My wife and I were at a party in late May talking about a recently released blockbuster. The question was asked, “have you seen the movie yet?” One of my friends said yeah, we watched it at my house! I was amazed, and asked how did you watch it at your house when it was just released in the movie theaters last week? He causally said that it was downloaded from the internet.
Digital Life America, a unit of the Solutions Research Group, has found that out of the 32 million Americans who have downloaded at least one movie from the Internet. According to the group, 25.6 million Americans have illegally downloaded a full-length movie from the Internet. That’s 18 percent of the total US online population.
Remember Napster and music CD file sharing lawsuits? The estimates differ on the total number of pirated CD’s, but it was enough that the music industry started to slap lawsuits on several teenagers. They were loosing so much money that CD sales almost dropped in half. The industry also responded by lowering the prices of music CDs. The music industry recognized if they did not lower prices that more music lovers would turn to pirated downloads rather than purchasing legal CDs. The only reason movies have not followed the same path is because movies take a lot longer to download. High speed internet access is becoming more affordable, and more and more households are now capable of downloading movies over the internet.
MovieLink and CinemaNow offer members the ability to download movies over the internet for a small fee, but titles only are available after they are released on DVD. Hollywood needs to come up with a way to offer movies over the internet before they are released on DVD. If not, the pirated versions will still be floating around the internet and downloaded by people who want the movie now!
There are several corporations working with the movie studios to work on a deal to allow movies to be legally streamed online at the same time they are released in the movie theaters. I personally would pay money (less than10) to see a new movie in the comfort on my own home. With new large screen HD Televisions and digital sound systems, the home movie experience is quite enjoyable. Especially because you can hit the “pause” button whenever you need to go to the bathroom! I believe Netflix has the best chance of working something out with the movie studios. However, internet bandwidth may still be the limiting factor.
Personally, I would rather watch movies like “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” at the theater. The theater has a way of making you feel like you are enveloped in the movie. With that said, it is sometimes hard to get to the theaters. I have four children. With bigger televisions and excellent sound systems I would welcome the idea of watching some movies at home!
I heard Netflix allows you to download movies instantly if you are a member. How does this work and when are the movies available?
Yes, this is true. However Netflix only make the movies available after the DVD is released for sale. You don’t actually download the movie, but rather watch it real time “streamed” to your computer (or television). I believe eventually you will see movies released in the theaters and over the internet at the same time – legally.