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MovieLink 2004's Top Film Download Service, So Far

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the of-the-legal-variety-that-is dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The NPD Group has released some research on the fledgling pay digital movie download services. Numbers for the first half of this year show MovieLink as number one with a third of total users followed by MovieFlix with 13% of the market. It's a very small market though, with purchases equalling only 0.3% of the total movie market (and nowhere near the numbers of those trading on the free P2P services). Also of note, 80% of users are male and the top films purchased are sci-fi and fantasy."

12 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What about... by AoT · · Score: 5, Informative

    Its not the services that are illegal, its what everyone's doing on them.

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    A blog about stuff.
  2. Internet Explorer Only by zapf · · Score: 5, Informative
    Looks like I won't be switching to Movelink soon. BitTorrent doesn't have the same nasty requirement.
    Sorry, but in order to enjoy the Movielink service you must use Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, which supports certain technologies we utilize for downloading movies. Click here to get the latest version of Internet Explorer.

    We do not anticipate supporting Mozilla or Netscape in the near future.
    They're probably trying to install Gator onto my machine anyways...
    1. Re:Internet Explorer Only by adrew · · Score: 5, Informative

      I got a different one using Safari on OS X 10.3.4.

      "Sorry, but in order to enjoy the Movielink service you must have Windows 98/SE, ME, 2000 or XP, which support certain technologies we utilize for downloading movies.

      We do not anticipate supporting Mac or Linux in the near future."

    2. Re:Internet Explorer Only by Wm_K · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "Thanks for your interest in Movielink, the leading source for movies delivered directly over the internet. We want you to enjoy our powerful movie download experience, but it is presently unavailable to users outside of the United States."

      Why don't they just say "Sorry, but we only support Internet Explorer on Windows in the United States. We don't plan on supporting anything or anyone else".

  3. Re:Back to P2P by chazwurth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It is also apparently not catering to Linux or MacOS users, which is a shame, because I'd be willing to pay what they seem to be charging, at least on occasion.

    --
    The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'. --Dan Kaminsky
  4. Nor do they cater to Non-IE users... by kcb93x · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...hence the following message upon visiting their site with Firefox 1.0PR:

    "Sorry, but in order to enjoy the Movielink service you must use Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, which supports certain technologies we utilize for downloading movies. Click here to get the latest version of Internet Explorer.

    We do not anticipate supporting Mozilla or Netscape in the near future."

    No thanks, I'll take my movies non-DRM'd to death, thank you.

    *follows X back to Shareaza and Bittorrent*

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  5. That shit is stupid. by Lord+Kano · · Score: 5, Informative

    Pay anywhere between $1.99 and $4.99 so that you can use your own bandwidth to download a movie. You have ONE 24 hour window to watch the movie. You can't burn it to DVD. You have to pay to watch it again after the window is over.

    Netflix is a better deal.

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  6. Movieflix movies by Lost+Dragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow, with movie greats like "Zontar Thing From Venus" and "Matango Fungus of Terror" I just don't see why MovieFlix isn't #1.

  7. whoda guessed by RTPMatt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Also of note, 80% of users are male and the top films purchased are sci-fi and fantasy.

    Anybody else supprised that pr0n aint toppin the list?

  8. Re:Back to P2P by krymsin01 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wouldn't. Even at around US $2.00 I'm not willing to pay for something that I only have a "24hr Viewing period" for. Sure, whatever their protection mechanism is could be defeated and I could get a copy of the movie to watch indefinately (think wargames playing 24hrs a day), but I could have just as easily gone to alt.binaries.movies.* or a bittorrent tracker site and just downloaded the same movie.

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    stuff
  9. Re:Back to P2P by tarunthegreat2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here here! The least the fsckwads can do is extend the viewing period. If you happen to be in a timezone ahead of the USA (Asia), you can NEVER watch a movie, becuase the movie is timestamped with yesterday@!#!@$!$@. Adn this is going to stop piracy (a lot fo which originates here in Asia) HOW?

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  10. video on demand by Wm_K · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The South-Koreans have a nice service as well vod.naver.com. The service is very cheap compared to those mentioned above, only about 2000 won for new movies (which is about $1,50). The quality is near DVD and is distributed by a p2p like network, on which i usually get speeds above 150KB. Besides lots of Korean movies (sometimes with English subtitles) they also have a gazillion American movies.