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Re: louisgray.com: What is the True Value of an Entertainment Download?

Arvin Dang — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 09:19:00 -0000

In reference to both this article as well as How Apple could crush Netflix, I see some valid points in your ideas (i myself have expressed similar ones).

I, however, feel you miss out on one notion. While you may have a lower shelf value for video content, some of us out there retain a much larger span. I for one, find a great number of video content that i wish to retain, not only for my personal sake, but to share with others. I believe in having the flexibility to do that, and without it (ie. if videos had a life cycle, 2 watches and they go away) i wouldn't be too thrilled. That's why i proposed having an unlimited amount of "rental" time with the compliance of having only 3 at a time, and obvious monthly payment.

I agree a lot with the first comment, it's not just about the content, a lot of it has to do with the experience as well...thats where the industry is struggling with right now..

http://dot-thought.blogspot...

Re: louisgray.com: What is the True Value of an Entertainment Download?

Tom — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:20:00 -0000

I agree that it is just utterly ridiculous to pay $10 and up for a downloaded movie that you can't even burn onto a DVD! I would dispute that you really own this movie. You have possession of it only as long as you are willing to allocate hard drive space to it and eventually (unless you pay a fortune for storage) you will have to delete it to make room for a newer movie you want to see.

And what if you pay for a lot of storage but the hard drive fails? You have no backup and you are out of luck once again. All I can say is that those people who are downloading are rich or foolish.

I look at a download as a rental which you can keep for a long time and not pay a late fee. Wow, sounds a lot like Netflix which is far cheaper per movie!

So irregardless of whether you want to watch a movie more than once, it just doesn't make any sense to me. Price it at $4.00 and I might go for it.

Re: louisgray.com: What is the True Value of an Entertainment Download?

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:29:00 -0000

You're missing a couple of important factors.

First off, you don't take a date to a movie because you want to see the movie. You take the date to the movie so you can be together, alone, without having to eat, without drowning in coffee, without any pressure to climb into bed. That's why you see so many people showing up, not deciding what to watch until they get there - and the start time will be a factor.

People don't buy a movie on VHS or DVD because they want to see it over and over again; they buy a movie because they want to see it now, when their friends and coworkers are discussing it, rather than in six months or a year, when aren't. That's why sales drop off quickly a month after it goes on sale. It's not that people don't want to see it, but that people don't want in on the conversations.

Music is different. You don't spend 63 minutes listening to a new album. You spend 63 minutes washing the dishes, driving to work, doing homework, mowing the lawn, playing poker or writing a computer program while the music plays. It doesn't consume time, it decorates it.

And your price-per-pound is way off, too.

I saw a 7-minute film on eating breakfast in IFC the other day. It'd make a good cellphone download. You could show it to your friend, and he would download it to his phone to show his wife. If a Hallmark card is worth $2, then this clip was worth the same. On the other hand, I spend three months of my life one snowy evening, watching "Barry Lyndon" at a theatre. They'd have to pay me well to download and watch THAT turkey again.