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Universal's Download-to-Own Movie Service

"DVD of their chosen film plus two digital copies to keep indefinitely - one for their home computer and one for a portable device"

i wonder how long it will stay iPod unfriendly ???:D

£19.99 not bad ,not good though

o god !! were doomed!

"The service will be offered by Universal Pictures UK and DVD rental company Lovefilm via the AOL.co.uk website from 10 April."
 
It will be a long time before we see Universal films on iTunes. Steve is a major shareholder in Disney. Disney and Universal are competitors. First, we will see Disney/Pixar films. Then I think we will see Paramount, then whoever else, then Universal near the end.

Just my opinion though.

Just a question, do they do this in the US or only UK. The article seems to suggest UK only.
 
$17.50

That is outrageous...you can buy most dvds for cheaper than that.


[EDIT]
oh sorry....I didnt see that the dvd is sent to you in the mail as well. This isnt a bad deal afterall!
 
having it not work on iPods is a mistake. doubt it will work as well as iTunes' when it comes out. People have iPods. Far more iPods out there than other digital media systems. Until it works on iPods, this won't be as successful as Universal probably thinks it will be.

the price is also very high.
 
Looks like UK only I guess, just like a tester see how easy it works in practise bringing it to market?

I'm not sure I agree about Universal being last, I understant Steve's position and the competitor issue, however, that shouldn't impair apple's view to making money out of people, and the bigger the range of decent content, the more bucks they can get.
 
MattyMac said:
$17.50

That is outrageous...you can buy most dvds for cheaper than that.
Click to expand...

well, then I guess you have to rip it yourself ([guide]Ripping_a_DVD_to_an_iPod_Video[/guide]). Also you can (legally) get it the moment its released on DVD.

arn
 
This could be good... if you have broadband, I'd hate to see a 56ker try adn get his dvd through this service, it'd arrive via mail first:p
Anyway seriously this could be a good thing, at the very least it shows that major film companies are realizing the internet's potential, but i can also see that this would allow for easier pirating from people who buy then distribute.
 
High Def? What's the resolution? Can I download it on my mini and plug into Frontrow? I don't want movies on my iPod, I want HD content on my mac connected to my HDTV! I still don't believe downloading movies is the way to go. Once you get your 10 Terabyte HD movie collection together how are you going to back it up? :eek:
 
I don't know what the situation is in the US, but in the UK certain ISPs have introduced downlaod caps of 2GB for various reasons, one of which being to curb piracy, now, they will have to lift that once this is a regular service, because a movie is gonna be like AT LEAST 1gb, so its two films a month and no internet!!!
 
At least at the lower end of the price scale, this is a pretty cool idea:

Pre-converted downloads available immediately upon electronic payment, and the physical DVD in the mail, for about what I'd be paying anyway ($20-ish) for just the DVD. Awesome!

Such a hybrid physical/electronic sales model wouldn't work well for iTunes music albums, where just buying it yourself physically and ripping isn't too much trouble, but since ripping a physical DVD movie takes the better part of a day to encode, this is a neat deal, even if it's a couple bucks more than just the physical DVD.

Edit: Admittedly less cool due to the MS DRM, but I love the sales model.
 
$17.50 to $35 ??? What the ???

This is a real EZ one for me.... I will pay at most $3.99 to rent/own a movie... period - from iTunes or the UK or where ever. Why will I only pay this amount or less? Why? Simple - I can go to Block Buster and rent/own (make a copy) of anything I want for that price.

I will pay a far price for anything... I regularly pay $.99 for songs I like... and I will pay $3.99 (max) for a movie to OWN. I think $1.99 is a fair price for a 30 minute TV show. If/When companies get greedy (including Apple) - I will stop paying and start getting stuff the old fashioned way.

For the record Apple - $9.99 to own a movie is too much coin. Apple has it right on TV Shows and Music - let's hope they can get the greedy movie companies to play fair too...
 
Little competition never hurt.

I like the idea of getting mailed the DVD as well as a preformatted video download of the movie. If Apple or someone else implemented a similar system for Macs/iPods, I'd be all for it. I don't think the price range is all that outrageous either.

I think it's a good deal...just too bad I don't watch many movies, that it is UK only and uses Microsoft's DRM.
 
mtrctyjoe said:
This is a real EZ one for me.... I will pay at most $3.99 to rent/own a movie... period - from iTunes or the UK or where ever. Why will I only pay this amount or less? Why? Simple - I can go to Block Buster and rent/own (make a copy) of anything I want for that price.

I will pay a far price for anything... I regularly pay $.99 for songs I like... and I will pay $3.99 (max) for a movie to OWN. I think $1.99 is a fair price for a 30 minute TV show. If/When companies get greedy (including Apple) - I will stop paying and start getting stuff the old fashioned way.

For the record Apple - $9.99 to own a movie is too much coin. Apple has it right on TV Shows and Music - let's hope they can get the greedy movie companies to play fair too...
Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better.:)
 
Object-X said:
High Def? What's the resolution? Can I download it on my mini and plug into Frontrow? I don't want movies on my iPod, I want HD content on my mac connected to my HDTV! I still don't believe downloading movies is the way to go. Once you get your 10 Terabyte HD movie collection together how are you going to back it up? :eek:
Click to expand...


I don't know about the resolution, but it will only be compatible with a Windows PC.

"However users will not be able to burn copies of the films to DVD themselves and the files will be compatible only with PCs and Windows software.

That means they cannot be viewed on Apple iPods or Macs." - BBC website
 
Apple needs to get a move on!

With Universal/AOL offering downloads to own, and with Amazon and Sony rumoured to be preparing a download service, do you think Apple needs to open their Movie store quickly before they concede too much ground to their rivals?

I know that Apple weren't first into the MP3 player market and now dominate it, but with other companies seeing that the model works (iPod\iTunes), maybe Sony, Microsoft, etc, might fight a lot harder for the Movie download market.
 
mtrctyjoe said:
This is a real EZ one for me.... I will pay at most $3.99 to rent/own a movie... period - from iTunes or the UK or where ever. Why will I only pay this amount or less? Why? Simple - I can go to Block Buster and rent/own (make a copy) of anything I want for that price.

I will pay a far price for anything... I regularly pay $.99 for songs I like... and I will pay $3.99 (max) for a movie to OWN. I think $1.99 is a fair price for a 30 minute TV show. If/When companies get greedy (including Apple) - I will stop paying and start getting stuff the old fashioned way.

For the record Apple - $9.99 to own a movie is too much coin. Apple has it right on TV Shows and Music - let's hope they can get the greedy movie companies to play fair too...
Click to expand...

Do you even realize you are getting the actual physical DVD shipped to you as well as video downloads? Just from your rant it seems like you didn't pick up on that fact.

Edit: Now that I think about it, your post doesn't even seem relevant to this thread, just ranting about prices for other services...
 
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