Movie download options

[mousepod]

If you look at the music model, iTunes is currently the #2 largest music retailer in the US, between Walmart and Best Buy. The subscription models have all failed or are in the process of failing. There's still a thriving market, however, for tangible goods, albeit a more specialized one. There are thousands of recordings that are not currently available on iTunes (for various reasons), and there are absolutely no CD-quality tracks, either.

Since the 1970s, the portability and accessibility of music has become easier, while sacrificing the quality of the product in each step.

Home video, on the other hand, has seen a parallel growth in accessibility and quality... until now.

For many years, the only home video market was videotape, and almost every movie program was presented with no extras and "modified to fit your tv". Widescreen laserdiscs with lots of extras changed the market by giving consumers added value, and anamorphic DVDs and now hi-def Blu-Rays have now made it possible for people to view movies under better conditions than their local multiplex.

I'm not saying that VOD won't work - it probably is the next "thing". However, given the fact that many studios consider a DRM-protected digital download sans extras to be as valuable to the consumer as an extras-laden disc, I think it's going to be a long way off.