Touch Owners Disgruntled W/$20 Upgrade
01.17.08 - 03:46pm
Movie rentals are now available from iTunes following an announcement from Steve Jobs at MacWorld on Monday.
The videos can be rented for $2.99 to $3.99 with a $1 upgrade if you want to purchase the video in HD format. They are not however, compatible with the 5G video iPod or the Touch unless you pay for the $20 upgrade.
Why are they not compatible with the 5G? Nobody really knows and Apple isn’t saying. Many believe Apple simply didn’t want to take the time to create a software upgrade for the old iPods, especially when it gives users a reason to purchase a new model. Some believe there could also be hardware limitations in the older versions.
The bigger hurdle people are trying to climb over is why they are charging $20 for an upgrade to the Touch yet not for Apple TV or the iPhone - those get the same for free. Also why charge early adopters $20 when new buyers also get the upgrade for free? The applications one can at least understand as they are unnecessary but to tie them in with a software update users have to have to do simple things like rent movies seems ridiculous.
Early buyers of the Touch are understandably a bit disgruntled over the whole deal - not so much for having to pay for it, but for the fact that they are the only ones that have to pay.
For the moment, however, just remember don’t try to rent an iTunes movie to play on your 5G or 5.5G video iPod. Only the iPod Classic, iPhone, iPod Touch (with $20 upgrade), and 3G nano are compatible.
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