Downloadable Movies

Topic(s): computers
2004-04-06 00:10:36 PST

Seems that the DVD industry has figured out how to use the internet better than the CD industry has.

Starting next year, NetFlix will allow customers to download movies: Netflix to offer movie downloads.

First I want to write about the article, then I'm going to rail against the recording industry.

I'm very excited that I'll be able to download movies off the internet. I have a few suggestions to help NetFlix along.

"...relatively long download times for even those with cable or DSL Internet connections."

What's cool about broadband internet connections is that they're always on. Hence, my computer can be downloading a movie while I am at work, cooking dinner, sleeping, etc. It won't bother me that it takes an hour to download a movie. Heck, a trip to Blockbuster, finding my movie, standing in line, driving back home, takes half an hour.

Also, why does NetFlix feel the need to send the entire DVD down the pipe? Most of the time, I don't care to see all the extras that come with the DVD. Perhaps NetFlix can have a checkbox or something, telling NetFlix yes/no send the extras. Cut download time by 1/4 perhaps.

Thirdly, why does NetFlix feel obligated to send the movie in DVD format? Can't NetFlix compress the movie down? I'd be willing to lose some resolution if it cut download time by, say, half. Give me a percentage knob: I want my movie compressed this percentage. Hard core movie nuts who want no loss can say 0%. People who don't have high fidelity Dolby home theatre systems can say 25% and not lose much.

"But he expects the growth of wireless home networking and the expansion of digital video recorders, such as TiVo would soon allow consumers to easily transfer content from a computer to a television."

Not that I disagree. Except that there is no need to transfer from the computer to the TV. The TV is a computer device! There are all kinds of computer video cards with TV-out plugs (that one costs a whopping $37.90). The technology has been mature for many years, in search of a good reason for existence.

Now I'm going to talk about the CD industry. More specifically, the Recording Industry Association of America.

Why is it that I'll soon be able to download movies off the internet, yet I will not be able to download music off the internet?

Why is it that the recording industry sells me music in formats that I no longer desire to purchase?

Because the recording industry has been sitting on their fat butts for the last 20 years. That's why.

Because, instead of adapting to changing times, the recording industry resulted to suing everybody who began to change the music industry. That's why.

Read my previous RIAA rant: MP3 is Dead.

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