Say what you like about Blu-ray emerging as the victor in next-gen high definition wars, but DVD is still here to stay - at least for a few more years to come. With the credit crunch affecting virtually everyone from top to bottom (even more so in the latter category), not everyone has the disposable income to splurge on a spanking new HDTV. This means DVDs could remain in the market for a few more years longer than expected before HD content takes over. Apple is going to seize the opportunity to release films on their iTunes Store on the same day where said films are released on the DVD format in brick-and-mortar stores after coming to an agreement with a number of major motion picture studios including 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment, and First Look Studios.

These new film releases on iTunes will retail for $14.99 (having two people watch it will mean saving money and hassle of going to the cinema, although you might have to wait a little bit longer), while older titles sell for $9.99. Sounds cheaper than DVDs of recently released films on Amazon that vary in price, ranging from $14.99 to $22.99 with the latter normally reflecting the inclusion of extra discs or supplementary material. This would definitely make the iTunes platform more popular than ever (it currently offers 6 million songs, 600 TV shows, and more than 1,500 films, 200 of which are available in a high-definition format) in my book, although I am sure that audio purists will make noise that downloads might not feature a good sound track since downloaded files are normally compressed (with good audio to go first) in order to make the file smaller.

What’s your take on this? Do you prefer to download your movies or stick to physical media? I’m all for the latter.

Source: Information Week