Amazon Inches Toward Movie Downloads

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/amazon-inches-toward-movie-downloads-151820.php' target='_blank'>http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/amazon-inches-toward-movie-downloads-151820.php</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The era of downloadable major motion pictures is nearing, but the biggest players are taking baby steps. Case in point: Amazon, which according to Variety is about to inch its way into the digital movie download market. The only catch is, the online shopping giant will probably tie its downloads to DVD sales. Amazon officials said last October the company was working on a movie download service, and sources say the company will launch with at least two big studios in its corner this spring. The new service will reportedly allow an Amazon customer to either pay for a download of a copy of the movie and apply that charge toward the purchase of a DVD, or be required to buy a DVD and then allowed to download that movie while the DVD is on its way."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/amazon_films.jpg" /><br /><br />Nifty and I do actually like the business model quite a bit. There are so many versions of this kind of service now but I don't know if any of them are going to do as well as most cable providers' On Demand or Pay-per-view services. I am quite happy with my combination of cable TV and Netflix and I really feel that it is the best price-value ratio. However, the one downside is that I don't get to keep the movies, so for those of you whoe like to collect DVDs, the Amazon service may sound quite appealing.

[Outlaw94]

Great idea. I owuld totally take part in this. I hate going to the movies because I can't see spending $15+ for me and my girl to see a movie when if we just wait 9 to 12 months I could buy it the first week its out for $15 at a local retailer and get to keep it for less than it takes to go to the movies.

[Felix Torres]

Makes perfect sense.
With a one-week viewing window you could order a dvd (or CD?) and watch the d/l while you wait for the disk to be delivered.
A nice match to their free delivery option.

Hope they follow through on this.
Better yet, I'd like to see them extend it to books and CDs.

[Chris Gohlke]

Or, pay the download fee if you are on the fence about a movie. Watch it and if you like it, you apply the price against the DVD. Cool!

[Philip Colmer]

Nice idea!

Given the size of the files, they are likely to resort to using P2P technology, just as the BBC and Sky have done in the UK. If that is the case, this does have the downside that customers who have already downloaded the movie then have to consume their bandwidth offering it up to other customers.

But they may not go that way. They could, alternatively, invest in really big pipes :).

Presumably, they will need to use DRM in order to stop the movies being shared in an unauthorised manner ...

--Philip