MovieLink Selling Movies via Download

The The New York Times is reporting that MovieLink is now selling movies via download. While the selection of movies is limited to about 300 movies, you can buy King Kong ($19.99), The Big Lebowski ($13.99), and My Best Friend's Wedding ($9.99).

For now, these movie downloads are a bit cumbersome, and the studios have limited the way they can be watched. A movie will need about 1 gigabyte of hard-drive space and will take an hour or two to download using a high-speed Internet connection.

CinemaNow will allow the movies to be played only on a single computer. Movielink will allow the movie to be copied onto a DVD, from which the movie can be downloaded to two other computers, but it cannot be played on a conventional DVD player.

Further, the purchased movies do not include special features, further limiting the appeal of the downloads.

Thanks to Andy for sending this in.

Comments

[Nereid]

That much space will most definitely make my computer crash, and slow down tremendously, so i for one pass it up, and sounds too expensive as well.

And with all these limitations, as well as no special features, it seems more of a rip-off than anything, than again that's me.

[gir]

What garbage. Cost as much as a DVD, takes an hour or two to download, and you can only play it on a PC. And in six years, after you've replaced your PC a couple of times, you can no longer watch it at all?

If this is the best they can do, why even bother?

[tachyon.chaser]

1 gigabyte is probably the upper end for the file sizes...probably more like 600M to 1G. On DVD, features are typically 5-8Gbyte. So what you are getting is highly compressed (a factor of 5-10) relative to a DVD version (read lower resolution/picture quality). They won't look nearly as good on a TV monitor as a DVD version. I don't see the value here...these should be priced in the $4-$5 range.

[noe638]

Buy King Kong for 19.99 with no special features. The movie eats up a gig of my hd space. I can't watch it on my dvd player. When I get a new computer it is obsolete.

Or I can buy the special 2-disc edition from Amazon for 18.96 and if I buy another DVD I pay 0 for shipping. I can watch the DVD wherever I want.

What if my hard drive crashes or I get a new computer? Can I download it again?

Here are some funny quotes from the article...
"The downloads will be available on the same day that the DVD is released"
"King Kong, from Universal, which will cost $19.99 from both download services, is being sold on DVD for $14.96 by Amazon.com and $13.99 by Circuit City."
"They are giving the consumer less and charging more for it"
"To me this really stacks the deck against mass consumer adoption."

If this is successful Einstein was correct in his assertion that human stupidity is infinite.

[Nereid]

"If this is successful Einstein was correct in his assertion that human stupidity is infinite."

I have to admit, that really makes me laugh. It almost sounds like they're syaing give us your money, and will give you the movie but laugh at you while we're doing it because we're really ripping you off completely, and not giving you anything in return.

besides the fact that 1 gb is too much for your computer to handle, and will slow it down termendously, some movies when played on the computer live stream, break up, buffer, and in the end you're left sitting in front of your computer $20 out, and pulling your hair trying not scream while the movie is buffering every 2 seconds.

[Nereid]

here's something that seems to be a bit interesting...and completely insane

from reading the article:

"New movies will cost about $20 to $30 to download; older titles will cost as little as $10. The downloads will be available on the same day that the DVD is released — quicker than rentals, which are put online about 45 days later and cost $2 to $5.

The studios hope that more people will want to own digital copies of movies, just as more people pay to download songs than sign up for online music subscription services that require a monthly fee. Download sales have been discussed for several years in Hollywood, but the studios have been spurred to action by the success of television programs sold through Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store.

For now, these movie downloads are a bit cumbersome, and the studios have limited the way they can be watched. A movie will need about 1 gigabyte of hard-drive space and will take an hour or two to download using a high-speed Internet connection.

Nor can the movies be copied to Apple's video iPod or the much less popular handheld video players that use software from Microsoft. The studios expect to permit downloads to portable devices later this year.

Industry executives say these limitations will dampen the appeal of downloads, particularly because the services must compete with chain stores and Web retailers that often discount DVD's to below their wholesale cost to attract shoppers. Such low-priced items are known among retailers as "loss leaders."

For example, "Memoirs of a Geisha," from Sony, will cost $19.99 to download from CinemaNow and $25.99 from Movielink. As a DVD, by contrast, it is priced at $16.87 at Wal-Mart. "King Kong," from Universal, which will cost $19.99 from both download services, is being sold on DVD for $14.96 by Amazon.com and $13.99 by Circuit City.

"They are giving the consumer less and charging more for it," said Warren N. Lieberfarb, the former president of Warner Home Video and now an entertainment technology consultant. "To me this really stacks the deck against mass consumer adoption."

Mr. Lieberfarb said providing a download costs a studio at least $5 less than a DVD because the computerized format does not require manufacturing, distribution and product returns. But the studios are wary of offering inexpensive downloads out of fear of offending the chain stores.

"The studios are caught between a rock and a hard place," Mr. Lieberfarb said. "If they don't make movies available electronically, piracy will get them. But they simultaneously have to take care of their brick-and-mortar customers." If the chain stores became angered, he said, they might pull back from their heavy promotion of DVD's.

Benjamin S. Feingold, the president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, said Sony's policy was to charge the same wholesale price for DVD's and downloads.

Online rentals are limited to the period when movies are on cable pay-per-view services, which is generally for a few months starting 45 days after the DVD is released."

[tachyon.chaser]

I don't believe it is intended as a streaming video. You purchase, download and own the file (subject to restrictions). Downloading a 1G file at T1 (1.5Mbps) speed takes about 90 minutes. You can run over to your local WalMart or Circuit City and buy a better quality full featured DVD in less time and for less $'s!

[CJ]

Has anybody else concluded that CineNow and Movielink are really MPAA "Red Herrings?" The MPAA doesn't really want you to download movies. The current DVD format and the future HD DVD format disks are the MPAA future and what they really want you to buy - this obviously untenable downloading stuff is just a means to show you how ludicrous downloading is.

[Becky]

CJ, you are spot on!

I think these movie downloads will be very helpful for people who live on the space station, and other folks who can't get to a Wal-mart easily.

[strobe32]

ive used movielink and cinemanow in the past for downloading rentals, but im fairly confident i would never consider downloading to own. at least not until they even things out so that it's even SOMEWHAT remotely comparable to buying the dvd.

[Aron]

I think you are spot on, CJ. Journalists don't generally grasp the challenges in digital downloads, but the studios do. They are fully aware that each of these 'new and improved' offerings are going nowhere and yet they keep releasing them.

I believe they are deliberately dancing around the fringes waiting for the HD plastics to come around. Making money on plastic is a proven vehicle.

[FrankLev]

I am very suprised at the comments here. Most seem to be by the technologically challenged.

A gig of hard drive space costs $0.30 at current rates. To say your computer would caras is absurd. computers made within the past three or four years can all handed 7 to 10 gigabyte files with ease.

I stream 4gb film files all over my house from my xbox which is a four year old machine.