Whether you use iTunes for all of your digital movie content or you’re making the switch from discs to digital, at some point you may have wondered what to do with all of your old Blu-rays and DVDs.
iTunes 6 was introduced in the fall of 2005 with the ability to purchase popular television series. In 2008 Apple introduced iTunes Digital Copy for Movies. Now, Apple offers over 65,000 movie titles, some with 4K support, iTunes extras, and more.
iTunes Library 101
- If you are interested in making your library digital, iTunes is a great platform.
- The benefits of a digital iTunes library include being able to watch content on multiple devices, being able to browse and select from all of your movies in one place, and being able to access your content anywhere via the Internet.
- To get started, simply purchase your first movie on iTunes. Movies are available to purchase in standard definition or high definition formats and can be purchased separately or sometimes as a bundle of movies.
- If you don’t want to purchase a movie you can rent it for a much lower cost. Rented movies are available to watch for 30 days and they will expire 48 hours after pressing play.
- iTunes content can be played on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, Apple TV, and supported iPods.
How to Add Physical DVDs to iTunes Library
There are at least two easy options for getting the movies you own on Blu-ray or DVD into your iTunes library, but keep in mind this won’t be possible with all discs.
1 Digital Copy
- If your Blu-Ray or DVD includes a supported Digital Copy, just follow the included directions found inside the case to redeem it in iTunes. Piece of cake.
- If your movies don’t support Digital Copy, try Vudu and Movies Anywhere option .
2 Vudu + Movies Anywhere
If you’ve never heard of Vudu, it’s basically Walmart’s version of iTunes. It also lets you convert some movies that you own on disc to digital for a small fee.
‘Movies Anywhere’ is owned by Disney and links your various movie accounts. You can link iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, and Amazon Prime. Once linked, supported movies show up in the Movies Anywhere app and sync over to your other libraries.
If you haven’t figured out where this is headed, allow me to explain:
- You can sign up for a Vudu account and convert supported discs to digital for a fee.
- Then link your Vudu and iTunes accounts to Movies Anywhere and voila! Any supported movies in Vudu will now appear in iTunes.
Final Thoughts
New releases on iTunes cost $14.99-$19.99 — however, you can often get some movies for less than $10 on iTunes (sometimes as low as $4.99) — and you now have a digital copy that you can watch anywhere.
Additionally, Apple often updates content free of charge. When 1080p came to iTunes, existing movies were updated. And just recently, any 1080p movies available in 4K were also updated to the newer format.
iTunes is a great, forward thinking way of handling your video library. Utilizing Movies Anywhere and Vudu can help you cut down on the cost of getting your existing library on your Apple TV or iOS devices.