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The creators of the well known BitTorrent file-sharing network technology have launched a legal download service using the technology to deliver music, music videos, TV shows and movies. The service is backed by several movie and TV studios such as Warner Brothers, MTV, 20th Century Fox offering about 3,000 titles at the time of launch. These titles include featured TV shows such as 24 and Prison Break that are currently widely distributed illegally online.
Movies will be priced at $3.99 for recent titles and $2.99 for older titles and purchases can be stored for up to 30 days from the time of download or up to 24 hours after the initial playback. TV shows will cost $1.99 for standard definition and $2.99 for high definition versions and these will not expire. Besides competition with other services selling video content online, this BitTorrent service has acknowledged that it is going to be quite a challenge to persuade consumers to move away from illegal services to sign up for legitimate versions.
From what I can see, another major challenge for them will be moving consumers from content that can be played on almost any XviD/DivX compatible device to something that is restricted to DRM-compliant players. Many consumers who download from file sharing networks also tend to write their content to DVD to play back on their living room DVD player, something that cannot be done with this service. For example the following is a quote from their terms of service: "You have the right to make a backup copy of Purchased Content on removable or external media (for example, a DVD or external hard drive) in the same format as the original downloaded file. You cannot play such backup copies of Purchased Content on a traditional DVD player or using any technology or device other than the Authorized Device and the Authorized Playback Software."
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But the DRM thing is going to kill it, as you say. I can rent a movie from netflix and copy it in a snap, or pull it down illegally, of course, and not have any expiration or whatever. That whole concept is idiotic in the first place - most people don't even want to watch movies repeatedly; there's very little potential lost revenue due to allowing people to keep something that they downloaded.
But if the price was right, and I think $4 isn't too high for a movie rental, I'd prefer something legal and RELIABLE to something illegal, that often is of suspect quality and spotty availability.
I wish they'd just create a killer DRM system and attatch it to movies with a 15 or 30 day non-commercial license. That would be an attention-getter. And why not make it quality-tiered, too. Say $3.99 for DVD quality with AC3 audio, $1.99 for 320x240 stereo, $9.99 for 720p w/7.1 HD audio? Then, of course, charge more for new releases or *gasp* pre-releases or *GASP* simultaneous theater/torrent releases. I suppose more versions could slow down the swarm for each version, but there are lots of clever ways to increase swarm size. Discounts for movies that are lower health, etc. If people see 25/50/75% discounts on movies along a scrolling sidebar, there is going to be some srious impulse buying that will lead to a healthier network and increased overall renevue. Then there could be loyalty incentives, like purchase vouchers, preferential downloading, special previews/trailers or early release priveleges - all based on monthly upload ratios so users are much more likely to continue sharing for that full 15/30 days...Make upload bandwidth a commodity like private trackers currently do.
BitTorrent could be such an incredibly lively, creative, and lucritive marketing AND distribution tool. I'd definitely check out a well-planned indexing site with user ratings and moderated discussions, the above features and incentives, along with the ability to request classics from participating or "featured" studios...
Keep dreaming, Rick.
It never ends...
"BitTorrent's content is protected by Windows Media DRM and will only play back using Windows Media Player."
That's the kiss of death for me..
Those prices are too high. I can go buy an actual DVD with all the artwork for those prices.
This service will fail.
Maybe a 20 year old B movie in the Walmart discount bin, but new releases cost 18-25 bucks. These prices are supposed to compete with rentals, not purchases.
And I have found plenty of great movies for around four dollars, you just have to know where to look.
Other than a handful of new releases that I just HAD to have, I refuse to pay $20 dollars for a single film. I'll only pay that much for boxsets or tv shows.
