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Napster to Offer Movie Downloads

Posted by samzenpus on from the not-so-free dept.

sebFlyte writes "silicon.com is reporting that Napster is going to move into legal movie downloads. They are aiming particularly to tap the younger video-game generation."

4 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Move quick! You are the third to arrive... by DrLZRDMN · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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 support Mac or Linux.

    To watch films on CinemaNow you will need the minimum of Microsoft Windows Media Player version 9
    No problem realy I wouldn't want ot pay the movie industry any more then the music industry.

  2. Key word: "Considering" by schmidt349 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Original music download heavyweight Napster is considering remaking itself as a movie download site too."

    So let's see... no business plan, no decisions on DRM or encoding format or anything remotely technical, just the statement that it's being "considered..."

    Should this really be considered news? I mean, a lot of groups are looking at doing movie downloads...

  3. Does the market even exist yet? by allometry · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since iTunes came out, I started paying for my music. I don't mind doing so, but it's easier to obtain from iTunes rather than hunting down files on news or torrent. But, downloading movies is a completely different realm.

    * Are there any decent portable movie players?
    * Can we burn our movies to DVD like we can burn our music to CD?
    * I have a Mac & PC, but for everyone here who lives on *nix, will there be cross-platform software?
    * Are we going to be downloading 4.6GB DVD's or compressed divx-like files? Also, how are you going to pay for all that bandwidth without killing your customers with additional charges?
    * Finally, what will be the selling point to downloading movies to your computer. Why not just go out and rent, or even yet, rent online through NetFlix or Blockbuster?

    These are all very valid points that need to be addressed before anyone tackles this. Napster has yet to do this and I see them headed for a bust.

    --
    http://www.allometry.com
  4. Cable companies will win by popo · · Score: 4, Insightful


    Ultimately the cable companies will be the winners here. They have a high speed digital cable running into a box which is attached to your TV.

    What more can you possibly say?

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