Sony Connect Movie download for PSP now official!

[McFly]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=18766

http://www.engadget.com/entry/6314322554365187/

Sony to offer movie downloads next year

The difference is they're yours

By Misty Glass: Thursday 30 September 2004, 10:20
IN MY FORMER life as an agent to some of Hollywood's dahling children, I made a good few contacts in that biz they call show biz.

Lots of those boys and girls are interested in the internet now, so I thought I would have a chat to them whilst I was in town doing what technological divas usually do in the City of Angels.

Isn't the City of Angels the tagline for Stringfellows? I wouldn't know about that sort of establishment, but I have friends, and ex-boyfriends, in the know.

My good friends, whilst plying me with drinks in a vein attempt to get me telling stories about my sister's fling with Adamson, were telling me that companies such as Movielink are having a decent amount of success with their appropriately Mission Impossible style watch-then-destroy movie downloads. The buzz is, however, that Sony are planning something rather different for next year.

Sony in consumer-friendly innovation shocker?

Going under the working name of Sony Connect Movies, the studio is planning to offer movie downloads - that you get to keep. The films, which of course come with a healthy serving of DRM, will be movable between devices in your home and will also be transferable to portable devices - the imminent Sony PSP was mooted as one such platform, although the mechanics of such a step were unclear.

Chic, no?

Sony is the only studio planning this kind of service for next year. The service is akin to buying a DVD, whereas most film companies favour an internet business model more akin to renting one. Ownership, according to them, is sooooo 2003.

They've clearly never bought Prada shoes. Or handbags. Or, for that matter, any form of underwear.

The Zappa said that communism would never work because, fundamentally, people like to own stuff. It seems Sony might just be waking up to that. µ

And it's not just a rental. Now we just need to know for how much we can buy those movies.

Fredi

 

[London Geezer]

mmmmm... No packaging, no "hardware" such as DVDs to produce and copy, could be very cheap. A bit like MP3 downloads. Sony could become the iTunes of movies...

 

[wco81]

How would you get these downloaded movies into the PSP?

Sony has already said they will not release a UMD writer anywhere.

So big Memory Sticks?

This Holiday season, Microsoft's partners are releasing portable WMV players with hard drives in them. Probably Movielink will do something for those devices.

Lets see how many people buy and use those things to watch video on the go.

Steve Jobs doesn't believe video, especially on a portable device, is nearly as compelling as audio. Unless you ride the train for an hour, where do you get to watch video on the go?

 

[PC-Engine]

Here's a dose of reality. People can listen to the same songs over and over again without a problem. People can't watch the same movies over and over again. Who's going to buy these movies to watch on the go over and over again? Nobody.

 

[Simon F]

Here's a dose of reality. People can listen to the same songs over and over again without a problem. People can't watch the same movies over and over again. Who's going to buy these movies to watch on the go over and over again? Nobody.

Sad to say it, but small children will watch the same movie over and over and ....
I don't approve of it, but a PDA type device could be used by parents to keep the kids quiet for a while.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Why do people buy DVD's, instead of renting them, if they don't watch them over and over again. I've watched all my dvd's at least twice.
Still, I too see little market for big blockbuster mocies in UMD. People want to see those films from a bigger screen.
TV series like Simpsons, Buffy, Futurama... those I could imagine buying on UMD for PSP.

 

[PC-Engine]

Here's a dose of reality. People can listen to the same songs over and over again without a problem. People can't watch the same movies over and over again. Who's going to buy these movies to watch on the go over and over again? Nobody.

Sad to say it, but small children will watch the same movie over and over and ....
I don't approve of it, but a PDA type device could be used by parents to keep the kids quiet for a while.

Hehe but who's going to give an expensive fragile PSP to a kid to watch cartoons on?

I would think most parents would rather spend $70-$80 on a cheap and less fragile GBA SP and some of those prepackaged GBA cartoons instead.

Why do people buy DVD's, instead of renting them, if they don't watch them over and over again. I've watched all my dvd's at least twice.

Sure everyone has watched their DVDs more than once, but do they watch them as much as they listen to their favorite music tracks? I don't think so and that's why iTunes makes sense while this movie connect thing doesn't.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Sure everyone has watched their DVDs more than once, but do they watch them as much as they listen to their favorite music tracks? I don't think so and that's why iTunes makes sense while this movie connect thing doesn't.

It's just a different kind of delivery method. You pick up your films from the store, or you download them at home from the "Connect"

Nothing to do with how many times one is going to watch that film.

Are you saying that just because people download the films from Sony web service, they definitely do not want to see the film more than once,
... but if they buy it from the local store they are sure to watch the film more than once ? :?

 

[Fafalada]

Hehe but who's going to give an expensive fragile PSP to a kid to watch cartoons on?

Oh YOU'd be surprised...

I don't think so and that's why iTunes makes sense while this movie connect thing doesn't.

I believe, as mentioned above by others, that it makes more sense (at least short term) for TV / anime.
Interestingly Sony has apparently been doing downloadable soaps for awhile already, so it seems chances are good we'll see that on PSP too.

And of course, more importantly we should be looking forward to the possibility of downloadable games - it makes sense for content heavy stuff like GT4s to be on UMD, but do I really need to buy that silly plastic wrapper for the likes of Gradius, Lumines etc.?

 

[PC-Engine]

Sure everyone has watched their DVDs more than once, but do they watch them as much as they listen to their favorite music tracks? I don't think so and that's why iTunes makes sense while this movie connect thing doesn't.

It's just a different kind of delivery method. You pick up your films from the store, or you download them at home from the "Connect"

Nothing to do with how many times one is going to watch that film.

Are you saying that just because people download the films from Sony web service, they definitely do not want to see the film more than once,
... but if they buy it from the local store they are sure to watch the film more than once ? :?

No I'm just saying downloading movies isn't the same as downloading music. People don't mind downloading music for many reasons for example single tracks instead of entire albums, small size of downloads ~ 5MB, replay value, etc. Also when you download a movie you would want to have it stored on some physical media that can be loaded into existing devices. You wouldn't want to have to transfer it to a DVD-R to watch on your tv. Ask any normal person and they would tell you that they'd rather buy a DVD than download one onto their HDD, flash device etc.

 

[notAFanB]

Also when you download a SONG you would want to have it stored on some physical media that can be loaded into existing devices. You wouldn't want to have to transfer it to a CD-R to Listen on your HiFi.

fixed that for ya.

No I'm just saying downloading movies isn't the same as downloading music

no sht sherlock, we ain't quite there yet ubt might as well test the waters with devices like psp and creatives media players

 

[PC-Engine]

fixed that for ya.

Most people don't listen to low quality compressed music on HiFi systems...

And unless SONY sells the movies for $1-$2 a pop like music tracks, no sane person is going to buy loads of them to transfer onto DVD-R.

 

[notAFanB]

fixed that for ya.

Most people don't listen to low quality compressed music on HiFi systems...

most ppls don't give an flying crap what the sampling rate is, their anally rentitive enough as it is.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Most people don't watch low quality compressed films on HDTV systems...

 

[Fafalada]

Ask any normal person and they would tell you that they'd rather buy a DVD than download one onto their HDD, flash device etc.

In areas around here (HK and Korea to be specific) downloadable movie services are growing increasingly popular. Now, you can assert that there's no normal people living in those parts of the world, but reality is that the need for having physical possession of their digital content isn't the highest priority to everyone anymore.

Heck, I even know of people that pickup blackmarket copies of movies in HK only to discard them after viewing once (as they are cheap enough for that).

 

[PC-Engine]

Most people don't watch low quality compressed films on HDTV systems...

That's why most people buy DVDs...

Ask any normal person and they would tell you that they'd rather buy a DVD than download one onto their HDD, flash device etc.

In areas around here (HK and Korea to be specific) downloadable movie services are growing increasingly popular. Now, you can assert that there's no normal people living in those parts of the world, but reality is that the need for having physical possession of their digital content isn't the highest priority to everyone anymore.

Heck, I even know of people that pickup blackmarket copies of movies in HK only to discard them after viewing once (as they are cheap enough for that).

Everything is pirated there anyway

 

[Guden Oden]

There you go with that negative anti-sony shit again, PC. They can't do ANYTHING right by you can they!

Didn't you read the original piece fully? This isn't a scheme for solely downloading and playing movies on PSP, it's a scheme for downloading and playing movies on sony devices period. The piece doesn't even firmly confirm PSP is one of those devices, yet you still go off on a ranting spree with your negative shit.

GOD, you're tiresome!

 

[rabidrabbit]

What do you think a new movie, like for example Spiderman 2, from Sony's Connect service is going to cost?
My estimate is $9.99.
I guess the downloadable films will be of lesser resolution than DVD's, or at least more compresed, because they are supposedly meant to be viewed on portables. Or are Sony going to offer downloadable movies in different qualities?

How much would you pay for the next blockbuster or some TV series on UMD, and from "Sony Connect". Would you buy a season of Simpsons on UMD for $30 (I would), would you download Spiderman 2 at $9.99 (I might)

I wouldn't buy them every week, every month... maybe just three or four a year.

 

[PC-Engine]

There you go with that negative anti-sony shit again, PC. They can't do ANYTHING right by you can they!

Didn't you read the original piece fully? This isn't a scheme for solely downloading and playing movies on PSP, it's a scheme for downloading and playing movies on sony devices period. The piece doesn't even firmly confirm PSP is one of those devices, yet you still go off on a ranting spree with your negative shit.

GOD, you're tiresome!

It doesn't matter if it's planned for PSP or not. Nobody is going to be downloading movies anytime soon unless they're cheap.

Oh and if you like to pretend this idea is great then maybe you should subscribe to this service.

 

[notAFanB]

rabidrabbit wrote:
Most people don't watch low quality compressed films on HDTV systems...

That's why most people buy DVDs...

he was referring to DVD's <insert faticious comment here >

It doesn't matter if it's planned for PSP or not. Nobody is going to be downloading movies anytime soon unless they're cheap.

at least this everyone can agree on