digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover and share the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

Download Movies with DRM for $30 Each!

latimes.com — Starting today you can download big studios' films the day they're for sale on DVD. But you can't watch them on TV. And they are twice as expensive! Where do I sign up?

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • Swift2, on 10/12/2007, -5/+84Gee, $30 for the privilege of an inferior visual experience! Just what the movie fans of the world were looking for!

    Is it possible to be any more clueless? I was a fan of the Clinton administration, generally, but Dan Glickman is as dumb as a post.
    • Petronski, on 10/12/2007, -10/+76Glickman is another Clinton Admin idiot.

      What the hell, why not make it 160x120 B&W monaural and charge FIFTY bucks? It couldn't be any more stupid than the plan announced today.

      Maybe portray the films in ASCII with subtitles only and charge $75...
    • Seumas, on 10/12/2007, -2/+891. Remove distribution, manufacturing and shelving costs.
      2. Charge twice as much.
      3. PROFIT!!
    • nolf, on 10/12/2007, -52/+22Fan of the Clinton administration, that's funny.
    • omegaworks, on 10/12/2007, -49/+10Just be happy you've lived long enough to see something *other* then the Clinton or Bush administrations. I was born just as mister "I-didn't-do-Monica-I-swear!" was elected.
    • EsotericBoredom, on 10/12/2007, -15/+16Ive been through 2 bush incarnations, Clinton, all of Regan and just a hint of carter. Same moves different faces. Politicians are politicians are politicians. All they do is just convince you they are here to help instead of actually helping. No with that said can we go back to bashing the tech-illiterate and Internet scared Movie and music industry because really that's much more fun then politics and less likely to start a flame war/fist fight/new jihad.
    • NJank, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12"Maybe portray the films in ASCII with subtitles only"

      Now, real good animated ASCII art I'd pay for.
    • EnricoFermi, on 10/12/2007, -16/+16sigh, clinton...*reminisces*
    • Elranzer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3You guys saw the MPAA rip on every other possible digital distribution method. You wanted to know just what method the MPAA approves. Now you know.

      Suddenly, iTunes' $5 movies (playable on computer and iPod/video) or Universal's $29 DVD+Download (at least you get the DVD, too) don't seem so ludicrious...
    • strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"DVD+Download (at least you get the DVD, too) don't seem so ludicrious..."

      You can burn it on a DVD... that can ONLY be played in a Windows PC, not in a standard DVD player.
  • Godric, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9"Ramo said download-to-own movies would sell for $20 to $30 — up to double the $15 that discount retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. charge for DVDs, with downloads of classic titles for $10 to $17."

    "Prices will range from $19.95 for new DVD releases to $9.95 for classic films"
    • mercatfat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33Let it be noted- $30 is the MSRP for most DVDs. It just isn't what it's ever sold for, unless you shop at Suncoast for some reason.
    • Godric, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This is a new service so they are going to inevitably fiddle with the pricing until they hit the market's sweetspot. As noted, the prices are not that far from what you would pay for a new release DVD. Even accounting for discounts at stores like Amazon, where new DVDs seem to cost between 15-20 dollars.

      Also, it is just plain business sense that if you know you're going to have to fiddle with prices after entering a new market, it is easier to adjust down than it is to adjust up.
    • greenagain, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5@ mercatfat

      Everyone knows you shop at Suncoast because of the help you receive from the knowledgeable personnel!

      Uh... right?
  • zizzybaloobah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+86And when it doesn't work, they'll say that consumers aren't interested in downloading movies.
    • phpirate, on 10/12/2007, -3/+36Actually its the other way around. When it doesn't work, they'll say all we like doing is downloading movies. No kidding, MPAA. You have competition, try to compete against it instead of destroying yourself.
    • drbroccoli, on 10/12/2007, -2/+38No, they'll just say it's piracy.
    • tidejwe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My thoughts exactly...they are doing this so they can claim that consumers aren't actually interested in legal downloads, and use this to their advantage to try to help ban downloading somehow.

      Whatever the truth may be, it is still ridiculous. I'd even CONSIDER buying them if they sold for $9.99 though I think something closer to $7.99 is a bit more reasonable for something with DRM that can't be converted to DVD format etc to watch on TV, and that is lacking all the extra features of normal DVD's.
  • sert, on 10/12/2007, -4/+44or just get netflix for 20 bucks a month, watch all you want, and rip whatever you like for future viewing.
    • timmins, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25Oh yeah, that works... for about a week until you're blatantly throttled.

      And I'm not buying into the hype... I get a notice from Netflix saying "For Wednesday: " and I'll be lucky to get it Friday or Saturday. Then I send it back and it takes 3+ days. In case you cared, the local Netflix hub is less than 9 miles from my home.

      I know what you mean by your post, but those glory days are long over. They'll throttle you at the first clue of you flipping them too quickly.
    • WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -5/+36"In case you cared, the local Netflix hub is less than 9 miles from my home.""

      HAHA ...and my Azureus icon is about 16 inches from my clicking finger....and it's always on time.
      And apparently, it's encrypted against selective protocol throttling by the ISPs.
    • CatFood, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21I usually just go to Blockbuster, rent something, then burn it if I like it. That's much easier for me since I only watch 2-3 movies a month and Blockbuster is 2 minutes away. I feel less guilty about this then downloading an iso from bittorent. It's not more legal, just not as illegal. Blockbuster gets their fees, MPAA gets their royalties, and I have a DVD collecting duct on my shelf, which I probably will never watch again.
    • cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"future viewing" - Bingo! and at about $2.50 each.
    • stokestack, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2"It's not more legal, just not as illegal."

      Yes, that is legal. That's one copy for home use.
    • piper999, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5And I'm not buying into the hype... I get a notice from Netflix saying "For Wednesday: " and I'll be lucky to get it Friday or Saturday. Then I send it back and it takes 3+ days. In case you cared, the local Netflix hub is less than 9 miles from my home.

      Have you tried driving round there and delivering the DVDs by hand?
    • geekee, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8I always laugh when people call the MPAA the mafia. It's people like you that ruin it for everyone. Netflix and Blockbuster are movie rental services. You have no right to burn a copy for your own use.
    • pavelich, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2@piper999

      uhhhhhhh....are you dense? doesn't that defeat the purpose of having them conveniently delivered to your doorstep
    • koshak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Yeah, and thaen have NO life because you are too busy watching, or copying all the movies so that you feel you get your money's worth out of the monthly subscription.

      You see, to some people, movies and TV box sets are NOT their only source of entertainment. For some peopel, it isn't even their primary source of entertainment. (I know I know...hard to imagine for the digg crowd.)

      stokestack...how is keeping a copy for yourself of a movie you RENTED legal at all?
  • TheFoo, on 10/12/2007, -28/+11OMGZ I CAN'T WAIT!
  • Oline61, on 10/12/2007, -11/+22I would rather pay $50 for a DRM free movie than $10 for a DRMed movie.
    However that is quite irrelevant. If those are my only 2 options then I'm going with BitTorrent :).
  • copiloto, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12This is just ridiculous. I guess it is going to take awhile until the studios realize that there is a huge gap between prices and quality of the products (just as it is with the TV shows at iTunes).
  • XTrek, on 10/12/2007, -2/+53Where do I buy the drugs these guys are on?
    • retral, on 10/12/2007, -13/+4/shady_acres/ ^
    • zouhair, on 10/12/2007, -20/+3Wouhahahaha
      I concur GET ME SOME PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeease

      those guys are realy insane
    • WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+37You can't buy stupidity like that...you have to be born with it.
    • dylanrjones, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Are you sure? It often seems like the richer people get, the stupider they become. There MUST be a correlation....
    • EN7r0py, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4We all know that you can sneak into your momma's room late at night and steal 10 or 20 dollars from her purse and then catch the "D" bus downtown. Then you look for a Latino man named "Martinez"....
  • Kaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24Words alone cannot describe how retarded they are.
  • briarpatch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29Clue for the MPAA: inessential item+flexible demand=price-sensitive buyers. Now, go see Steve Jobs and if you're really nice to him, he'll explain why iTunes is a success. But I do hope he charges a healthy fee for advising idiots.
    • DougTanner, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2iTunes is loaded with DRM, of course that might be why it's so successful; the DRM was easily cracked =D
    • compu73rg33k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Yeah but most people find a dollar a song reasonable.
    • dvgraphics, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I hate the idea of DRM, but quite frankly the iTunes DRM hasn't stopped me from doing anything. I still put music on my iPod (My MP3 player of choice even before the iTunes store), I still burn them on CDs, I still trade those CDs with friends. I can even listen to my music on any of my computers. The only thing I can't do it send it online- which seems fair enough...Artists typically don't like that, and I'll respect that. I'll let you know when the day comes that the iTunes DRM starts to bother me. It'll probably be a long while down the road.
      The iTunes protection does an admiral job of allowing the legal and disallowing the illegal.
    • jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It's been said but the iTunes DRM (called Fairplay) is understandable, it limits mass distrobution while letting consumers actually enjoy the music on different devices (granted limiting to the iPod isn't cool).
    • WiseWeasel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Note that the iTunes Fair Play DRM used on the iTunes Video Store files doesn't let you archive their movies in any standard formats (and the rez is too low for DVD anyways). For music, the iTMS DRM is passable as a solution I might consider if really there's no other option and I want the music badly enough, since I can burn to standard CD. For movies, however, I can't even consider it, as there's no archival option, or any way to play the movies on TV sets (i.e. burn to DVD). As far as video is concerned, Apple's solution is a lame duck as well.
  • DaffyDuck, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4This kind of #$@^ pisses me off. This is like the first automobile companies charging exorbitant prices that nobody can afford (thereby harming adoption of new technology) so they don't offend the railroad companies. The difference is that the movie industry gets paid whether it's downloaded or sold in a store. It should be illegal.
    • jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Or you could attribute the high prices of the "horseless carriages" to high assembly costs that fell immensly with a little something called the assembly line.
  • pyromonkey48, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I really don't think that they get this whole downloading thing. But hey at least they're trying. Although thats really not saying that much. Get with the program MPAA!!!! Jeez...Pain in my ass....
  • deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6They're a few years too late on this one. I've already downloaded/copied just about every movie I ever wanted to see. I guess it's good for people who don't know how to use torrents or usenet.
    • retral, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5You see.. there's a difference between legitimate and illegitimate...
    • carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@retral

      yeah, 30 bucks a video and alot of DRM
  • juzza, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5It's a start, and that's all that matters!
  • Phats, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1Just go to http://www.liketelevision.com no DRM!
  • kenfagerdotcom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9 "If somebody wants to get their content online and create a digital library, this gives them the opportunity to do that. This is another way for consumers to access movies."

    Or buy the DVD the day it comes out, and copy it ASAP. Oh silly MPAA. Will you ever learn?

    Time it takes to drive to DVDatorium: 5 minutes
    Time it takes to find and purchase DVD: 5 minutes
    Time it takes to return and open DVD: 5 minutes
    Time it takes to extract DVD with MacTheRipper: 30-40 minutes.

    I wonder how long it takes to download the $30 online version... hmmm...
    • mercatfat, on 10/12/2007, -13/+0[comment deleted due to personal misinterpretation.]
    • WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -27/+4"Time it takes to extract DVD with MacTheRipper: 30-40 minutes."

      Wow... it takes you that long?
      I can do it with autoGordianKnot in about 11 minutes.
      Oh wait... I guess you have a Mac...sorry. ;-)
    • cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Even better, buy it copy it, and return it. Or resell it used.

      Note: all this DRM junk is killing the used market too.
    • mercatfat, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0Okay, now there's a place for my comment.

      You can't return DVD's. Duh.

      How the HELL is DRM killing the used market?
    • koshak, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Not everyone considers petty larceny one of their goals in life. Apparently you do.

      You've really set your sites high.
    • blaksaga, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Nice, an overly-expensive digital library with not-so-great video quality that will eventually not work because the DRM system protecting it becomes old and unsupported by newer software. For only $30/movie, it sounds like a wise investment.
  • ryan, on 10/12/2007, -11/+5I understand why you are all compaining, but if you don't want to waste money, then don't. This is just an alternative. It's not as if they were getting rid of DVDs in return for this.
    • Jimzip, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Yeah that's true.
      But it's just a stupid business model. We all know they aren't doing it to make it 'easier for consumers', they're doing it so that average_joe_computer_user out there that has no idea what DRM is will think it's a better alternative to buying DVD's and waste a whole lot of money on it.. I'm really surprised that they've done this, it shows that they really are so greedy that they've lost perspective on what their consumers really want.

      Jimzip :D
    • tony23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The movie industry has "lost perspective?"

      Nah - couldn't be. Just ask George Clooney
    • cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"But it's just a stupid business model."

      Considering the people who buy ringtones and other junk media, they will probably succeed. I wonder how many movies are going to be bought by poor people who need healthcare, too.
  • tim7423, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I thought netflix's was working on a downloadable movie marketing plan?
    • cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They are and I am so willing to do it if its near the $2.50 price of the mail rental.
  • Pogue_Mahone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21This is a service that's designed to fail. That way, the movie companies can say, "Hey - we tried that whole internet distribution thing and it failed. Obviously only movie pirates want to use the internet. So lets just keep suing everyone on the internet."
    • likwidmatt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The music industry did the same thing before iTunes. iTunes DRM is still a pain in the ass, but at least it's cheap.
  • lostboytexas, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26this is easily the dumbest ***** thing i've ever seen in my life and no wonder the film companies are losing money... with ideas like this they deserve to ***** vanish!

    "...Universal is rushing to make more than 100 movie titles available online to provide a legitimate alternative to Internet piracy"

    At $30 a pop you just made piracy a whole lot more desirable you corporate america jerkwads!

    • ZachPruckowski, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Concur. Buy the DVD and rip it. If you don't share it, the odds of you getting DMCA busted are about zero. It's half the price, and gives you all (or most) of the rights you're entitled to.
  • mianos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Dugg for the idiocy factor. This really does belong on the dig front page.
  • queezenorph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I think it's funny that we all just tried to ream Apple for charging $9.99 for a movie no more than two weeks ago.

    Clearly, someone higher up was paying attention to that whole debacle...

    Lostboytexas: You hit the nail on the head.
    • koshak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0WEll, no. Apple charged $9.99 for a TV movie that had aired several times for free. We don't know what their regular movie price will be.
  • MrHiggins, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1This might be a great idea for some but, as someone that works in a movies theater. i don't like this, this will hurt the theater business. but at a staggering $30 most people will just download the movie illegally from some p2p site.
    • psyon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21.) The majority of home theatres do not come close in comparison to watching a movie on the big screen. Tell the MPAA to make movies more worth paying to see in them though.

      2.) If the download isnt available until the movie is out on DVD anyways, it wont be any different
    • jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I just went to see the Larry the Cable guy movie in a theater tonight (great movie btw), yet I paid $11 for the ticket and another $8 for a popcorn and drink. Normally this pricing would be insane but I love the theater experience.

      At $30 a pop for a dvd quality download i'd rather go through the hassle of finding an ftp or irc channel with it.
  • diehard2k5, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Wow, streaming RM files of old TV programs.. I can't wait to check out all of that Phats!!!!
  • MarvinMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Who the hell thought this would work? Seriously, $30 to download a movie with DRM? No thanks, I've got something called BitTorrent to do that. It also happens to be free and isn't full of scary MPAA paranoia software.
  • juzza, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0You guys need to look on the bright side though, it's happened to DVDs CSS protection and iTunes DRM, it's just a matter of time until they figuire out how to strip the DRM so we can burn them to DVD, and in time these downloads will be cheaper (maybe when they realise people don't want to pay for bandwidth on top of what they've paid to download the movie)
  • diehard2k5, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Uhm. iTunes screwed up the de-encryption software, I'm pretty sure jHymn still doesn't work.
    • streetstealth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Alas, yes, with DVD Jon out on other business stateside, no one else has stepped up with the analytical abilities to crack iTunes 6.

      Too bad about all those m4p files, trapped forever on my iPod.
    • jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Try these steps,

      1.) Buy 15 average length songs in iTunes.
      2.) Burn 15 songs to blank CD-R or CD-RW.
      3.) Rip said cd back into iTunes using mp3 for cross player compatibility or maintain the quality with Apple Lossless codec.

      Look at that... I just bypassed iTune 6 protection enough so that I can use my songs for legal purposes on other players I own. I really think the whole hymmn project was a great 1-up to apple so they didn't get to thinking they could restrict users in the future but it also didn't benefit anyone all that much.
    • j0keR, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"Look at that... I just bypassed iTune 6 protection enough so that I can use my songs for legal purposes on other players I own."

      Thanks, and you just violated the DMCA by telling us how.

      Corporations > Politicians > America > You.
  • micklerlop, on 10/12/2007, -22/+4CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT
  • Jadinlee, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Is the industry really this stupid? Services like this only PROMOTE piracy. The people who would use a service like this are the same people who have the tech-savy to pirate the movies. Why would anyone in their right mind pay this amount? I think really think we're entering a period where the movie and music industries are losing control. Technology is making consumers extremely powerful because the protections the industry is trying to implement are just no match for what consumers are able to counter with. In the end, the industry will realize that it either needs to conform to the demands and preferences of consumers or be put out of business. Customer loyalty and satisfaction will be the only marketing tool worth a damn in an environment where the customers can bypass any and all obstacles.

    This one gets a digg simply for disgusting me.
  • ericmcgovern, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1It may seem like a lot, but not dealing with DVD's is almost worth it for me. Discs are slowly becoming a thing of the past. If I can simply call up my movies from a remote, and have great quality, great sound, I am all for it. No disc to loose, scratch, dig for, etc. If you have a Media Extender you can view these movies on your TV, and the quality is actually quiet good.

    The price is a bit too high at this point, but I assume they want to see if this flies at all, then the prices will come down a bit. Although I am not sure how they will deal with the guy that buys a movie at $30 and 2 months later is is $20.
    • WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Discs are slowly becoming a thing of the past."

      Yeah? If your harddrive dies, you'll wish you had saved all your movies on removable discs.

      Mine are all on harddrives, with backups, but I am still afraid of losing them all.
  • liquidrums, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1You wanna decrypt iTunes music? Go to "Burning" in preferences and say "MP3 Data CD". There ya go.

    Burn a CD and re-rip. You're not losing anything unless you lower your codec on the re-rip.
    • freebirdpat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Is that a recent change? Last I knew you had to burn to "audio" cd, then rip and encode to mp3, and then burn to MP3 Data CD.
    • krakelohm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Itunes will not burn protected music onto a mp3 cd.
  • chad78, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6YAY! I can finall download crappy copies of movies off the Internet - and only for $30!

    Oh, wait - I can BitTorrent for free - and half the time they're HDTV and there's no DRM.
  • Atroz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Nelson voice: HA-HA

    Just like the target of Nelson's laughter, they are going to fall down and fail as well.
  • williamhelmick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4i guess they've never heard of a home theater PC, or a TV-out jack on a video card, for that matter...idiots.

    not that it matters, since nobody's going to buy the movies in this format anyway.
  • INHUMANITY, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Gay to the extreme. Reminds me of the failed Divx *****, but even worse.
  • onehrcleaner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4What is the best way to combat the drastic drop in people going out to the movies? Make it twice as expensive to stay at home and watch the same movie.
  • varmit, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0Ok, ok, everyone is going on and on about the DRM and what not. What I want to know. Does the download have good quality, or is it utter crap when you put it on a big screen TV.
    • SoulMaster2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It says this right under the headline in the link:

      "Starting today you can download big studios' films the day they're for sale on DVD. But you can't watch them on TV."

      Try reading the article next time =)
    • dobey123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1See williamhelmick 3 comments above...
  • SilentSpyder, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I guess we still have to wait to see what Apple does.
  • richardleis, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2It's 3 am and you are in the mood for a particular movie you don't own. What do you do? Order from Amazon and wait several days? Wait until Walmart opens? Hunt through the torrent sites and wait several hours for the movie to finish downloading? Or go to Movielink, make an impulse buy, and start watching nearly immediately? The answer is the same as it was for TV shows on iTunes. Pirating continues, but the legal Digital Jukebox is here to stay.
    • williamhelmick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9-digg, because i'm never too lazy or impatient to overpay by $30 for a MOVIE.
    • DaWolfman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"Wait until Walmart opens?"

      Wal-Mart is open 24/7. Problem solved.
    • psyon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In his defense, not ALL walmarts are 24 hours. Luckily, my local ones are.
    • Raldikuk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Not only are most Wal Marts open 24/7, you would still need to download the movie off of their site. So this is at the very least on par with bittorrent on time it takes. Time will tell if they even provide ample bandwidth or if it'll download at 10k/s.
  • richardleis, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1When Apple began offering TV shows for $1.99 an episode, the comments were the same. Despite the naysayers, the success has brought the movie studios around. Just like multipass and season passes on iTunes, the movie digital download will experience its own evolution. With all the potential players (Movielink, CinemaNow, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Blockbuster) competition will drive the prices down and the extras up.

    As for quality, the quality from Movielink is superb. Unlike iTunes, there is nothing to complain about quality-wise.

    And most important to me, I don't have to keep physical media around. Now that books, music, TV shows, and movies are all available for digital downloads, the amount of stuff in my home has collapsed to something much more manageable.
    • deb6404, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I mostly agree, but the difference between $1.99 for 30 minutes, or $4 an hour and $30 for 2 hours, or $15 an hour, is a lot, even understanding that it is more costly to make movies than sitcoms.
    • Stopher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6$1.99 is spare change. $30 is a purchase. That's the difference.
    • geekee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2$30 for something that you buy on DVD for $20 is a 1.5x increase. $1.99 for something you get for free is an infinite increase.
  • dmorin74, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What a bunch of idiots in hollywood. Till then i'll keep copying dvds and getting around Sony's weak new protection scheme.
  • SoulMaster2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Downloading movie legally and only being able to watch it on a PC:
    $30
    Downloading movie illegaly and being able to watch it on anything you want:
    Free

    Are these companies really thinking they can discourage piracy with this? Sad.
  • deb6404, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Now Apple's $9.99 movie price on iTunes doesn't sound HALF as bad... -__-
  • shiftt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1lol deb - maybe apple knew this was going to happen and priced accordingly :)
  • rino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2From the site:
    Movielink® System Requirements
    .High-speed Internet access
    .Windows 2000 or XP
    .Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher
    .Available only in the U.S.


    Need we say more? Think the Frenchies will be upset at this move since the movies you buy for 30 freaking dollars will only play on Windows!?!?! BTW: Amazon has 1st release movies for 13.99!
  • cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6And its not compatible with Mac or iPod users. Fools.
    • SmeRndmGy, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1That is apple's own doing. Even if they wanted to make this work on ipods, apple would not let them. Unless of course they gave apple a huge fee and put it on itunes. Yet another example of how DRM is destroying electronic media. They should simply share unprotected files. Would some of these files get released on various p2p networks? OF COURSE. but I have news for you. These files are ALREADY available on the p2p networks. Often before you can even get them legally. People who want to pay will pay, people who dont will continue to use p2p. Dropping DRM should get them MORE customers. I have considered buying hard to find songs online before but then decided against it because i didnt want to infect my computer with DRM. If there was a way (a way that doesnt involve sleazy eastern european websites) to buy non-DRMed mp3s or videos online, people would use it. More people than the people who buy DRMed music. These companies need to realize and accept that their content WILL be available on p2p networks, no matter how they try to prevent it. The sooner they realize this, the sooner they can quit going after their own customers and go back to making (or at least trying to make) quality content.
    • cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Apple doesnt control the Windows DRM... Its Movielink's doing. Or possibly Microsoft's for not making an Apple version. Movielink could have sold through Apple and its DRM.

      Apple, on the other hand, makes its DRM available to Windows users. They are more compatible than MS-DRM. All they need to do is make a Linux version to rule the DRM wars.
    • cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Considering that iPods are the most popular device, and that Apple has a working model for downloads, I call them fools because its more likely an iTMS consumer would pay for a download and possibly, their price. ...I bet Apple refused to sell it for that much and thats why they went MS-DRM.
    • geekee, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1"And its not compatible with Mac or iPod users. Fools."

      Apple wont let them make it compatible with iPod. As for Mac, that's not worth bothering with at first since the marketshare is so low
    • cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Apple wont let them make it compatible with iPod"

      BS. They could have distributed through iTMS. Or, had no DRM. No DRM plays on iPods. We arent even sure if Apple would refuse to enable MS-DRM...
  • thecontinental, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1From another article:

    "Discs can be played on up three PCs authorized by Movielink but cannot be viewed on a standard DVD player because of special security coding."

    DRM....OMG. Let's get the government involved. Sounds like the beginning of a monopoly. I have the right to play the movie I downloaded on any player I choose. (end sarcasm)
    • cyclotron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How is the analog gap on this? Is it easy to copy a video signal on a Windows machine?
  • mugotu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2O.K. This is out of control. I don't understand how you can charge this much for a digital copy. Without any materials cost, without any shipping costs, without any stocking costs!!!!

    $.99 for a song. Sure why not. I listen to songs over and over again. $1.99 for a T.V show. Sounds fare as long as I don't have to watch ads, and it is good show like the office or lost.
    $30 for a movie!!!! Come on! There aren't many movies out there these days that are good enough to command those prices. Especially for 1 and 0's.

    When will they learn?
  • seanraf, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3I blame the MAFIAA

    http://xbox360s.freepay.com/?r=27282993
  • zouhair, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1There should be a limit in profit, when that limit reached the "product" (I feel sad when I name a piece of art product, but this is the sad reality) should be freed of any copyright.

    It's obscene to earn millions and millions and millions from a piece of art, this is obscene
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 100 of 102 discussions
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.