Good morning.

Here's a bit of an update regarding my iTunes Store Movies rental experience. I have openly complained about the 24-hour expiration, but have since discovered that it's a bit of a "soft" deadline. I've even sent Apple feedback on the rental service (change the window to 36-48 hours, please).

Last night I purposely played the rental a few minutes before the 24 hour cutoff. Of course, the file played as expected. Interestingly, there was no warning at the 24 hour point, and the only notification I had of the rental's expiration was when I tried to play a different file within iTunes. At that point a warning box gave me the option of continuing the film or closing it, which would delete the file from my Mac.

That's civilized, and, frankly, while not as convenient as a longer viewing window, at least it's not a hard deadline.

Update: Apple has quietly changed this functionality. Now the only way to play a rental after the 24-hour window is to pause or play the rental before the expiration period. Then you'll get a warning if you try to quit or stop the film.



Treat yourself to a brand new 3lb MacBook Air 1.6GHz from Amazon. Free shipping and no tax. Add up those savings. Dare you .

tags iTunes Rentals