RSSMovie Downloads Break New Ground
By Ed Oswald | Published April 3, 2006, 11:31 AM
On Tuesday, Brokeback Mountain will break ground once again -- this time as the first movie to be launched on a download service the same day as its DVD release. Along with Brokeback, beginning Monday movies would be available on service Movielink as "download-to-own" titles.
New releases would be available for between $20 and $30 USD per download. Older movies would start at $9 USD, the company said.
Consumers would be able to view the movies on up to three PCs, as well as stream them around the home via a network. While the purchases could be backed up to a DVD, customers are not permitted to burn the movies for watching on a DVD player.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that negotiations were in the works to figure out a copy protection system that would eventually make this possible.
The first movie titles to be made available under the download-to-own service include King Kong, Good Night and Good Luck, Walk the Line, Memoirs of a Geisha, Hustle and Flow, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The next release would be Sony Picture's Fun With Dick and Jane, which will be available next Tuesday.
Movielink would place the download-to-own movies in a different section of its online store. The company's original 24-hour rental based downloads would also be grouped into their own section; however, both would share a common front page.
"The studios are embracing the Internet as a viable distribution platform for their movies, and providing this service will also help to convert Internet pirates into legitimate customers," Movelink CEO Jim Ramo said in prepared remarks.
Rival service CinemaNow also announced a similar offering Monday, although with some differences. That service's agreement is only with Sony and Lionsgate, and movies purchased through CinemaNow would only be viewable on one computer and cannot be backed up to DVD.
Movie titles on CinemaNow would range from $10 to $20 USD per download.
"This is one piece of a much bigger puzzle. Now, we'll watch for the next move to get long-form filmed entertainment onto a bigger screen," Jupiter Research analyst David Card said of the news. "But this is a piece, and a step in the right direction."
$10-$30 and not able to burn... Maybe if they weren't that greedy they would make more money. At the end they will suffer as people decide to get their movies illegally instyead of buying into their greedy distribution deals. sad.....
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|I sure wont use this service when I can get about 10 to 15 movies a month from NETFLIX for a little over 20 bux.
Oh, and I would never use any service that requires Internet Explorer only, thats just dumb and careless...
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|what a joke check out this software it allows yout view whole movies instantly amongst each other ..
http://fileforum.betanew...eX_Browser/1138048724/1
I suggest anyone that does download movielink movies just put them up on the software for others.
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|" Sorry, but in order to enjoy the Movielink service you must use Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher" That alone will cost them many of us do not use IE any more and I for one will never use it again .
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|That's crazy. It's prices like these that makes people download movies and music from P2P programs or websites.
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|Yeah, agree. These people are just too greedy.
I would pay AT MOST $4 per movie.
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|$20 or $30, thats a Netflix subscription!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get anyDVD and CloneDVD and its yours and take it with you
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|WOW, there's no doubt that this movie download gig is ground breaking. For 30.00 dollars you can see this movie on a 17" inch screen and you can watch it as many times as you want. For 30. bucks they should include a limo. I'll wait for the movies to come out on movie classics
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|Scenario:
I am a sales person. I am on the road. I am bored. I want to buy the latest movie release. Best buy, Circuit City, Walmart.. no one has the DVD. But wait, I can simply download it!
That's the target market... What's wrong with that? They aren't going after the avid movie watcher, obviously we all know better, but to a traveler, who can expense it.. they won't even think twice, they have nothing better to do..
That's what this marketing ploy is for...
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|Ah.
Salespeople.
Well, that explains it. ;)
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|So, you are telling me, all this time I have been subscribing to Cinema Now, downloading currently released DVD's, and I get them the same time as DVD's in the store, and this *-- this time as the first movie to be launched on a download service the same day as its DVD release.*
How very interesting...
Granted, its not to own.. but then who watches a film more than once anyway? If you do, you buy it on DVD! novel concept..
Would you want to keep the Download, when you can have the hard copy?
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|This is another dumb idea not very well thought out. Who in their right mind would pay more, for less quality and quantity?
They should look at the iTunes business model. Thats might not be perfect, but it works just fine.
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|Well its not less quality.
A DVD is a series of MPEG files... so its most likely a download of the MPEG files from the original DVD.. so that's not less quality, its the same.
My problem is, when you download it, and your computer crashes.. where are you saving the movies? Not to mention the time it takes to download a DVD. ITs 4-5 Gig. Even on a very fast connection, that takes a while..
This idea is dumb, I agree..
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|Nah...With 20MB service from Comcast, you can download the entire movie in under 30 minutes.
...but they're not catering to pirates.
Really.
*puts eye-patch back on*
Arrr...
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|Gonna go out on a limb here and say this is a good start, and better than nothing. I'd be willing to pay a premium for a movie, say just for work. sometimes we like to have movie-afternoons and relax, and this is a great way to use up our excess bandwidth. The doubled price isn't an issue.
Next up: rentals. I rarely want to own movies, because I rarely want to see them more than once. There are too many movies out there to waste your life on seeing the same stuff over and over again.
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|Both of these sites already offer downloadable rentals
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|yes up to $30usd for a divx type video with lower quality picture and sound and with use restrictions sounds like a deal!
now id pay $30 to download screeners maybe.. but its so much cheaper how people get them now.
its hard to sell intangibles these days
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|Some people don't mind paying higher prices for compressed MP-3 music downloads; which are inferior to commercially produced and packaged CDs in the stores.
These movie services must be appealing to those same idiots. Why pay 20-30 bucks, to download a second rate DVD, that isn't even mine to keep. I can buy the real thing at my neighborhood video stores, for about the same price, on the same release date. And I don't have to return it later.
Rentals are a mere fraction of the cost for a one night use. My niece works for Blockbuster and her sister uses NetFlix. Getting what I want is no problem...
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|Yeah this is busted from the start with those prices. Have they not learned from Apple?
And are they anamorphic widescreen? DTS? DD?
Any extras? Although for a download viewing extras are not as critical as video format and sound options.
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|*And are they anamorphic widescreen? DTS? DD? *
Its the same content on the DVD, just packaged for downloading.. that's all. Like zipping a DVD disc.
The same menus, same content, in its entirety, but you can download it, in case the store is out of stock...
The extras, if it has an extra DVD with the movie.. you may not get that, I haven't downloaded one to try it.. but you aren't losing ANYTHING from the movie disc, everything is included.
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|They haven't downsampled at all?
Cool.
Now, if they could kill the "no burning to DVD" bit, I'd be all over it.
Yeah, it wouldn't affect me, I've got the PC welded to the TV, but the thought of paying $30 for the DVD and then being told I can't actually "watch" it ona DVD player....
Meh...it's a bit much.
And...$30 for a movie? *ANY* movie? There is not a movie on this *planet* worth paying $30 to see.
Yikes.
What happened to our priorities?
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|I have to pay twice as much for a fourth of what I get in a DVD, huh? Wait to download it for 5 hours to save myself that inconvenient 5 minute trip to the store?
Get real.
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|Broke Back Mountain? Good God!
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|Yeah, that's how Richard Simmons does Outback . .
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|They could use a download to promote owning the movie in its un-restricted form, but they choose to charge as much or more for the "privilage" of downloading it and not having the extras.
It gives a great opportunity for the independent film maker to distribute films this way, though. Once more people are used to the idea of downloading movies, it blows the door wide open for the small guys.
For example, you can already download the movie "Cactuses" for FREE at http://www.cactusesmovie.com
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|>Movie downloads will take years and years before they can even catch up to dvd's
I have some interesting news for those of you who believe it will take "years and years" to get DVD quality over the internet. Not true. Hard to believe, I'm sure...
A new company is currently negotiating with some major theater-industry players to offer JUST SUCH A SERVICE to the general public via a patented method not yet publicized. Stay tuned. It will NOT be years and years. More like "year". :)
As far as these current offers, I agree. Quality is king and DVD is the best out there right now for ownership in the home.
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|check out
http://xtme.wordpress.com/
that might be company!
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|This is not a well thought out plan. It is a feeble attempt to attract people to a floundering technology. Movie downloads will take years and years before they can even catch up to dvd's(quality and convenience), for with the rate of download, unless you live in the ozarks, it would be faster to just buy it.
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|Please feel free to insult other areas of the country, say California coastal cities (for the surfer dudes/dudettes) or the Imperial valley (Valley Girls).
While we in the Ozarks do find a more relaxed lifestyle fits us, we can do the math on these supposed "great deals". Why pay more for the download (not to mention the time it takes _to_ download)? Go out and buy the disk!
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|Nice to see that some of the film industry is leveraging the public internet for their own ends. We are more inclined to support Indie film and music artists, and support community organizations and good causes with our work. We'll see how the market responds.
http://inbusinessforgood.blogspot.com
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|How do they expect to sell downloadable movies for more then the price of a DVD? Take Walk the Line for instance. Movelink offers it for $26.99, while Best Buy offers it for $14.99. So you get to pay more for a lower quality, less accessible, and no extra features.
I don't understand how they can build a business around this. Movie downloads do not translate in the same way Audio downloads do. Without some extra incentives (cheaper price, earlier availability) no one is going to go for this.
*edit* Also, whats up with them not supporting any browser other then IE? */edit*
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|Funny, this is the same ideology people said when 7-11's starting appearing in the 60's and 70's..
You pay more, for convenience.... You don't have to leave your house, people have proven they will pay for this convenience, even if we don't agree with it.
As for IE, not to start another Microsoft Flame war, but this has more to do with the programmers opting for IE, than MS influencing them to ONLY allow IE download..
Some people, yes they do exist, me included, *PREFER* IE over other browsers, because we have a vested interested in ActiveX...
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|...and by "vested interest", he means all of his web-apps are based on it and the thought of rewriting them all is....daunting.
Right?
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|So basically the same price as buying it, but you have restrictions for viewing it.
Mkay.
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|Who would do this? You pay the full price, but get a 1/4 of the quality and none of the extras. Barbershop = 890 meg. I'll pay the same and get the full thing along with the extras, Lame!!
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|I agree, if they are going to restrict it that much, then the price has to come WAY down (like $5). If I want it on my computer I'll buy the DVD for $5 - $10 cheaper and then rip it. I thnk the movie industry is getting greedier than the recording industry (if that's even possible).
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|Yeah, $5 would be a reasonable price, though I'd also want them to enable the ability to create a DVD of the content.
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|$1 sounds like a better price. For some reason content providers think people with computers are stupid and will therefor pay anything. They are sadly mistaken. It costs then next to nothing to get the file to you. If they used Bittorrent it would be even less.
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|hmmmm.. Do the letters D-I-V-X ring a bell?
SAME THING!
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|People like to be legal, especially since they are suing the hell out of anyone that downloads a single song..
People won't dare cross that line, they would rather pay 30 bucks, for a 15 dollar movie, if they were ASSURED it was a legal buy....
Myself, I use newsgroups... bittorrent is just too slow... I can find everything I need on NewsGroups.
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|Regharding the USENET:
You said it.
Now stop saying it before they find a way to take those away form us as well.
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