We've never seen
a shred of evidence adumbrating that movies loaded onto flash cards move the proverbial meter, but evidently they're moving well enough in Japan for Walt Disney to dive into the madness. Just today, the outfit responsible for classics that filled your childhood with innocence is announcing plans to offer pre-recorded microSD cards together with DVDs in the Land of the Rising Sun. The dual-format package will supposedly give DVD viewers the ability to easily watch their favorite films on the go, but that's assuming you
can even find a portable media player that accepts microSD cards. The bundles are expected to ship in November for around ¥4,935 ($52), or ¥1,000 ($11) more than the DVD alone. Eager to hear what titles will get this special treatment first? The "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "National Treasure" series -- huzzah!
[Via
HotHardware]
posted Jul 22nd 2009 10:48AM
I wonder what kind of DRM will it use
I find it ironic that one of the movies they're offering is Pirates of the Caribbean.
Exactly.. What type of file will it be?
Thank God they're doing this with MicroSD cards.
I'm sure the number of people losing them and having to replace them will surely make up for the low sales.
That's what I was thinking. These would be incredibly easy to misplace if you have a lot of them. Hell, I have trouble keeping up with my DVD's when I pack them with my portable DVD player.
♫ "it's either too big or too small" ♫
People will always find a reason to bitch don't they? Geez.
I imagine they'll make a fair amount from people buying it without realising (say the normal packs are out of stock). If they lose it, who cares, they've got the DVD anyway..
This is stupid. You can make your own if you have the dvd. or if you want to make it easier for yourself (and save money) just dl it.
@Wwhat
What's wrong with bitching about it? I as a Consumer have a problem with it, so I will complain about it. Maybe the company will listen, but they probably won't. How is my comment at all stupid? Are we not allowed to voice our complaints?
Seriously, what crawled up your ass and died?
So for phones? I mean what other portable device would one possibly own that would take a micro SD and not a DVD? A digital camera?
Oh wait, A Macbook Air!
Since you can get adaptors to put micro SD in regular SD slots everywhere I'd say most all portable devices accept them, except some older sony stuff perhaps, but for those too there are adaptors I hear.
In fact if you buy a micro SD card 9 out of 10 times it comes with a free adaptor to use it in regular SD slots.
http://www.sandisk.co.uk/Assets/File/Downloads/photos/retail/2GB_into_microSD_adapter_angle.jpg
MacBook Air doesn't have an SD card reader.
It goes perfect with the netbook they are also pitching. Surprise, surprise...
My Netbook has a miniSD slot in it, this would be a great way to have a film that's legit and flexible, it would also avoid using precious HD space (16GB SSD). I wonder if they'll move the practice over to North America...
Title probably ought to say:
"Disney to offer films on microSD cards, consumers to pass on by, Disney to blame piracy."
it probably bears mentioning thatyou can easily slot microsd into adapters for (at least) full size SD and MemoryStick formats. If you're going to use some sort of flash storage, microSD is probably about the most flexible one you could choose.
Micro SD cards are easily slipped into full size SD adapters. Then viewable through many of the devices that accept SD. My long term wish is that all movies come this way, and any device that accepts SD should be able to play them. Including GPS units, cell phones, cameras, MP3 players, etc etc.
Nicely sad, without showing tiredness with the stupid complaints like I tend to do.
Is Hanna Montana!... in microsd
:3
i want my HSM3
I can't wait till I can start watching Disney movies on my phone
I think the bigger thing here is now i know why pirating oversees is so widely accepted on streetcorners and public squares. $41 usd for a dvd? I knew disney was greedy but damn, unless you're talking the ENTIRE series here. then it wouldnt be so bad.
So how big are these MicroSD cards? And does it justify the cost? How about you just buy the DVD, then rip it to a PC friendly format and put that on a MicroSD card. Its completely legal to make a backup copy of media. But then would a Disney DVD even let you do that?
Nevertheless, this all seems rather silly for the price. $52 for a movie you can't play unless you have a card reader seems pretty ludicrous.
$11 more than dvd alone? no thanks..i can buy a 512mb microsd card ($4) and compress the dvd to h.264/aac myself. legally.
but that's assuming you can even find a portable media player that accepts microSD cards. -- umm you use an adapter with your laptop or cell phone
Most cell phones use microSD cards. A big part of the reason microSD exists is for cell phones. It's kind of hard to find enough room in a cell phone to design in a full sized SD card yet they wanted to keep the same standard and thus the microSD card and adapter was born.
Disney is already doing something similar here. I love the concept but their players are tiny and really geared towards kids. The only thing is to hope that it doesn't require a specific player like the current US ones need.
You all are making fun of this, but it is a very positive step. Bringing a wallet of SD cards on your airplane trip to keep the kids amused is way better then bringing a thick stack of DVDs.
Not everyone knows how to use programs like dvddecrypter to rip their DVDs; this provides the masses with the product that the more tech-savvy among us enjoy. At an $11 premium? I am sure that prices will drop.
Yeah, micro-sd? Can't really see why they chose that. I have a hard enough time keeping from loosing my SD cards. I think I have bought 4 micro-sd cards, and lost them all. They are a ridiculously small size.
Cell phones like Motorola and LG take the micro SD. Supplying the movie on micro would allow someone to simply slid the card in. You can adapter upwards to a larger format, but you wouldn't be able to adapt downwards to a smaller card if it only came in full sized. If you are travelling and away from your computer and computer software tools, being able to walk into a store and pickup (or rent) the micro SD would be handy.
Too bad we are too rooted in DVD and upcoming Blu Ray to use this really. Due to cost factors of a disc vs. flash, it most likely will never be viable at least in the near future. But with 4 GB cards sometimes being as low as 20 dollars, its not a far fetched idea. Imagine someday not havign any dvd's or that HUGE binder of stolen movies >.> But a small collection of SD or Micro SD cards. Yea, I know it will never happen, but its a nice concept. Maybe try USB Flash sticks, but I believe that is being or had been tried already.
4GB cards go for as little as $7 at tigerdirect.com and newegg.com during sales. I bought and 8GB microSD from newegg for less then $20 last month.
adumbrating? really?
nice.
I would rather just have a digital copy.
Pendantic man to the rescue!
Digital Versatile Disc, as it's name suggests is Digital too!
Pedantic man away!
if you were truly pedantic man you would be well aware than DVD doesn't stand for anything officially. and most certainly not "Digital Versatile Disc" as you incorrectly posited.
more like idiot man.
It's about time content is delivered on something besides spinning optical discs that were invented way back in the 70s. Imagine devices not having to include a massive CD/DVD/BRD drive. Less moving parts. TVs can include SD slots and you can just plug in your movie and start watching. I still don't think digital distribution is the answer yet, but flash based delivery would be perfect.
This idea doesn't seem too bad...just overpriced.
Adumbrating? Whats that??
We are all here because we like the off the cuff cynicism of engadget.
But on this one, you need to give it a little more thought.
Does "netbook" come to mind.
anyone that is keen enough to have a digital media player will be aware of SD adapters or usb readers. Im not sure why people balk at films on flash, theyre less likely to get scratched by silly little children/clumsy types
Or swallowed...
Pathetic idea. Anyone who REALLY want a hard-copy of any digital media, are the ones that are collectors, they are more interested in fancy boxes in velvet ant so forth. The type of hard-copy media is irrelevant. The large mass of people DON'T WANT HARD-COPIES. they want to be able to download legal copies over the net!!!!!!
Broad, unsubstantiated generalization.
Japan is still paying ~$40 for a DVD?
Yes. yes they are. especially for non-Japanese movies.
To think an average Simpsons DVD costs the equivalent of 50-60 dollars, while in North America you'd never dream of it going more than $24.99 or so. A micro SD movie to put on your phone isn't such a bad idea. It still takes a long time to encode a movie on h.264 in high quality (at least 2+ hours from dvd rip to playing it in your portable device, never mind using the more advanced encoding options). To save the time, it's not such a bad idea.