iTunes Does Movies

The latest version of iTunes (4.8) included a hefty surprise: it now supports movies. When it first launched, I immediately opened the Preferences to see if I could spot any changes. Under the 'Advanced' tab, a new choice appeared: Play Movies, with the options of 'separate window', 'main window', or 'full screen.' My guess was that iTunes Music Store's music videos would use this setting but I was wrong.

A post on PlayList later in the day informed me that this setting indicated no less than full movie support within iTunes. Drag a movie to iTunes and it's added to your library. The movie will play according to your choice in Preferences when you double-click it. If you simply hit the play button when it's selected, you'll see the movie in the Artwork box at the bottom left of the iTunes window.

Fascinated at Apple's decision to embed this kind of support and what that meant, I threw some movies in and added a smart playlist to keep track of them all. I even added a 'Movie' genre.

Well, an email from iTunes' new music service let the cat out of the bag this morning. Dave Matthews Band is releasing their new album Stand Up exclusively on iTunes, and guess what? It includes an exclusive iTunes video on the making of the album, and a digital booklet containing all of Matthews's heartfelt lyrics.

At last! Digital booklets are part of iTunes. I'm guessing this is simply the first in what will be a new standard in digital music. Including video is a great way to add even more value to the best online music store. Exciting times. Leave it to DMB to wait until now to support iTunes. Guess they wanted to make a splash when they jumped in.