There's talk on the street that Apple is pitching a movie rental business via their iTunes service to major movie studios. Movies would be available at a price of $2.99 and would expire after approximately 30 days. Once the movies are downloaded to a computer, they could then be moved to another device such as an iPod.

However, the studios don't seem very interested according to recent reports. A number of issues keep the studios dubious including Apple's low pricing and copyright protection.

With the release of Apple TV, i.e. an over-hyped set-top box, it seems only logical that Apple would aim to rent movies and thus compete with the video-on-demand offerings of satellite, cable, and IPTV providers. This addition would allow Apple TV to rival a not-so-much-advertised Xbox 360 feature that streams movies downloaded via CinemaNow and Movielink.

The question is whether people are ready to throw their Blockbuster or Netflix memberships away and rent movies online. Do you rent movies via the Internet?