Warner Bros Makes Digital Download Deal with Guba.com
Hmm… what’s that you said? You want another overpriced digital download service from a big movie studio so you can watch pixellated movies on your PC? Well it appears that Warner Brothers have partnered with video site Guba.com to give you exactly that, following up on another similar deal they made with BitTorrent last month. Several titles are up for sale there already, from geek favourites like The Matrix and Harry Potter, to indie flicks like Syriana and Everything Is Illuminated. Prices are as follows: $1.79 for TV episodes, $1.99 and up for a 24 hour “rental”, $9.99 for older movies, and $19.99 for a new title. Just a tad expensive if you ask me! According to Guba.com, their target audience is college kids: “Kids in the dorm rooms don’t own TVs… they’ve got computers and that’s their source of entertainment.” That may be true, but they also have no money, and would much rather download a pirated version of a movie for free! Movies will be distributed in Windows Media format (allowing for transfer to a portable player), but will not be burnable to a DVD. I guess it’s no big surprise, but so far these studio execs just don’t seem to “get” the digital revolution. We’ve got a ways to go before this becomes useful for anyone.
Comments (2)
I have to admit, 1.99 for a rental isn’t that bad. I can see these sites catching on for rentals but never for buying the movie in replace of a DVD.
Posted by James on June 27th, 2006True, although digital cable subscribers can already get Video On Demand rentals, which are a lot easier for the average person to use.
I think the only real use for digital downloads right now is to give people stuff to play on their video iPods. But that novelty will quickly wear off.
It will only really come into play a few years down the road, when computers become the center for entertainment in everyone’s homes, and video will stream out to your TVs or cable boxes from your home PC. That’s when this will be a big deal. But until then, it’s not going to do anyone much good.
Posted by Sean on June 27th, 2006Leave a Reply