Yep - I've skinned Applebox to look like iTunes. I plan to create other skins, but iTunes is the first.

Does it work for you?

First impressions. Easy to load. I like the categories on the home page. That is, having the usual Latest Release, Most Popular and Just Added and then the more specific categories down the right side - making the search for a DVD more interesting and widening the horizons a bit - Johnny Depp At His Best, Epic Movie Experiences and Celebrity Watch Lists...

The look and layout of the movie descriptions is slick and clear.

Thanks Kasta, your input is fantastic. And great - I see the collections down the right as being a nice way of widening the options for people. At the moment I've only got that on the first page, it will be on every genre page, and specific to that genre as well. This means if you are only interested in foreign language movies, all you need to do is go to the foreign language genre, and have the full content tailored for that genre. Thats the Latest Releases, Most Popular, Just Added and then a bunch of promoted collections as well.

This means if you are only interested in foreignlanguage movies, all you need to do is go to the foreign languagegenre, and have the full content tailored for thatgenre

Even more tailored. I like it.

What about making an Adobe AIR Application? You could provide both the Web interface and a slightly faster, smoother, and more clean version with AIR. I think you need to provide previews with movies if you can (you'd have to find a way to automate the process through Apple's trailers if possible).

Yeah - I do like the look of AIR and the power of its UI,  but I'm not so keen on having my users have to download the runtime and then an app to rent a DVD from APPLEBOX. My business targets local people renting at a physical DVD store - which does include tech savvy people, but also a lot of non tech savvy people. I very much need the business of the non techs to survive. Downloading  and installing could be a barrier to them using my service.

But - once I get some time, messing with another GUI client is something I am interested in ... Air .. Silverlight .. if only there was more time in the day! And you're right, previews will add a lot of punch.

I think it is fine to not reinvent the wheel when doing interface design. But to recreate the look and feel of another app should not be the way (even though it is very impressive!)

Fair enough! Whilst the chrome and genre pages do borrow queues from iTunes, the rest of the app diverges - the movie page, the covers 'see all' view, the search action, the membership section, the custom collections (eg star wars) - they are all different. Some people have said they love the iTunes familiarity, others say its not for them. However, I do see a divergence from the current iTunes feel as I evolve it.