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'Harry Potter' Offered (Legitimately) on the Net

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the step-in-the-right-direction dept.

Skyshadow writes "Warner Brothers is distributing several movies, including Harry Potter and Mars Attacks via the internet. The price is the same as I pay for Pay-Per-View from my satellite provider ($3.99 for a 24 license), and the movies are in the area of 700 megs. I'm sure that movies on demand will eventually take off as a legitimate and feasible distribution method, but given that a vast majority of US households are without broadband, is this an idea before its time?"

3 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. Only works for me if... by jvmatthe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...renewals of the license are cheap. (Provided that the big honking file can actually be reused.)

    I don't think I'm ready to pay $2.99 or even $1.99 every time I want to watch the movie. Maybe $0.99, but even that would get old after a while.

    After 5-10 viewings, I'm better off having bought the DVD, since that's got infinite viewings (theoretically speaking) and resale value.

    As much as we live in a virtual world nowadays, humans still like shiny material things they can hold in their hands. Hard to see how a timelocked file can overcome that urge to "own". :^)

    --
    Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
  2. This is a test. by Spudley · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I figure this is a test. They want to see if people will copy it.

    I would be willing to bet they've got something in there which they can look for to prove that any given copy of the film came from the download site. So then they can point to it and say "see - people do copy things and pass them round once they've downloaded them from the net". And it will make a great lobbying tool for them to use to get all the anti-piracy legislation through that they want.

    Hmmm... sorry... maybe I'm just feeling a bit pessemistic today.

    --
    (Spudley Strikes Again!)
  3. Harry potter dvd does not have macrovision protect by leuk_he · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ta add to you theory read this:

    Harry potter dvd does not have macrovision protection