Apple and Sony (and even Tesco) have both expressed their desire to stake a claim in the future movie downloads market recently, and CinemaNow already offers movies for download with Wippit due to offer them sometime over the summer. With the takeoff imminent, and the rise of video on demand services, will DVDs become obsolete?
There are, basically, two options for a download service, I’m not sure which will prove the most popular. Renting involves downloading a film and then have a certain number of viewings or a time limit before the file deletes itself, whereas buying a movie would mean being able to keep the movie indefinitely. The other thing that is growing in popularity is video on demand and pay per view services, generally offered by cable TV operators. Broadband is on the march, however, and it won’t be long before anyone with a fast connection will be able to get the same benefits without signing up to a cable service. At the moment the offerings from both are limited, but, as storage and networks grow, so with the ability to offer a wider range of films at any one time.
Say I want to watch Zulu, starring Michael Cane. I do a search, either via a PC or, in the future, via some sort of set-top box. I may have to wait for it to download, though using either some of streaming media, some bit-torrent-esque software or simply having faster access, it would be able to play immediately. If I have instant access to any of a library of films (Netflix has over 45,000 titles for example), why would I bother buying a copy? Sure I’d have to pay to view it, or pay a flat rate for unlimited access, but why fill my house with media which I have to upgrade every time they bring out a new, improved format, when I can just watch it through a service that will always have the latest codecs and the best standards? If access is easy and instant, where’s the reason to store my own copy?
This leads to a slightly different question: do downloads spell the end for traditional media stores? If the likes of Sony and Apple have the downloads market sewn up and record companies and movie studios can sell directly to customers, where does that leave Play, Amazon, CD-Wow and the others?
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