14 DAY TRIAL // "The greatest films on iTunes just got better." That's what Apple says about the release of the version of iTunes. Watching a movie will be a whole new experience. You will not see just the movie, but hear the director's commentary and watch behind-the-scenes footage.
Clocking on a movie like "The Grand Hotel Budapest," one of the most appreciated new ones in iTunes, opens a new world. You get iTunes Editors' Notes followed by a Plot Summary and then comes iTunes Extras.
iTunes has a label on the new page that says you can get the "Full experience" only with an HD purchase. The window has music specific to the film you are viewing and the Menu offers the possibility of choosing between the following: Preview (Free, without purchase), Extras, Cast & Crew and Related.
The Preview is just a trailer of the movie. Under "Extras" you will find a new, longer trailer and two other short films. There's also a link to the Stills Gallery. However, none of those buttons is active.
Going back to the "Cast and Crew" section takes you to a long scrollable list of the actors, and each and every one of them has a larger pane on the right that exposes posters of their previous movies.
The "Related" section will give you sets like "Viewers Also Bought," "More by These Actors," "More by This Director."
Some of the movies have a special iTunes Interview. For "The Grand Hotel Budapest," the video is over 7 minutes long and is shot just like a Talk Show where the guests are the Director and the main characters. The viewable part is not complete, though, for the non-paying customer.
Other movies offer Deleted Scenes, Concept Art, High resolution photos, enhanced commentary.
An HD Movie costs $14.99 in iTunes, while the SD version of the same movie is $13.99. You can also rent the HD version for $5.99 or the SD one for a dollar less.
Apple mentions the iTunes Extras require a minimum of Apple TV 6.2 or iTunes 11.3 on a Mac or Windows 7.
iTunes Extras is available for previous purchased HD content and it updates automatically when new videos and photos are added. The new feature will be available on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch this fall, with the launch of iOS 8.
There are currently only 28 movies that have iTunes Extras in iTunes, from the Pacific Rim to Frozen and Django Unchained to Mary Poppins.