Whedonesque : Comments on 9865 : Universal UK announce legal movie download service

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March 23 2006

Universal UK announce legal movie download service - with Serenity and King Kong. In a fairly groundbreaking industry move (which is basically expensive to the point nobody will use it), you'll be able to download some of the best movies of the year from April 10.

gossi | Firefly&Serenity | 18:42 CET | 16 comments total | tags: universal, download, movie, twenniequidyeahright

Er, sorry, PC go mad dupe.

gossi | March 23, 18:43 CET

As StrongBad would say, "DELETED!!!" :)

zeitgeist | March 23, 18:48 CET

Ta, zeitgeist. Wonder what the prices will be like. If it's quite cheap I might consider using this myself for movies.

gossi | March 23, 18:50 CET

It now says: "Universal will start the service with "King Kong" as part of an initial collection of 35 movies, including "Pride and Prejudice" and "Serenity." "King Kong" will sell for 19.99 pounds, roughly equal to the retail price."

zeitgeist | March 23, 18:57 CET

20 quid? Better off buying it on DVD elsewhere.

Simon | March 23, 19:05 CET

Oh. My brain didn't even process the 19.99 figure as it's so stupid. £20! Yuhu. That'll cut piracy.

gossi | March 23, 19:10 CET

If its about the same as retail, why would I want to go through the hassle of downloading it and burning it to dvd myself?

killinj | March 23, 19:19 CET

The only saving grace is that you get a DVD copy when you purchase a digital copy.

Simon | March 23, 19:25 CET

I am assuming this is for the UK only?

kurya | March 23, 19:33 CET

I think so, kurya, but it's not clear really.

gossi | March 23, 19:45 CET

Sounds great. 'Til your computer dies.

April | March 23, 19:45 CET

killinj - You get the download in ADDITION to the physical DVD package. All this saves you is ripping it yourself :)

zeitgeist | March 23, 20:13 CET

It has to start somewhere so I'm sure the price will fluctuate as or if it grows (but if you get an actual DVD I suppose it makes some sense). ALTHOUGH, why download it if I'm getting a DVD?

I guess my take on it is, I'm not too interested in downloading movies, but TV shows is a different matter. I'd love to be able to download a show and watch it when I want.

Grace | March 23, 21:33 CET

I'd love to be able to download a show and watch it when I want.

For info, you can do this legally (in the US) with some shows (eg Lost) via iTunes now.

I think the next 5 years will be very interesting. Internet links are getting to the kind of speed where you can download faster than you can watch, so video on demand is pretty much here... I think it'll cause slow changes in the way the entertainment biz does business.

gossi | March 24, 01:47 CET

But will I still get all of the "goodies" when I do this? I'm thinking: No. That's why I buy DVDs. So I can get the goodies: the Special Features, the Commentaries, the Featurettes.
Besides...I don't have a burner.
:/

AmazonGirl | March 24, 06:19 CET

AmazonGirl, they post you the DVD when you download something.

gossi | March 24, 17:21 CET

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