Funimation titles available for download on iTunes USA

Quick update for everyone living in the U.S. Forward-thinking as ever, Funimation has made its solicitations available for download on iTunes. This is the first time full anime episodes are being offered over the service.

Funimation titles are now available on iTunes USA (Not available on the Canadian or any other iTunes stores, you can change your iTunes store at the bottom of the iTunes front page, however purchases require a US billing address).

The Funimation Channel iTunes store can be found here.

Currently available are all 24 episodes of Desert Punk, all 26 episodes of Samurai 7 and 20 (out of 24) episodes of Speed Grapher. All three titles are Gonzo productions.

The videos are only available with an English dub, are 640x360 pixels (16x9 widescreen), h.264 simple profile ("AVC") codec, AAC audio, 24 frame progressive, 1.5 mbps combined (audio + video) and are DRM protected.

Keep in mind that this is just the start of digital distribution. As reported last month on Japanator, Viz plans to distribute Death Note over the internet while still issuing DVD releases for the series. My guess is, we're going to be seeing a lot more similar announcements being made in the not-too-distant future. With two big-name players in the anime licensing biz looking at digital distribution as a means to expand their market, others will have to follow if they hope to remain competitive.

Xbox Live's Marketplace and the Zune come to mind almost immediately. The PlayStation network would also go a long way toward helping with digital distribution (especially taking into consideration how a lot of PSP owners like to view anime on their systems).

[Via Anime News Network]