Shocker: Morgan Freeman's Movie Download Site Launches; Not Shocking: It Sucks
from the one-out-of-two-ain't-bad dept
Morgan Freeman's much-hyped movie-download service Clickstar has finally launched. On one hand, it's something of a surprise, given how long it's been hyped without any action to back it up. On the other hand, it's hardly surprising to learn that, like so many similar services before, it pretty much sucks. The chairman of the company quotes Freeman in a blog post as saying "ClickStar is our effort to make films easier to buy than to pirate." As paidContent.org's Rafat Ali notes, they've missed the mark badly: it's Windows-only, requires the use of IE7, poor site design requiring lots of clicks, and restrictions that prevent users from burning movies to DVD. In other words, the site is about as good as the previous studio-backed efforts, which is to say, it's pretty awful. The only bright spot is that Clickstar is compressing release windows: a Freeman film that was released in studios just two weeks ago is now available on the site. Compressing release windows is something that theater owners have reacted strongly to in the past. But it sounds like Clickstar is so bad, they won't really need to worry about it this time around.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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HEY YOU GUYS!!!
(for those who don't remember, Morgan Freeman played "The Easy Reader" on the show The Electric Company)
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Re: HEY YOU GUYS!!!
"Butter will make Betty's Bitter Batter Better"
:)
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*yawn*
I don't expect any entertain industry player to realize the value of convenience to their consumers... they have spent YEARS curtailing consumer convenience, and during those years their profits only increased.
Why would they embrace consumer convenience now? That would completely go against everything consumers have taught them.
(that was satire... sorta... )
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here's the trick
you have to make it more convenient than pirating.
i just figured it out myself! it was a real eyeopener! now that understand it, it seems so freakin' obvious. i can't believe that i went this long without seeing it.
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Shame
In other words it's unusable and defeats its own goals. I wonder why they made such fundamental mistakes.
Incidentally, I've always liked Mr Freeman as an actor, what a shame if he has squandered money on a poor implementation.
That's the problem with having a "business idea" and wanting to move into technology when you don't know much about it I guess. There's really only a small number of programmers and software engineers that are honestly capable of providing real impartial advice based on technical merits, the vast majority of high profile "consultants" are really salesmen of one kind or another. Once they've sold you their solution and built the site they don't really care if you fail or succeed.
Or I wonder, is this another case of a good team with great ideas slowly being bled to death by lawyers and marketing people until
they end up with a lowest common denominator POS.
If your project is technology you should put your technologists in charge of it.
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Re: Shame
Just a guess here but maybe pressure from the rest of the industry forcing them to implement failed ideas? Perhaps a visit from a mafia representative?
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NICE
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I don't think so. I don't think a model exists because I don't think it the actions that people want to see would increase the profits of the film business.
Online, people seem to look for free, or discounted alternatives to purchasing the same materials they would pay full price for in a store.
Also, online, whats not to stop people from sharing the files. Please don't say more DRM. At least with purchasing DVDs, there is a slight disconnect between having the DVD and having the file on your computer.
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It also 'requires Windows Media Player 10.0 or later'
Blah.
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WOW! they really have it figured out....
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Arse
Site is crud, therefore I doubt it will ever sit snugly under my developer toolbar in firefox (in an IE tab obviously) ever again
Utter crap.
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Couldn't test it
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Clickstar
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Not Freemans fault
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Yeah, but...
Those with direct access to (and experience with) movie pirating may never be swayed, realistically. I guess i'm saying i'm not sure how one defines "easier". Perhaps they mean to stop new converts, rather than convince every movie pirate to pay because it's just so easy.
Oh, and good for Morgan Freeman. Not enough credit for a good idea.... i'm sure it will be swallowed up by the bad implementation.
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Pirates
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Why do you nned to burn it?
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