Actually, iTunes and the Apple TV did this for me for movies. At some point I started downloading movies from Usenet, for various reasons:
- Annoying unskippable 'don't copy this disc' messages.
- Movies are sometimes not available at the local rental or retailer.
- High prices of Blu-Rays.
- Downloading is legal in my home country.
- Downloading from Usenet was less effort.
iTunes solved most of these issues, and made it easy to 'impulse rent' movies. Nowadays, we just rent movies via iTunes, since it is less effort than verifying/extracting/converting movies and finding subtitles. Also, it feeds the makers.
- Annoying unskippable 'don't copy this disc' messages.
- Movies are sometimes not available at the local rental or retailer.
- High prices of Blu-Rays.
- Downloading is legal in my home country.
- Downloading from Usenet was less effort.
iTunes solved most of these issues, and made it easy to 'impulse rent' movies. Nowadays, we just rent movies via iTunes, since it is less effort than verifying/extracting/converting movies and finding subtitles. Also, it feeds the makers.