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Breaking Bad season split not going over well with iTunes season pass holders

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Breaking Bad, the hit TV show on AMC starring Bryan Cranston, officially returned last night for the highly anticipated second half of season 5. However, some iTunes users are realizing that the Season Pass they purchased for the first half of the season doesn’t grant them access to the second half.

The discrepancy comes from the fact that AMC has always promoted the fifth season as one season split into two parts. The first 8 episodes aired starting back in July 2012 and appeared on iTunes as “Season 5”. Some users that purchased a season pass then expected that it would include the last half of the season that kicked off last night. Unfortunately, when the second half of the season hit iTunes, it was promoted as “The Final Season” rather than the second half of season 5 and required users to purchase a new season pass for access.

Season-Pass-Breaking-BadApple allows users to buy a “Season Pass” to seasons of TV shows on iTunes and often provides a slight discount versus purchasing individual episodes. To be fair, Apple only charged $21.99 US for the season pass for season 5, which would reflect the typical cost for 8 episodes of new, premium content. In addition, the fine print on iTunes receipts also stated that the season pass for season 5 would only include “episodes airing in 2012.” The real problem here is that it forgot to remove the boiler plate text stating that the season also included all future episodes: “This Season Pass includes all current and future episodes of Breaking Bad, Season 5.”

A reader notes that the season pass for Season 3 of the The Walking Dead included both halves of the season with a long break in between the first and last 8 episodes. An iTunes rep even confirmed that the reader WOULD receive the second half of the season 5 prior to “The Final Season” landing on iTunes, so clearly there is some confusion with how iTunes handles these situations. Some users have even purchased a season pass for “The Final Season” (the second half of “Season 5” on iTunes) expecting that they’d also get access to the 8 previously aired episodes available in Season 5.

Apple isn’t alone in the move, as Amazon and Xbox offerings are splitting the seasons into two separate purchases as well, but Apple should definitely be doing more to make sure consumers know what they are getting when purchasing a season split into two parts.

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Apple adds option to download “Later” for movies and TV shows through iTunes in the Cloud

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Download-Later-iTunes-in-the-Cloud-moviesApple has recently added a new option for iTunes purchases on both the Mac and iOS devices running iTunes 11 and iOS 6 or later. Now, when purchasing content that includes a large download, such as movies or seasons of TV shows, iTunes will allow users to complete the purchase and opt to download the file at a later time. As noted by Macworld, Apple outlined the new option, which presents users with a dialog to “Download” now or download “Later”, in a recently updated knowledge base article.

Selecting the new “Later” option will add the purchased content to your “Purchased” tab in iTunes in the Cloud, meaning the feature is only available to those in countries that support iTunes in the Cloud (full list here). According to Apple’s knowledge base article, the option applies to content including: TV seasons, season passes, movie bundles, music box sets, or individual movies and TV episodes. 
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Borderlands 2 hits the Mac App Store 25 percent off for the holidays with exclusive content


After coming to Steam last month, Mac games publisher Aspyr has announced the Mac edition of 2k Games’ popular Borderlands 2 title is now officially available at the Mac App Store. Aspyr also made the game 25 percent off on the Mac App Store for the holidays at $44.99. Multiplayer and Game Center support won’t come until early 2013 in a free update, but exclusive to the Mac App Store version is: the new Fired Up skins, a unique head for each vault hunter, and “a Contraband Sky Rocket Grenade mod.”

Those who purchased the game on Steam will also get access to the Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage DLC on Mac today for $9.99:

Today is also a big day for Mac players who have already purchased Borderlands 2 from Steam or other fine outlets such as GameAgent.com.  The newest Borderlands 2 DLC, Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage comes to the Mac with tons of new content and challenges players to enter the Badass Crater of Badassitude!  Mr. Torgue is priced at $9.99, supports Steam Play, and is included for purchasers of the Borderlands 2: Season Pass.  Check out Aspyr.com for more details.