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In the iTunes Store, specifically in regards to movies, what does this mean? "When purchased, this movie will not be available from iTunes in the Cloud"

I'm seeing it on the individual movie page for the new Indiana Jones bundle

Can the movie only be downloaded once?

Can I download the 720p version now, and then download the 1080p version later?

I don't really care about streaming from the cloud; I have a Mac mini setup as an iTunes "server", I'm just concerned that I'd only be able to download one version, one time.

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  • If this helps - "iTunes in the Cloud" is both the ability to stream it to any device you are signed in (and push an automatic download to those devices if enabled) for movie playing and that you can re-download the movie at a later date and don't need to back up the file you download. It seems that error message needs a link to a better article since I can't imagine everyone knowing the definitions...
    – bmike ♦
    Sep 18, 2012 at 16:02
  • We will need some people to document what exactly doesn't work (re-download, auto-download, stream) - all or some combination of items. I also wonder what happens when you do have automatic downloads enabled and buy a 20 GB movie collection that is supposed to be pushed to an iOS device. Probably a good second question to ask here :-)
    – bmike ♦
    Sep 18, 2012 at 16:06

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Yes, some studios only allow a movie to be downloaded once, so you see this message. I'd wait until you're able to download the 1080p version.

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That means that the company which holds the rights to the movie hasn’t allowed Apple to make it available from iTunes in the Cloud.

If you buy an HD version, you can choose to download either 720p or 1080p. You can download these movies only once.

Sorry, I thought you were talking about iTunes Match.

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OK, I think I've managed to answer my own question, at least the practical components.

Awhile ago, I bought Spartan and several other movies with the same disclaimer, which I didn't notice at the time. I downloaded the 720p versions of each at the time I purchased them.

I can now confirm that:

a) All of these movies show up in my list of Purchased items in iTunes. b) All of these movies have the "Download from the Cloud" icon in the Purchased items list. c) Changing the HD video preference to 1080p in iTunes Store Preferences and re-downloading the movies does indeed give the 1080p version! (Where available, not all HD movies have 1080p versions, some top out at 720p.) d) I have now downloaded three movies that came with this disclaimer twice each; once at time of purchase and again last night.

At this point, my best guess is that the disclaimer about a movie not being "available in iTunes in the Cloud" has to do with streaming from the cloud to an iOS device or AppleTV. It does not appear to affect re-downloading in other HD formats.

Also, as an aside, I can confirm that the AppleTV 2 (mine at least) will play 1080p content, albeit downsampled to 720p. I saw no stuttering or buffer-pausing. And subjectively, I think the 1080p version looked better—even downsampled.

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