Mr.MikeLJul 12th, 2007 - 14:14:53

the fact of the matter is, downloads will not stop people from buying physical copies. physical media is tempting. I, and most other people, enjoy owning a copy of a dvd, a nice case, a booklet... if its worth it. and thats the real issue, are the purchases worth it? well, as prices for physical media go down, rental and purchase prices rise, and that doesnt make sense. Every day more garbage is pumped into the market for a higher price to increase profit margins. then you have studios clamouring for more money, blaming the consumers, (who oddly enough, support their business, strange concept huh?) for downloading movies. bandwith most likely costs more than the production costs of physical media, yet downloads are cheaper. there is just something wrong with this picture, and the industry as a whole really. offer us quality for reasonable prices, and consumers will flock to you.

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What's the big deal?Jul 12th, 2007 - 14:25:01

The author of the article is trying to argue that it's a bad thing for consumers to have access to movies for less cost and hassle. I don't understand how this could be bad.

It's like arguing that the invention of the wheel will be a bad thing since consumers will no longer need to replace shoes and burlap sacks at the rate they currently consume them because they'll be spending less time carrying goods by foot from the store.

I tired of reading articles written by Luddites.

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John JohnJul 12th, 2007 - 14:26:33

Mr Mikel makes an excellent point. A move to a new business model is the answer to the question of failing sales. There will always be a market for outdated media (see tapes, vinyl, 8-tracks etc), albeit at a niche level rather than the maximised profits level which the media conglomerates have enjoyed for decades. But new ways of selling the product, with potentially lower production levels (digital storage and distribution vs physical manufacture, storage and distribution), should ideally be embraced by these companies rather than spurned, feared or forced out of the market.

The horse has already bolted. It is time for a change and as more companies realise this, we will all be able to download the same level of quality and choice of material without breaking copyright laws.

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UKGamerJul 12th, 2007 - 14:28:40

This is interesting to me. Sure, id be inclinded to download a rental movie to my xbox, because i dont have to go out to get it, and itll be cheaper then driving to the store to pick it up (and the counter guy isnt going to advise me that the film i picked sucks and to rent something else) but it wont stop me buying physical dvds.

id much rather buy a dvd i can lend to friends and family then something only i can watch, plus my dvd wont stop working if (god forbid) my xbox does.

In short, yes, i can see this being a big impact on retal firms, but i highly doubt this will have a major impact on retail dvds

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Crazzy CanuckJul 12th, 2007 - 14:35:41

How about reporting on the service, or lack there of in Canada and why it is not allowed, and when if ever is it expected.

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JamesJul 12th, 2007 - 14:41:05

I think the torrent network should of killed £10 dvd's a long time ago I would be willing to pay £1.50 2 download a film fast from Microsoft but i dont need a hard copy

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Darkzero63Jul 12th, 2007 - 14:56:11

What a ridiculous article. Harm DVD sales? So what. Ever hear of PROGRESS???? I dont know how it is in the UK but dvd rental stores are often out of stock of a particular title and they often charge ridiculously high late fees. If you ask me, on demand services like Microsoft's Xbox Live are the future. Plus you dont have to drive out to a store to get a movie.

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FreeMarketJul 12th, 2007 - 15:58:34

I agree that it will harm DVD sales but what you are not saying is that the companies will make a larger profit by distributing the movies over the internet. DVD's must be created, burned to disk, package, shipped, data retained, managed, warehoused etc... All of that adds up $. When you compare it to a datacenter, network, and fewer people then you find out that these poor companies are actually making a larger profit from its customers.

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MikeJul 12th, 2007 - 16:03:08

Microsoft is late in the game... Again!

Apple and iTunes are already selling movies via download and have been doing so for the past couple of years. DVD sales are probably going to be OK for a while, but when you're able to download an HD movie for the same or less than the price of physical media in a short amount of time (broadband speeds will keep getting faster, then you'll see DVD sales drop... even Blu-Ray and HD-DVD may have a short life-cycle. I'm a big movie collector and have close to 3000 DVDs. I stopped counting after the first 1000. ;-) Knowing I can fit all these DVDs into a few high capacity hard drives makes me hesitant to buy any more DVDs. Making space for and managing all these discs really sucks, and having an alternative that makes it easier and less time consuming to find and watch a movie makes a lot more sense to me. Plus there's less of a chance of damaging a disc if you don't have one.

And lately, I've been extremely annoyed when I watch DVD discs and the darn movie freezes because the disc is damaged or when the DVD player gets warm enough to cause stutters.

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KBJul 12th, 2007 - 16:13:26

This is not a question: 'Microsoft movie downloads will harm DVD sales?' Learn to write better.

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