Porn, Again, Rides The Leading Edge

from the bow-chicka-bow-bow-on-demand dept

Fri, Mar 31st 2006 8:31am — Carlo Longino

There's the old adage that porn and gambling can always be counted on as reliable drivers for new consumer technologies -- cable and satellite TV, the Internet, DVD and so on. Once again, it's the porn industry leading the way in content distribution with one company selling download-and-burn DVDs. It's pretty straightforward: users go to the company's site, pick out a movie, pay about $25, then download a full copy of the DVD which they can burn a single time, and it even includes the ability to print jacket art. The price is basically the same as buying the DVD from a traditional retailer, with the porn studio banking on the convenience being worth the price, or even a premium since it saves people from a potentially embarrassing trip to their local porn purveyor. Given the movie industry's reluctance to embrace new technologies, it's not surprising to see them let porn studios feel this one out first, despite supposedly embracing internet distribution for several years now. Interestingly, the company behind the the download-and-burn porn offering is a part of CinemaNow, which also offers one of the largely disappointing mainstream online movie download services.

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14 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2006 @ 10:06am

Three cheers for PRON!!!!
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dani, 31 Mar 2006 @ 10:23am

Not just porn
Universal Pictures is launching the same thing in England.
Download to own DVDs and they think they are 'the first to offer this service' as well.
The price will be around $35 US. I'm surprised they would sell a p*rn DVD for $25...aren't they normally around $50?
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BoneHead, 31 Mar 2006 @ 10:39am

Yes, most porn movies are around $45-$50. Maybe these are older ones that you'd normally find for $25. Or maybe since they aren't having to print out the jackets, provide cases, press disks, and ship to retailers they are offering them cheaper online *shrugs*

Since I'm at work I can't check and compare the different content that is up for download with a normal brick-mortar place.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2006 @ 10:41am

At over 50 new pron releases each week, $50 each seems rather steep. In the USA, they also compete with CableTV & Satellite that offers subscriptions of $10-$15/mo or $4 for five-hour blocks. There are also "book stores" in just about every major city (sometimes several) that offer bargain-bin movies for $5 to $20-for-five. But most shelf prices are about $19.99 with online prices being roughly $25 shipped. And for the record, I know nothing about pron.
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detour, 31 Mar 2006 @ 10:47am

Yes but...
... does it run on Linux? I see this becoming a big issue when every content provider and their mother wants me to use their DRM software scheme. Of course, it'll always be a closed-source, windows-only binary because we all know that open-standards can't hide trade secrets (glaring security holes). Why do companies turn away customers for the sake of convenience of development?
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2006 @ 12:35pm

Re: Yes but...
"does it run on Linux?"

I supose an ISO can run on any platform able to burn to DVD.

you do the simple math.
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pedalfast, 31 Mar 2006 @ 12:52pm

re:
the price is lower because it completely removes the distribution and shipping costs from the transaction. they dont hold any inventory, no wholesaler to deal with...nothing.

direct to consumer is always best.
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HungDaddy, 31 Mar 2006 @ 1:00pm

It has DRM so someone can only burn it 1 time, so there will probablly be a speciailzed file type and a propritary burner to accompny the d/l.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2006 @ 4:00pm

ITS ALREADY FREE!!!!
with torrent sites the full dvd porn movies are already on the web. save the $25 fee.
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Regina Lynn, 31 Mar 2006 @ 4:53pm

Yup, it's proprietary burner.

Yup, it's Windows-only.

As for being first, Steven said he believes he's the first adult company to offer this ...
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Bevis & Butthead, 2 Apr 2006 @ 6:06am

Huh...Huh...Huh
He Said:

"...let porn studios feel this one out first"

Huh...Huh...Huh
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fsckr, 2 Apr 2006 @ 12:53pm

The porn factor
You can always look to porn as a benchmark for what will happen with regard to media standards.

Just like in the (JVC) VHS vs. (SONY) BETA 'war' of the 80, the future of many of todays issues of contention: Download vs Hard Media, DRM vs no-DRM even HD-DVD vs Blu-ray will probably be determined in the porn space first.
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Dangerous Dan, 20 Aug 2006 @ 10:40pm

It's cheaper on eBay
Porn videos on eBay can be purchased for 10 bucks. Most people don't know, but yes, eBay does sell porn:

>open up eBay's home page

>click on the "Buy" button at the top of the page

>scroll down to "Everything Else" and left click

>scroll down to "Mature Audiences" and left click

>that's it, you're done
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geoff, 12 May 2008 @ 12:45pm

ebay only in the us
you cant even acsess to view the products from the uk! whats that all about
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