responses with the answers from other questions taken from the question pool the site uses to inform its intelligent recommendations engine. Some key highlights:

• Mac users are more likely to be young liberals who live in cities
• Mac users are bigger partiers than PC users
• Mac users are more likely to see themselves as unique, but also to see others as alike
• PC users watch a lot of Leno, while Mac users like critical hits like Friday Night Lights

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Surprisingly, I’ve found DVDs the most challenging of all disc formats to preserve and back up. The variety of software available for the task is overwhelming, and the success rate of said solutions is far from 100 percent. Sometimes you have to try different software, or tweak certain in order to get the desired outcome. Here’s a guide to using some of the best current Mac software available for DVD archiving.

Keeping Your Discs Clean

For whatever reason, DVDs tend to be the most fragile of the optical disc formats that I’ve had to deal with. Beyond keeping a soft cloth nearby to wipe down each disc before decrypting and decoding, I’ve found that more serious means of cleaning discs are often times necessary.  Generally speaking, Aleratec’s DVD/CD Disc Repair Kit for about $40 on Amazon gets the job done. You’d be amazed at how many failed rips can be resolved just by cleaning your disc.

Decrypt and Copy to Hard Drive

Once you have a clean disc, the next step is to get its contents onto your hard drive. On the Mac, there are only a few good options to consider for doing this. Longtime favorite MacTheRipper has all but disappeared, as has the open-source Fairmount.  That leaves Pavtube and The Little App Factory’s RipIt.  Since I already covered Pavtube when working with Blu-ray on the Mac, this time I’ll focus using RipIt.

1. Download, install and launch RipIt.
2. In the Preferences (Ripit > Preferences in the Menu Bar), under General, set the destination for the extracted files.
3. Also in General Preferences, make sure that “Use .dvdmedia Extension” is not selected. This will make sure your movies are saved as a standard VIDEO_TS folder, which can be read by many applications.
4. Insert a DVD and click Rip.

It’s that easy. And once you set the location where you want to store the decrypted movie files to, you don’t have to change your preferences unless you want to select a new destination. Just insert the DVD and click Rip.

Encode for Apple TV

While both Pavtube and RipIt offer the ability to compress the DVD’s content into various other formats directly while ripping, I prefer to use HandBrake on the Mac and its built-in preset list of supported device targets. Encoding from a DVD that has been copied to the hard drive is also much faster than encoding from the original disc.  To encode your video files with HandBrake, all you need to do is:

1. Download, install and launch HandBrake.
2. Click on the Source icon in HandBrake’s toolbar and navigate to the location where you ripped your DVD’s VIDEO_TS folder to using RipIt (which you set in step 2, above).
3. In the drop-down menu labeled Title, select the title you wish to encode.  HandBrake usually does a pretty good job at automatically selecting the actual movie title, as it is typically the longest running video on the DVD.
4. Toggle the presets and select Apple TV as the destination device.
5. Select a destination and file name.
6. Click on the green Start button.

Encode for Everything Else

Unfortunately there is not one best encoding format for all devices.  If you encode to the lowest common denominator (likely an older iPod), you’ll notice serious quality problems on larger HDTVs.  You can certainly follow the exact same steps above in HandBrake and select different destination devices each time, but there are two other more convenient options available to you:

iTunes Conversion. In Advanced menu in iTunes, you will notice two options: ”Create iPod or iPhone Version,” and “Create iPad or Apple TV Version.”  This works great for turning files in your library that you’ve created using HandBrake for Apple TV into ones that work with your iPhone or iPod.  This process tends to take a very long time to complete.

iSquint Conversion. Like MacTheRipper, iSquint has fallen from grace and is no longer supported.  That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still work.  Once you’ve created a version of the movie file created via HandBrake, all you need to do is drag and drop your media files onto iSquint’s single screen. iSquint is great when creating versions of movie files for older video iPods and iPod Classics.

Unfortunately, from time to time you’ll encounter a DVD that just wont rip using either iRip or Pavtube.  In these cases, if you have access to a Windows machine (virtual, Boot Camp, or physical) either AnyDVD or DVDFab should help you resolve the problem. Converting your DVD movies to Apple device-friendly formats may not be easy, but once it’s done, you can sit back and enjoy your film collection however you choose, which feels pretty good.

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When Majek Pictures, one of this year’s Featured Artists at Macworld, released Apple of My Eye — a short film shot and edited on an iPhone 4  – back in June 2010, that was just the beginning.  Since then, the studio hass been hard at work on Goldilocks, a series shot entirely on iPhone 4 and iPod touch devices, and distributed via an app in the App Store. We had a chance to catch up with the inspirational force behind the Majek – Michael Koerbel and Anna Elizabeth James – to get a sense of where they hope the creation and distribution of media on Apple’s mobile platforms is heading.

Majek Pictures co-owners Michael Koerbel and Anna Elizabeth James

TheAppleBlog: Watching the behind the scenes footage, you obviously know how to prepare professional-grade camera rigging.  What challenges did you face, and what opportunities opened up to you once you made the decision to film entirely on iPhone 4 and iPod touch?

Michael Koerbel: Filming Goldilocks presented a number of challenges, but the opportunities were incredible.  Everything has to be shot with a fixed or wide-angle lens; the quality is significantly lower than that of your more “traditional” HD cameras like the RED.  Exposure, focus, and white balance are controlled via touching a screen, [so] we were pioneering iPhone filmmaking when we made Goldilocks.  A lot of times when you’re making films, simply because of the camera and lighting, you require a crew of 25-plus people.  While filming Goldilocks, we were able to move quickly, focusing more on additional coverage and performance.  What we discovered was a new way of making movies: one that was very affordable, and in a positive way forced us to be very creative with composition of the picture and movement of the camera.

Anna Elizabeth James: Before we began writing the back-story for Goldilocks, we brainstormed all the places only an iPhone could go with the intention of incorporating as many of these places into our story.  Placing the iPhone 4 in a wine glass or on a remote control car was the fun part.  We were never sure what we’d end up with, so a lot of it was trial and error to get those shots right.  The biggest opportunity shooting with a common device is being able to blend in with the crowd.  One time, when we were shooting in public area, we looked around and noticed a dozen other video cameras recording and had to chuckle.  Someone near you could be making a movie and you might never know it.

TAB: Editing the short Apple of My Eye entirely on a single iPhone 4 was obviously a painstaking task that only one person at a time could perform.  What production and organizational challenges did it pose when editing the short, and why did you decide to break from this novelty when producing Goldilocks?

MK: Filming and editing on one device required a lot of planning and work.  We had two iPhone 4s — one specifically for the film, and one specifically for the making of.  The editing on Apple of My Eye took much longer than anticipated, but we knew it was important to complete the first film solely within the app.  For Goldilocks, we shot much more footage, as well as using multiple iPhone 4s.  We knew with the style in which we were shooting Goldilocks, it would be much more efficient to be able to review footage on a larger screen, make multiple edits, as well as saving at various points along the way.

AJ: Editing is about finding the best performances then building around that.  Editing a short film on the iPhone is doable, but something like Goldilocks is not.  The footage we ended up with on Goldilocks was enormous.  Thankfully, we have great editors who are willing to sit through every take and find those golden moments.  We originally wanted to shoot and edit on the same device, but then realized it wasn’t worth our time just prove a point.

TAB: While you distribute Goldilocks via iOS app, it isn’t the only option you’ve chosen.  You also distribute online through Vimeo and YouTube.  Which distribution platform has been the most successful for you?

MK: The bulk of our views have been via the Majek app.  The Majek app pulls content from the Vimeo servers, just as it does when you view it via their website. We initially chose Vimeo over YouTube, as the quality was much more superior when it came to streaming across mobile devices. With an action series such as Goldilocks, the quality of the motion of the image was very important.  We ran tests on both, and ultimately decided on Vimeo.  The downside of choosing Vimeo is that YouTube has a much larger community.

AJ: YouTube streams fast, but Vimeo is catching up.  The greatest thing about Vimeo is they take great pride in all of their artists. The entire experience is different and satisfying as a filmmaker and viewer.

TAB: Let’s talk about promotion. Have social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook contributed to your success, or have you found other means to build a fan base?

MK: Apple of My Eye and Goldilocks wouldn’t exist without social media. Sure, we have our family and friends base, but even that relies upon social media.  It’s amazing how fast word travels.  We’ve continued asking our fanbase to spread the word about Goldilocks. Features are living and dying based on 140 character reviews on Twitter, and web series or TV pilots are no different. Now, more than ever, the viewer has the ability to immediately share with the world their opinion on politics, sports, and absolutely entertainment.

TAB: What percentage of your fan base are Apple users?

MK: A large percentage of our fan base are Apple users. We can view devices and operating systems via the stats on Vimeo and YouTube, and over 85% of views are coming from Apple hardware and operating systems.  I think also the nature of it being shot on an iPhone contributes to this specific Apple fan base.

TAB: What one feature or product would you love to see Apple produce or fix that would make the process of telling stories using video on the iOS platform that much easier?

MK: I would love to see the iMovie app on the iPhone/iPod have multiple audio tracks.  We had to do some export and re-import in iTunes with Apple of My Eye to get multiple tracks into the finished video.  This was definitely part of our decision in choosing to edit Goldilocks in a traditional movie-making workflow.

AJ: If the post experience could become more tactile, like in Minority Report … If we could use our fingertips to arrange and put things in place, upload or download seamlessly, edit and watch footage by a touch here or there, that would be amazing.

While Majek Pictures is certainly among the first to use Apple mobile platforms for the entire lifecycle of film-making, from pre-production to distribution, they won’t be the last. Who else is making waves in the world of mobile movie making, and how would you like to see Apple’s products change to further support their efforts?

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This has made me take a serious look at Hulu Plus and Netflix.

The CliffsNotes version of this article: if you’re a movie person, get Netflix, If you’re a TV person, get Hulu Plus. The reason: Hulu’s movie selection is completely abysmal, whereas Hulu Plus is good for current-run TV shows.

Now, lets look at the apps. Our sister site NewTeeVee has a write-up covering the availability of shows here, so I’m not going to subject you to a large table in this post.

Hulu Plus ($9.99 per month)

There’s been a lot of bloviating about the short ads you’re forced to watch, even on the paid version of Hulu. They are noticeable, with an announcer’s voice that frequently grated on me. While I can kinda see the point, for me, it’s not a big deal; my cable-only channels subject me to longer, more frequent commercial interruptions. The ads on Hulu Plus aren’t a deal-breaker for me, but they are a point against the service.

What’s more of a bother to me is how limited the mobile offerings are. Not all Hulu shows are available for viewing on the iPad or iPhone. Stargate SG-1 is available in its entirety on the web; not at all on mobile (according to Netflix, this will be available for streaming August 15, so we’ll see if it’ll be on Hulu Plus then). However, Hulu Plus’s offering are deeper — where the free version might only have three shows of a season, the Hulu Plus version is more likely to have the full season. I did find Hulu was more likely to have older TV shows, as full seasons of Hill Street Blues and the A-Team are available (and let me say, the A-Team does not hold up well after all these years). Hulu’s movie selection is very weak — no mainstream movies to be found.

The app performs well. You can manage your queue, although, oddly, you can’t add a full season in one press. Because Hulu’s service is entirely streaming, I found the app a little easier to navigate than the Netflix app. However, in a curious technical decision, the Hulu Plus app doesn’t support the VGA output cable. Since I don’t have a 3G iPad, Hulu was the only one I was able to test over a cellular connection, and the results were fair, but from a small sample set: On the train to work, where AT&T coverage is spotty, the video was pixellated; at home with a better signal, it worked fine. One annoying feature in the Hulu Plus app is every time I launched it, it reminded me I was watching a video and did I want to continue watching it?

Netflix ($8.99 per month)

Comparing Hulu to Netflix is a lot like comparing iBookstore to Amazon’s Kindle store; like Amazon, Netflix has the benefit of a large library. As with Hulu, there are shows only available on Netflix — I could not find Nip/Tuck, Weeds, and Thirtysomething on Hulu; the complete offerings are only on Netflix. It also bears repeating for people who skipped my intro bit that Netflix is the place for you to go if you’re into movies.

I found the Netflix app to be a little sluggish. The video playing was usually fine, but I encountered a lot of slowness browsing the libraries. It’s also hard to pull down the Genres list — postings at the bottom were cut off. In addition, it’s impossible to just search by the titles available for streaming. Unlike the Hulu app, Netflix actually uses the VGA cable.

Final Thoughts

I was hoping that, at least for TV shows, one service would be a home run. Sadly, that’s not the case. While I found more TV shows on Netflix than Hulu that I enjoyed, I could convince myself to pay for Hulu for a few months to re-watch Hill Street Blues as well as start House and Law and Order. I’d be well ahead of the DVD costs. Hulu also earns points for current shows.

Given the economics, it’s not a requirement for an either-or service, For less than $20 a month, you can have access to a great library of movies and TV shows. The ads on Hulu Plus are a bummer. You get no commercials and larger selection (including movies, on Netflix) but Hulu Plus also lets you stay current on your shows. If you’re just staying current,  and not digging through a backlist, there’s little reason to sign up for Hulu Plus.

Looking Ahead: My Wishlist

Both these apps are fantastic, but operate under the necessity of an Internet connection, which means you’re screwed if you’re on a plane or in a bad cell area without Wi-Fi. What I’d love is for these apps to have the ability to also download movies into their device library for off-line viewing. I’m not sure how the licensing or logistics would work, but I hope that’s in their plans.

Which app do you prefer, and why?

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Netflix (Free, Subscription Required)

Netflix has made a name for itself with its excellent service, and many were surprised when it announced it would be coming to the iPad before the iPhone (on launch day, too). The Netflix app is basically a one-window browser that loads a tailored version of the site, allowing you to watch any movie in its instant-watch collection. You can also manage your movie queue, adding or deleting movies as you please. The app isn’t very polished, but it works. I’ve watched the entire three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender on it without incident. The app is free; the subscription, however, isn’t, and it’ll run you $9 a month. There’s a free 30-day trial, though, so you can evaluate whether you like it or not. Personally, I love it.

Hulu Plus (Free, Subscription Required)

Hulu, on your iPad is something that’s been anticipated for a long time. Full access requires a subscription to Hulu Plus, which will run you $10 a month. There’s a free gallery that has single episodes of some good shows like 30 Rock and Parenthood, which should give you a good idea of whether you want to pony up the $10/month or not. Unfortunately, a Hulu Plus subscription will not exempt you from the periodic ads that appear during playback.

ABC Player (Free)

You can watch full episodes of selected ABC shows, like 20/20, Desperate Housewives, and (my favorite) Modern Family. At last count, there are 33 evening shows, four daytime shows, and any specials that appeared within the last few months available. You can also view ABC’s schedule to find broadcast times for shows that aren’t on the list.

Flixster (Free)

Flixster shows you movie times at your local theaters and lets you buy tickets. It also shows ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and lets you play trailers for upcoming films. Sometimes it can be annoying, like when it pops up an advert for a film that you have to dismiss before you can use the app.

IMDb (Free)

IMDb is a huge database of movies, television shows and actors, so when you’re watching a movie with Netflix and want to know more about it, you can pop over to IMDb and find all the information you could ever want to know, like which actors appear in the movie, reviews and trivia. It also has local showtimes and trailers, like Flixster. The app is fast, well laid-out, and free.

Yahoo! Entertainment (Free)

Yahoo! Entertainment has an interesting interface that you’ll either love or hate. On the main screen is a living room, in which an ottoman is parked close to a glowing television, with a magazine, a TV guide, and a DVD case splayed out on the ottoman. Tapping on each item brings up a different part of the app. The magazine takes you to Yahoo! Entertainment News, the TV guide takes you to (what else?) a TV guide, and the DVD case takes you to Yahoo! Video. Each of these has their own unique interfaces, which are all quite attractive. The big thing is the TV guide, which shows you your local programming based on your service provider, and you can hide individual channels.

What apps do you use to keep yourself entertained? Tell us about them in the comments.

As an example of why this is such a handy thing to have, take Valentine’s Day, a movie well recognized as one of the great stinkers of the year so far. But if you check it out in iTunes, at least here in the Canadian store, the average rating is four stars. iTunes alone would’ve steered you wrong. The Tomatometer rates it 18 percent rotten, and the Top Critics all pan it. Saved from a bad purchase.

The Rotten Tomatoes features will also let you know when a movie is exceptionally good. The screenshot that accompanies this article shows the Rotten Tomatoes box for Office Space, a modern classic by Mike Judge that you really should see if you haven’t already, especially if you’ve spent any time working in a cookie cutter cubicle-farm type office. Note the “Certified Fresh” award icon next to the Tomatometer rating. This is an honor bestowed upon especially awesome films.

You can also click through to see the actual Rotten Tomatoes page for any movie (so long as it’s actually been rated on RT, of course), which will give you access to full-length reviews from users and critics, more information, and the ability to buy it in physical form or add it to your Netflix queue.

Kudos to Apple for introducing a small, simple change that has a significant positive effect on overall user experience. But will it encourage you to buy movies on iTunes?

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