Warner Bros. Stuffs Movies Into iPad, iPhone Apps

In a world of Netflix, Redbox and cheap iTunes rentals, Warner Bros. has hatched a new plan to entice you to purchase more movies.

If you're keen on the idea of buying a movie once and owning it for all of your devices, Warner Bros.' apps are not for you. The in-app movie is completely separate from iTunes (and for Inception, $2 more expensive, at $12 for the full movie), so you're forever bound to an iPhone or iPad. At least with iTunes, you can watch the movie on a computer or Apple TV.

For me, the restrictive DRM is a dealbreaker. These apps should be perks for purchasing the Blu-ray or iTunes version of a film, not a separate entity unavailable to people who want to watch their movies in other formats. I realize neither of those options are possible in iOS - Apple doesn't allow for individual discounts or free unlock codes within its apps - but either way, from a consumer perspective it's a raw deal.

(One exception: In some international markets, the iTunes movie store isn't available at all, so these apps provide a workaround.)

That's not to say I don't like the apps themselves. The surrounding array of extra features are easy to navigate, and I like how you can save sound clips as ringtones and photos as iOS backgrounds. This is definitely a cool way to watch a movie, but for your hard-earned $10 to $12, it shouldn't be the only way.

And besides, is anyone really going to start building a movie library that consists, in large part, of individual apps?