On Movie Downloads

Five Reasons To Not Download "Superman Returns"

I was intrigued to hear this week that Wal-Mart would start to offer digital downloads of their movies. Actually, so far, there is only one film, Superman Returns, but at least it's a start. I learned from the news that Wal-Mart is the number one seller of DVD's in the U.S., with a 40% market share; therefore when the 500 pound gorilla moves, it's useful to see where they are going.

At the MSNBC site, they wrote this:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is edging into selling video downloads by offering buyers of the "Superman Returns" DVD a chance to buy downloads of the same movie, beginning Wednesday.

The world's largest retailer said Tuesday that shoppers have the choice of paying $1.97 to download the movie to a portable device, such as Apple's iPod or Microsoft's Zune, or paying $2.97 to download it to a laptop or desktop computer.

For $3.97, customers can download the movie for both formats.

While we are all about the digital experience here at TN, but I just don't see this as catching on like wildfire. Here are my two cents:

1- While folks may want a downloadable file for audio, like iTunes, that's not the case for video. It will be the minority of users that want to watch a full length movie on an iPod or similar device anyway. In other words, the target audience for this type of product may not exist.

2- What's the advantage of the download if we need to buy the film first? Those technophiles that are able to download and get the video on their portable player could have ripped it from the disc, and converted it in the first place anyway.

3- When users realize that a DVD has 4.7 gigs of data, and that it will take hours to download over a household broadband connection, their enthusiasm will seriously lessen.

4- The entire US has been marketed that their television needs to be high definition. Those large flat panels are a big seller so far this holiday season. Both Blu-Ray and competing HD-DVD have been marketing their next generation disc formats. These film downloads will not be anything on the order of high definition, and perhaps worse quality than DVD due to compression for the download.

5- People want to watch a movie on their television, not their computer. Yes, I have plenty of DVD drives in my computer, and in a pinch, I will watch things on the computer screen. But when it is time to sit back and relax with a first run movie, I like to put my feet up and relax in front of the TV. I'm betting others will feel the same.

Therefore, I don't see this download as any great advantage. Perhaps the details will change to more favorable at some point, like pure downloads without buying the disc first. Perhaps if the cost of the download were less than the disc, it would generate some enthusiasm from collectors who are nearly buried in shiny discs.

--Jonas