Tool of liberation, or
iTunes anchor?

Yesterday Steve Jobs of Apple announced the availability of movie rentals on iTunes.

Touchstone, Mirimax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Sony are on board. Weeks ago, only Fox was reported to be involved.

The rental service launches in the States this week and will be international later this year. Movies are priced at $2.99; new releases cost $3.99. Renters have 30 days to start watching a rented film and 24 hours to complete it once started.

Over 1,000 movies are currently available. With all major film studios aboard, additions will appear on iTunes 30 days after the DVD release.

Renters can watch their rentals on Macs, PCs, all current iPods, and the iPhone.

Significantly, Apple's ultra-thin Macbook Air, a laptop line released yesterday, will be sold without an optical disc drive. The laptop is positioned as a "totally wireless" unit because of its ability to read discs inside shared-network computers, but it will also encourage Macbook Air users to access iTunes for DVD rentals and purchases.

Jobs reported iTunes has sold over 4 billion songs, hitting a single-day record on Christmas Day with 20 million songs sold in 24 hours.