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Google Video Store Announced

Posted by Zonk on from the when-will-they-be-unveiled-as-the-illuminati dept.

acid06 writes "Engadget and BusinessWeek covers Larry Page's talk at CES regarding the much anticipated Google Video Store. The rumours proved to be true and they're really going online with CBS to sell commercial-free episodes of their series. Deals with NBA, Sony BMG and Greencine.com were also announced." From the BusinessWeek article: "The video providers have the option of offering content on a download-to-own or download-to-rent basis. In a sign that content owners will likely pursue different approaches through Google Video, the National Basketball Association will sell broadcasts of its games one day after the event for $3.95. Meanwhile, public television staple Charlie Rose will post his interviews the day after a broadcast, allowing a free streaming for the first 24 hours then making it downloadable afterward for 99 cents each. Meanwhile, CBS is selling episodes of its popular 'CSI' and 'Survivor' series at the standard iTunes price of $1.99 per download."

9 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. What about Google Pack? by wordisms · · Score: 3, Informative

    Have you seen this?

    http://pack.google.com/

    Info here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

    Busy day for Google.

    1. Re:What about Google Pack? by teslatug · · Score: 3, Informative

      Suggestions for inclusion are being taken here.

    2. Re:What about Google Pack? by I(rispee_I(reme · · Score: 4, Informative

      For those of you who don't know, the "Google Video Player" is apparently a browser plugin based on the VLC media player.

    3. Re:What about Google Pack? by typobox43 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Trillian is part of the Pack, just not installed by default. Take a look at this page.

  2. I have an uneasy feel about this by Psionicist · · Score: 4, Informative

    TFA doesn't say anything about DRM on the videos you can buy. I quote:

    ne of the more interesting aspects of the Video Store, however, is the fact that they're also making their non-copy-protected content available for download DRM-free encoded for the iPod and PSP (though there's also no word on what it is we're going to have to deal with in terms of DRM on purchased Google Video content).

    According to Wall Street Journal ( http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB11364381456 4838423-wGEG4V5bN3Q0Pm7bvt0ceWXfYjQ_20060112.html? mod=blogs ):

    Some details of Google's online video service remain unclear, such as how much content owners might charge consumers to download their videos. Google last year had said it planned to allow content owners to charge for videos, but it hadn't activated that feature. Interest in delivering video over the Internet has surged since October, when Apple began offering downloads of popular TV shows through a partnership with Walt Disney Co. Google has developed its own digital-rights-management software to protect downloaded videos from piracy.

    So Google is now creating their own DRM. And they have a partnership with Walt Disney. Anyone else feel a conflicting interest here? Yeah, business is business, but I really liked the "do no evil"-mantra. At least I liked Googles _taste_. Buying AOL of all companies AND creating DRM is not what I'd expect from Google.

    On the other hand, Apple did it, and most people still like Apple. It's a sad world when the best we can do is hope for the lesser of all evils to win...

  3. Re:Google Pack Is Insecure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    They use an active x/firefox plugin, and don't tell you about it. (And funnily enough, MS is going to a stand alone windows update).

    http://pack.google.com/common_installer.js

    they dont put it in the firefox directory either... its in the google updater directory. Granted, it doesnt do much work, but adding another 50K visual studio plugin to firefox is not good. the idea is good though, one stop updating of internet facing apps. bad implementation. also, the programs google pack installs STILL do their own update checks which is annoying. in fact, after installing google earth via google updater I ran it and it said there was an update available :)

  4. Re:Google needs to slow down by generic-man · · Score: 3, Informative

    Okay, Mister Sarcasmpants. Screw Google. Which search engine actually serves valid HTML pages to me?

    (Give up? It's MSN! MSN's search page, search.msn.com, is valid HTML! The results pages are too. Time for you to switch.)

    --
    For more information, click here.
  5. Re:Welcome... by msobkow · · Score: 4, Informative

    Err, you miss the point.

    Cable providers get the majority of their feeds via digital satellite nowadays, not analogue. They run it through hardware that reduces the MPEG blocking artifacts and blast it down their analogue pipes. In some cases, the digital-analogue conversions are done rather close to your house with a digital main trunk.

    Of course the average consumer doesn't realize that, so they make arguments like yours, thinking it's similar to the old vinyl vs. CD argument. I remember vinyl audiophiles insisting their records sounded better than CDs even for groups that were using CD-rate digital mastering back in the '80s. They simply refused to accept that the "improvement" was signal smoothing that is now done in the digital domain by high-end audio players.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
  6. Google is shipping DRM? by Anthony+Liguori · · Score: 3, Informative

    Google ships DRM.

    DRM is evil.

    Therefore Google is doing evil.

    Liars.