who rents a movie and then watches it half way and then finishes it another day? Seriously...what a complainer.
You get 30 days to begin to watch the movie....a movie is 2-3 hours...you got the time to watch it all at once.
I'm actually in agreement with the OP. My wife and I like to spend time together in the evenings, sometimes watching Apple TV, but we have kids who need attention till their 8:00 bed time, and my wife likes to get to sleep by 11:00, so she can get up to go to work or feed the kids breakfast.
We can usually get through a movie in one sitting, but there have been several times where we've had to re-rent.
I think the 30-day expiration is reasonable (don't rent it yet if you won't watch it soon), but the 24-hour expiration period is silly (I'd like more in the neighborhood of 3-4 days), as is the time you have to wait between the DVD release of the movie and the time it's available for rent.
It's funny, the movie studios put that annoying "don't pirate our movies" warning at the beginning of every DVD because of growing online piracy, but they're so stubborn about giving customers what they want for a good, legal alternative that it's no wonder people resort to BitTorrent for a lot of content! Not only are the movies free, but there are fewer restrictions!
Don't get me wrong, all my movies are purchased or rented through iTunes for use on my Apple TV or iPhone (if travelling), but I think the silly licensing issues are the issue most hindering the Apple TV.