Sony talks up its "iTunes for movies" plans. Again.
posted Mar 31st 2005 8:53AM
Sony have revealed their plans to create an "iTunes for movies".
Again. Every few months one of their execs goes on record
about how they're definitely working on some sort of new dealie for online movie downloads, this time around the
revelations (which have gotten slightly more specific) come courtesy of Sony Pictures senior veep Michael
Arrieta. Doesn't sound like they're going to get anywhere close to what we want—namely, cheap downloads that are easy
to move around—but CNET reports that Arrieta did say that they're going digitize their top 500 films and then
distribute them both online and on flash memory cards (Memory Sticks, no doubt) for watching on your cellphone (expect
there to be tons of DRM involved, natch). No mention of whether
Connect, Sony's much-unloved
online music store will be involved, but there was something or other last year about
video being added to the mix over there. Even weirder,
there's no mention at all of how the new PlayStation
Portable figures into all this.
[Thanks, Glen]
Sony is getting sloppy. They need to step outside themselves and see what people really want. Once the Mega unstopable electronics company is now struggling to have cool(and competitively priced) products.
The line 'expect there to be tons of DRM involved' makes me all tingly...like a brain tumor.
So just another example of SONY disCONNECT site huh?
DRM, if on MS or MS Pro os MS DUO or MS PRO DUO, will probably be broken soon after release... (remember the N-Gage and their games appearing on other S60 phones? lol)
SO here we go again, DIFFERENT deparments will create COMPETING products because they cannot AGREE on their ONE common goal?
Are the experiencing some language (mental) barrier over at SONY?
Does anyone really want to watch a movie on a tiny screen? Everyone's getting huge TVs, are they really going to want to watch a movie on the morning commute in to work crushed like a sardine on a train or bus holding this thing to watch Spider-Man on a 3 or 4 inch screen?
I say no. Sony's making something because it can, not because it's anything people want.
Makes sense about the online movies, they gotta do something with the 5000 movies from MGM.
My prediction: This will be just like Sony releasing albums on Minidisc in the 90's ... all that will come of it is a few dusty shelves of content sitting in a corner, to be tossed in a box and sold at a redtag sale for $6 each. What Sony doesn't get is that nobody gives a #$#ck about what their lawyers and control freak executive want ... all consumers want is easy to download video that you can actually use FAIRLY and not be made to feel like a criminal while using. Sony / Hollywood actually turns out mostly crap, and at the end of the day people just won't spend too much money on SH&^t ... I think if DRM gets too strong, you'll have zero piracy but mostly because you will have zero customers. When Hollywood complains of the "billions and billions" lost to movie piracy every year I always laugh, as their calculating that based on the viewing habits of millions of impoverished Chinese peasants, who would never pay full price, or any price, for DVDs.
Oh well it seems technology and current right-wing political leaders are conspiring to hand Sony enough rope to hang itself. But within ten years, if all goes well, there will be no more Sony. Sony is already on the rocks, in no small part due to the iPod, a device that managed to balance consumer needs with industry requirements. Sony, being a "vertically integrated" media conglomerate, only serves one master (in their mind) -- the lawyers and accountants who run the show over there. The lawyers and accountants will always win the battle -- but ultimately they are the reason why Sony will lose the war.
"Does anyone really want to watch a movie on a tiny screen?"
I used to watch movies on my Clie, but now I use an HMP-A1 the clarity is fine. I dont mind watching movies on a 3.5 Inch Screen
Sony is on the rocks? Because the iPod is selling better in the portable audio division? Hmm...
Keep an eye on this page:
http://www.connect.com/psp/