Sony's Universal Media Disc Facing Last Rites

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-03-30T150959Z_01_N30216728_RTRUKOC_0_US-UNIVERSALMEDIADISC.xml' target='_blank'>http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-03-30T150959Z_01_N30216728_RTRUKOC_0_US-UNIVERSALMEDIADISC.xml</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Exactly a year after it was launched in the United States, the Sony PlayStation Portable's days as a hand-held movie-viewing device might be numbered. Disappointing sales have slowed the flow of movies on the proprietary Universal Media Disc to a mere trickle. At least two major studios have completely stopped releasing movies on UMD, while others are either toying with the idea or drastically cutting back. And retailers also are cutting the amount of shelf space they've been devoting to UMD movies, amid talk that Wal-Mart is about to dump the category entirely."</i><br /><br />Completely unsurprising and I think we have discussed this already too. When UMDs were first announced, I already had doubts that the movie would fill a user's entire field of vision in order to ultimately make for a good experience. But then with the pricing model and how one would have to buy UMDs for the same price DVDs and that they were not interoperable, it was definitely doomed. Letter to Sony - you can still salvage the operation. Give them away for free (or a very nominal charge) with the purchase of DVDs. I believe that this will really popularize UMDs.

[kiwi]

I just got a PSP last week. Mainly as I want to kill time for my flight back to NZ from Canada and those waits at the airport and on the ski bus during winter.

Anyway, Its a shame the UMDs cost more than DVDs. Had they been priced at $US8-10 I am sure they would move a lot faster. Or better yet, offer them with full DVDs as a bonus.

[Felix Torres]

Sony is in fact releasing a few duo-pack movie packages with a DVD and an UMD. Priced at $25.

Main problem is the techie types using the PSP for movie watching have the know-how to just rip a DVD and watch it on the Memory Stick.
(Gotta go wash my mouth after saying that...)
So a duo pack at a 40% premium is not going to do the trick when a $30 piece of software will let you buy DVDs and rip'em for later viewing.

Factor in managed copy as a feature of the Blue Laser discs and the story gets worse for UMD and better for PMCs Pods, and their kin.

What Sony needed to do was get UMD burners out into the wild.

[Chris Gohlke]

Exactly, why buy a UMD when you can buy the DVD (usually for a cheaper price) and then rip it to MS. Other than buying the MS, this can be done with free software.

[Jason Dunn]

The writing was on the wall the first time I picked up a UMD package and saw the price. Sony is insane.

What COULD revive the UMD format though would be a UMD burner and Sony putting UMD-ready video files on their DVDs...

[Jeremy Charette]

Word is that the PSP will soon get a huge memory upgrade, so I forsee the UMD falling away in favor of downloadable content. Having a UMD drive in the PSP is akin to having a CD drive in an iPod. Doesn't make much sense.

[Janak Parekh]

Letter to Sony - you can still salvage the operation. Give them away for free (or a very nominal charge) with the purchase of DVDs. I believe that this will really popularize UMDs.
Sony? Free? Hah. Call me skeptical, but I don't see this happening. ;)

--janak