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Apple brings iTunes Extras to Apple TV, HD Extras to Macs today & iOS 8 in fall

Apple-TV-Extras

Apple today released iTunes version 11.3 and with it is making its iTunes Extras feature available for HD movies on Macs.  Apple also announced today that the feature is now available for Apple TV with update 6.2 and will arrive on iOS 8 this fall.

While we’ll have to wait for iTunes Extras to arrive on iOS with the release of iOS 8 this fall, the Apple TV OS 6.2 update rolled out late last month to users alongside iOS 7.1.2.

iTunes Extras offers an interactive experience for some video content on iTunes that often includes behind-the-scenes videos, image galleries, commentary from the creators, cast interviews, exclusive clips, short films, and more. Content creators decide whether or not to offer the iTunes Extras feature and create the experience using templates provided by Apple. Apple also notes that “new iTunes Extras will be automatically added to your previously purchased HD movies as they become available- at no additional charge.”

The iTunes update, version 11.3, is available now through Software Update in the Mac App Store. The Apple TV update, version 6.2, which also brought general performance and stability improvements, is available now as an over-the-air update.

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Comments

  1. zoidbert - 10 years ago

    Here’s hoping a true Channel Store as well as the ability to organize our own channels is in the works. I’d also like to be able to set up playlists (which come in handy when TV shows are sold out of order) like I can on iTunes for playback.

  2. Blue Joker (@BlueJoker_) - 10 years ago

    Jeezus, Finally. So iTunes Extras work on Apple TV 1 (true!) and 3, but not Apple TV 2? eff you Apple.

  3. Brian Ramage (@BJMRamage) - 10 years ago

    Now iTunes Extras make sense…wonder why it took so long for this.

  4. Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

    Good news I suppose. Personally, I’ve never understood why anyone would care or even watch an iTunes extra. They are mostly like included long, boring advertisements for the product that you’ve already bought. In fact, the exact same material is used to market the movie when it comes out.

    • Jackie Jormpjomp Curran - 10 years ago

      You obviously have little knowledge about what you’re posting about. In fact iTunes even occasionally get extras not included in physical media releases like audio commentaries, etc. It is so important to have a working knowledge of a subject before commenting on it.

      • crisrod63 - 10 years ago

        Yep, iTunes Extra is very cool indeed. I particularly like the short films (Pixar, Disney) that are not released in any other media and you only get to see sometime in the theater if you are lucky.

  5. Gilles Savard - 10 years ago

    Now it’s time to make an OSX app that we can create iTunes Extra but for our home vidéo. Like iDVD did in the past.

  6. Yutana Lin - 10 years ago

    ABOUT F***IN TIME!!!

  7. Marvin Gräfe - 10 years ago

    Wow! That’s awesome. Finally, we are able to watch our iTunes Extras from whatever device, we carry with us. Thanks, Apple!

    Let’s hope that they’ll add the same feature for iTunes LP (I wonder why they didn’t announce it at the same time) and let’s also hope that the film studios will upgrade all their existing iTunes Extras of older movies to the new version. Otherwise, the Extras would not be viewable from iOS and Apple TV.

  8. David Pippy (@Dave_idP) - 10 years ago

    I don’t understand what’s new here (aside from Apple TV & iOS)? There are already iTunes Extras for HD movies (I bought Hobbit, Extended which had them). Is there additional content now? And the ability to always add new content?

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.