BitTorrent Entertainment Network to be unveiled tomorrow
By Evan Blass 
posted Feb 25th 2007 2:06PM
posted Feb 25th 2007 2:06PM
We're still reeling over the fact that BitTorrent -- the same company that invented every pirate's favorite "sharing technology" -- has signed deals with numerous content providers to offer for-pay movie, TV show, and video game downloads, but if the developers of Kazaa can get in bed with the Hollywood studios, we suppose that anything can happen. Well despite our initial disbelief, Bram Cohen and friends are poised to unveil the BitTorrent Entertainment Network on Monday, according to The New York Times, which has pricing details and even a few initial observations. According to the Times, Fox, Paramount, Warner, and MGM will contribute a combined total of some 3,000 new and classic movies to the service, but unlike selections from rivals Apple, Amazon, and Walmart, BTEN flicks will only be available to rent: the $2.99 or $3.99 downloads expire after either 30 days or 24 hours from when viewing begins. Unlike these questionably-attractive rentals, users will get to keep other types of content such as TV shows ($1.99-a-pop), music videos, and as-yet-undisclosed PC games. Commercial downloads will be intermingled with the free content that BitTorrent fans are accustomed to swapping, and will be protected by Microsoft DRM -- a condition that Cohen begrudgingly accepted, claiming, "We are not happy with the user interface implications..It's an unfortunate thing. We would really like to strip it all away." The good news here is that torrenting does seem to offer an advantage over other methods of content delivery: the Times reports that the same movie which took three hours to download from Walmart's service clocked in at only two hours using BTEN. We're eagerly awaiting the initial reviews and reactions to this potentially major addition to the digital download game, and we're especially curious to see if the catalog and pricing structure are enough to meet BitTorrent's goal of converting habitual pirates into big-spending, law-abiding netizens.
Yah whatever.
#1 - Most of US can't watch this on their TV since they don't have a HTPC.
#2 - @ 2.99 a pop after 5-6 movies you've already paid for an all you can eat service.
#3 - BT is profiting from the bandwidth YOU are paying. In that regard BT should be offering a credit for every MB or .5GB that you upload. (The NYT was vague on this point. They said something about "commingle free downloads of users’ own video uploads with sales of professional fare.")???
#4 - Blockbuster and Nextflix have a MUCH larger selection.
#5 - 2 hours to download vs. me taking my previous blockbuster online rental into a store and swapping it out in about 20/30 minutes.
#6 - Video prices, depending on the newness of the content is more expensive vs. BBuster or Netflix's set price point.
BBuster online and netflix can rest easy. Until there is an easy way to display downloaded content on your TV without needing to plunk down money on new hardware or having to transcode and burn a DVD to view it on your big screen video download services will remain a joke for the average user. Apple TV which looks interesting. However they do not have an all you can eat service, and their video res quality is somewhere in the meh range.
Also look at DVD vs. broadband adoption rates. Again the traditional media outlets have nothing to worry about....for now. In 5-10 years? Sure. Now. Nope.
PSP users still waiting for Sony to do something... They're taking their precious time.
Man!!! Movie download services are popping up all over the place now...
So I have to pay for the download that's crippled with DRM and use my own bandwidth to distribute it? Then they act surprised when people pirate.
Yes i don't understand this. They expect to use MY bandwidth, to distribute a movie THEY are getting paid for? No thank you.
its a sad day when the makers of bittorrent give in to drm
how many PSP users actually watches movie in there?? and for that matter, how many people actually watch movie on the go?
I like the service, 2.99 for 30 days rental seems fair, although it'd be nicer if they can offer some kind of rent-first-buy-second service, hopefully for 5 bucks.
but, one step at a time, I suppose. Frankly, I can pick up as many of the same movie at my local 99 cents store. *shrugs*
Its not $2.99 for a 30 day rental. This sounds exactly like Movielink.com. You rent and download, you can watch the movie anytime within the 30 day period, but once you click play, you only have 24 hours to watch it as many times as you want. After that it just sits on your HD unless you delete it. At least with Movielink you can buy another 24hr viewing period for $0.99, and they give you a fast Dl speed (I've averaged around 400kbps with them), so you dont have to rely on the connection speeds to peers.
Well, definitely a move in the right direction. It would be cool if you get, maybe discounts the more you seed the movies you downloaded from them? That would be pretty neat...And also, I like the rent first then buy option mentioned above. And of course...movies still in theaters up for rent...just a dream ;)
The one thing I don't know about though...is that my ISP throttles my bittorrent (and encryption doesn't work). If I wanted to use this service, how could I? Would my ISP flag all traffic from their IP's as legit? or...
When will they understand that ultimately, when we download movies, TV shows, and other types of media, the computer will not be where we watch them?
Can I convert these files so I can watch them on my Treo? On my XBMC? On a Video iPod? On any Linux media box or HTPC? Of course, I'm sure I can watch them on an XP Media Center connected to a TV. They're still all bothered with DVRs when they should be concerned with home media servers. This will be yet another failed attempt along the way, I'm sure.
DRM? Ha. Thanks but no thanks. People need to stop giving in to the greedy people who rule the entertainment industry.
Worthless system.
Give us cheap media, which we own, with no DRM. The only one who loses in that scenario will be the media executive who will have to settle for four homes instead of five.
Three hours to download from Walmart?
haha! Is the NYTimes using dial-up? I downloaded Superman returns from Walmart in under 30 minutes!
Ive been using this Bittorrent Enternainment Network for years, it looks like the swedish office (ThePirateBay) have better terms than those presented here.
But seriously why would anyone use this, where is the advantage for the end user in using bittorrent? Is it a discount? 2.99 for renting a movie in WMA with user unfriendly DRM, and its not even HD.
Faster DL? Maybe if users seed, but why should they when they pay full price. I can DL a dvd image from usenet or a private tracker and mount it in 40min, HD-DVD takes 2 hours, Xvid takes 10-15min.
"they cite internal studies that say 34 percent of BitTorrent users would pay for content if a comprehensive, legal service was available."
Yeah, but the BitTorrent Entertainment Network is "same shit, new wrapping". It offers nothing new to the end user, only to the content providers.
They need to start offering comics. Every comicbook being published is already available on bittorrent networks. Why not charge for them?
They teach the customers, then they realize it's all free under their noses...ingenious.
So, this is low cost distribution using existing technology allowing the content providers to bypass physical artwork, media, and packaging? Oh, and it's a rental service for the content (films) that people would actually want to keep?
Sweet. I'll pass.
Rental exploding media is a joke.
Will this work with my iPod? my AppleTV? my Mac?
No? i'll pass.
and what the hell is the difference between renting exploding worthless SD videos from BT than just using any of the other "PlaysForSure" failures? exactly what benefit do i get for redistributing the content?
What's my motivation to seed expired, DRM'd content?
What really sucks about this is that they are using your bandwidth to give it to everyone else too. And you pay them to use your bandwidth.. niiice.
This time I would have to side with the cable companies. I would hate to have a bunch of customers sucking 100% of their bandwidth.
I'm skeptical. The same "rental" model had failed before (for example: CinemaNow and MovieLink). And I don't believe downloading time is a factor yet. End users expect a lengthy wait when it comes to movie download. Few minutes off the clock won't make a difference.
Either you give me stuff for free or I won't pay for it!
Grow up, children.
The free part isn't a problem for me. Its being able to use it the way I want to. Example. If I download it I would like to transcode it and burn it to a DVD for playback on my widescreen TV. $10 says you can't do that. But on a pirated bittorrent? No problem. Or say I want to transcode it for my iPod. Can I do that? Etc, etc, etc. I have no problems paying for a rental. I have issues with the restrictions they have. I'm the one spending money on this service. Either give me flexibility or I will go somewhere else. The problem is since we are dealing with a monopoly the only somewhere else that gives me that flexibility are pirate sites. Literally its us against them when it comes to market competition.
What's with all the posts bashing rentals? There's an awful lot of us out there that LIKE renting movies. (The article notes that Bittorrent.com has a license to SELL movies too, but the price the studios insisted on was so high, that the site decided not to even bother.)
I cant understand why all of these companies are persisting with content you have to download when they could use technology such as what Edgestream.com provides, which is a HD quality streaming service on a 2mb broadband connection. Why wait 2 hours to download a movie when you can stream it in HD a watch it instantly with no buffering. I use this with a wireless connection from my laptop to my HD plasma and it works a treat. They have HD demos on their website too
This doesn't seem like much to me. The price is a little high, but it all depends on which movies are available. Have you all checked out reeltime.com? It's better and it is cheaper. They just don't have much content.
Not much of an improvement over what's already out there. A bit pricey, but I guess it all depends on the content. Have you all tried reeltime.com? Better and cheaper, but not much there for content.
Hopefully this wills top ISPs blocking bittorent downloads now there is a large legit use of it.
looks like you can't even get the official BT software for macs either anymore .. as this "hold on a little bit" screen only gives you one option for a download .. the "download the software" now .. so thats that for us with a mac ..
well not that i wanted to use it anymore anyway .. ;)
Goodman, I LOVE renting movies, too. However, I tried these digital rentals before, and let me tell you, that's not renting movies. The experience is similar to going to a lousy theater where picture looks dimmed, sound effects feel thin.
P.S. The key problem lies in 24 hours viewing limit once the movie starts (not finish).
Phew!
This is just what I've been waiting for. I'm glad content providers are finally getting their acts together.
I have been *looking* everywhere for a digital 'rental' service and this looks like it's it. To be honest though, I wish it didn't have the DRM but it's something I'm willing to live with.
Now hopefully later on they'll add more freedoms with the DRM - I'll take what I can get. I'm just happy I can finally pay for it, above the law for once. :)
Thank you Bram & co.
You're welcome. You're a great employee David. Keep making these types of posts, and we'll keep paying you out of our VC promo budget.
"OH MY GOD THEY WANT TO USE MY BANDWIDTH FOR FREE FUCK THAT I'LL JUST STEAL EVERYTHING!"
Great f'in argument.
I'm glad to see that everybody else thought the same thing I did: fine, if you can burn a copy. What's more, if you seed extensively, you should be refunded for the upload time. Eventually, it would be a killer app if you could get a $3.00 film if you let your uploads get past 1.0.
The other thing I realize is that a BitTorrent site is good as long as its movies are popular and attract seeders. But the way that a serious movie database would kill the piraters is to make the database as complete as possible -- and that requires some straight downloading.
And the other thing I want to comment about is this: all these sites are Windows DRM. They are not available to Mac users. Where's the MPAA, demanding compatible DRM? Don't they agree with the RIAA, or is it only okay when it's Microsoft copy protection?
Actually, I don't want it. This is yet more proof that the "make Apple share its DRM" model is complete suckitude.
wouldn't this just be another way of handing out movies?
It takes 1 fair use abiding "netizen" to record the downloaded movie, make an encoded copy of it, and upload it to provide everyone else with free copies of the movie. Even better, it's cheaper and easier than going to the movies or buying/renting an actual DVD. And screen recording software is usually easy to find too.
I'm not sure though. Someone please reply to me on this. Is there anything that prevents these "rented" movies from being screen recorded?
And as has already been said, why seed for others?
in connection to my previous reply, I know DRM is digital rights management and it's to prevent intellectual copyright infringement, but what exactly does it do, or prevent you from doing?
I'm a newb. lol.
LOL. David's post then Bram & Co's post. Hilarity, I tell you. Who needs movies?
Looks like they specifically exclude the UK, I can't find a listing for any of "England", "Great Britain" or "United Kingdom" in the country list on their signup page.
I am not a fan of this at all. Paying for a 'service' that gives me DRM protected media, then uses my already overtaxed bandwidth to distribute it to other people is not my idea of good value. The current 'free' sources for media are still far superior and clearly in line with what the consumers are demanding.
If they dropped the DRM and then offered you store credit or actual money for your uploads, then I would happily consider it. It's like electrictiy and power companies. If you generate enough electricity that you dump it back on the grid, the power companies have to buy it from you. In this case, if you provide them with your bandwidth, they should have to buy it from you.
Unless they somehow decimate BT use for piracy before launching this I can't imagine it's going to do too well. It's like the cable companies opening up HBO, Showtime and all other premium channels but saying "if you didn't pay for them please don't access the premium channels." BT piracy is so rampant that anyone brought into BT through the pay scheme will notice it soon enough, and unless they specifically made sure the 'official' client can only grab those paid downloads, the only barrier between Person A and free content downloads will be a wee bit of self-restraint -- which, as we can see with how much the P2P networks have swelled up, is pretty lacking in the average human being.
I agree with the people who suggested some sort of seeding credit. You could have the choice of of paying with money or bandwidth, giving dedicated seeders an incentive and better download rates for everyone. The second-rate titles available at the moment don't offer much hope though.
In some ways, this seems like a good idea; it's an improvement over some other pay to download movie services. But, at the same time, it's just mind-bogglingly retarded.
Let's say I go to the bittorrent website. I could pay to torrent a movie and lose it in 30 days, or I could download the exact same movie for free, keep it forever, and get the same quick download speeds from Bittorrent 4.4 (faster than the bloated newer versions).
WHY THE FUCK WOULD I PAY? I understand that many people buy for ethical reasons, as I do if a movie or game is amazingly good, but the only difference here is pay or free. There is no other disadvantage to pirating besides ethics.
Cohen must be one starving a$$ motherf'er. He knows this will fail but was probably paid a handsome sum in order to endorse it, so good for him I guess. Hope he doesn't spend it all on hookers and blow and invests in more profitable ventures.
MPAA I want you and your snotty little brother RIAA to listen up. Bit Torrent users will stop stealing when you do.