For Sale: One Crappy Movie Download Site
from the try-try-again dept
Movielink, the movie download site owned by five major Hollywood studios, has apparently been up for sale for months, and unable to close a deal with any buyers. What's amusing about the story is that the buyers recognize what's apparent to pretty much everybody except the studios: that the sites suck. The sticking point in the potential deals has been buyers' desire to remove some of the restrictions the studios put on movies, in particular the inability for consumers to burn movies to DVDs so they can watch them in their DVD players. This saga seems so typical of the entertainment industry's attitude towards digital media -- a blind insistence that it knows best and that its approach simply can't be wrong. These would-be buyers realize that it's the entertainment business that must adapt to consumers, not the other way around. Until Hollywood realizes this, it's not going to amount to anything in digital media. Incidentally, one of the interested buyers was a group of investors led by Warren Lieberfarb, the guy who convinced Hollywood to embrace the DVD -- and was later fired from Warner Brothers after a difference of opinion on the company's strategy for the future. Here's a guy that took the DVD and shaped it into a product with which consumers were pretty happy, despite massive resistance from the studios. Little wonder, then, that he could probably do the same for downloads, but the studios' obsession with control and the appearance of security won't afford him the chance.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Between a rock and... another rock.
I hate your product, but I'm not creative enough to find another way to be entertained. Its sad, really...
First post?
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One guy eh
Lets put it this say, DVD's wouldn't have been invented if there wasn't going to be some expectation for pre-recorded content on them, I don't think it took one guy to envision a world where movies were distributed on DVD. Maybe some guy saw a potential to speak on behalf of the DVD format and slid in as the defacto champion of the format, but I doubt we would still be watching movies on VHS today if the DVD disk came out without this guy behind it.
Movies were released in digital format before the DVD, on Laserdisk, on VCD and on earlier optical formats. DVD was the next logical step.
Lets finally put it this way, why isn't this guy making Hollywood adopt one standard for high definition DVD's, we have two competing standards. Why not swoop in and be our salvation once again? Probably because the guy made too much money pretending to be the DVD hero of the past.
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Re: One guy eh
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I would be happy to buy the site
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I will happily PAY
I do it now for music, and I'll do it for movies.
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I record off of Movielink.
My output when I want to keep a movie goes to an S-video DVD-recorder. Not the greatest quality, but then again, the normal joe isn't a quality purist.
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GREED
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Re:
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So what's wrong with greed
My feelings are that that hollywood ISN't going to learn from its past mistakes in the near future and they will have to be taught a hard and costly lesson. It's not just that it's a good idea to allow consumers to download AND burn their movies. They're going to have to, because otherwise somebody else will, and they'll make a killing. Enter greed. Lessons will be learned - eventually.
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Hollywood
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And to the guy bashing the guy who 'brought movies to DVD' or whatever they said in the article, lighten up. All those other 'digital formats' you said? Name 10 movies that sold on those, or anyone that used them. They didn't take, and even though they exsisted, no one used them. I believe that we would have been on VHS for a lot longer than we would have liked, and DVDs might not have caught on so quickly if it wasn't for someone like him. No one used those other formats because no one pushed the moneygrubbing and technologically conservative and frightened Hollywood to adapt. Just my thoughts on that. Just because newer and better technology is available doesn't mean people use it, sadly.
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Payola
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Crappy Content
The only way a consumer can effectively fight back is to turn off their infomercial appliances (i.e., televisions and computers). If you find that you can't bare to do without these appliances, be very selective with your purchases. Don't buy any that support protecting content or prevents you from exercising complete control over its functionality. If you have to buy an appliance that supports protecting content, find a technician who can disable it for you.
Once you loose your ability to control the functionality of your appliances people who do not have your best interests at heart can and will prey on you without your knowledge. This includes the government.
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i want detail of your product
sanjay modi
1 d 57 j n v colony bikaner
rajasthan india
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Seriously now, people
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hi
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