Plot Of DVD Downloads Moving Way Too Slow

from the they-just-got-to-this? dept

Tue, Sep 26th 2006 1:16pm — Mike Masnick

It's been covered to death how bad the various movie download services have been. It's been so consistently bad for so long, that one assumption is just that the studios want this sort of thing to fail, so as not to disrupt existing distribution channels and business models. So, it's pretty difficult to get very excited about the announcement today that CinemaNow (the company that the NY Times once wrote a review about saying: "How CinemaNow stays in business is a marvel. The site is so marred by typos and poor programming, it could have been a high school sophomore's first Web design project.") is finally going to offer the ability to burn a download to a DVD at the same time as the DVD is released. First of all, while CinemaNow says that this could be the "catalyst" for movie downloads to take off, it's really more of a stunning statement on how far behind the movie download business is. The fact that it's taken them this long to try such an experiment shows just how out of touch they are with what their customers actually want. It's not a "catalyst." It's a travesty. In the meantime, it's worth noting that the new burn to DVD process has a tremendous number of technical problems, leading one engineer to call it "irresponsibly defective." At what point do movie companies realize that perhaps they'd be a lot better off focusing on giving users what they want, rather than spending so much time and effort in trying to lock down the content?

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9 Comments

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Smackfumaster, 26 Sep 2006 @ 2:02pm

They're not out of touch with us customers! They're in touch with their cash in their distribution channels! Don't make the mistake of thinking they don't know how to make money. They do! Until it's more of a profitable business, movie download sites will continue to be obscure and useless.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Sep 2006 @ 2:43pm

Working models...
...abound on the net. What's wrong with the eMusic model? (www.emusic.com). I pay 'em $11.00 a month and they let me copy up 65 individual titles/month, regardless of size. And I couldn't be happier. Why doesn't this work for film?
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Gavin, 26 Sep 2006 @ 4:11pm

Stop the presses!
You mean that a new digital model of distribution isn't perfect right out of the gate and has been adopted across the board by users? Get the heck out of town man...who would possibly believe that?

Where is Captain Obvious when you need him most?
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Sep 2006 @ 5:49pm

Re: Stop the presses!
Digital distribution of content is so rediculously easy these days that you have to put some effort into NOT making it work well.

Stop spending time trying to create business models based on locking in content and start making customers happy. The DVD is becoming obsolete - why hang onto it as your primary revenue source? Who wants to take the time to go to the store to buy a piece of plastic when you could just conveniently download it, burn your own DVD and throw it in the player?
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Matt, 26 Sep 2006 @ 6:09pm

DivX could solve the studios problems easily but I suppose they haven't schmoozed (bamboozled) Hollywood

50 Million DivX certified Devices sold worldwide the majority of those being DVD players

A very spectacular IPO

Cross platform

A DRM scheme that has been aproved by the MPAA.
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JacksonFrondson, 26 Sep 2006 @ 6:11pm

Truth
True.. 74!!
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eb, 27 Sep 2006 @ 6:41am

Re: Re: Stop the presses!
I, for one, will continue to buy that little bit of plastic until I hear that burned cds have the same shelf life as pressed cds, which they currently don't from what I've read.
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Alex Chavarin, 27 Sep 2006 @ 10:57pm

iTunes Video a Joke!
When Companies like Apple wake up and start selling video to play on TV's and not just their little toys, maybe we will be closer to that ideal Customer Model. I ran Cat5e throughout my house 7 years ago, now I can stream DVD Quality Video to my Big Screen TV, but no thanks to the Movie Industry.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2007 @ 3:58pm

Re: iTunes Video a Joke!
Ipod Video stores more than 60 movies plus about 2000 songs on it, and with an A/V cord you connect it to your TV or hotel TV and there you go how easier can it be?
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