http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
Not something you worry about with a finalized DVD!]]>Nov 2nd 2009 7:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
Transformers sucked.]]>Nov 2nd 2009 8:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 8:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 8:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 10:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
But the packaging and organizing of flash sticks seems like a pain. Pull out the movie tote guys! I think transformers is somewhere near the bottom!]]>Nov 2nd 2009 10:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/1. Easier to build in DRM
2. USB drives are (well... can be) faster than CDs
3. I've never scratched a USB drive (I steal a tonne of games I already own due to scratched disks)
4. USB drives can have massively more memory than disks
5. Games on computers without drives!!! (Think mini-ITX, or laptop)
6. No more BS CD-Keys or CD-s locked to online accounts
7. Save games on a sector of a USB drive instead of HDD (portable profiles!)

I'd be willing to pay $5 on top of a $60 or $40 game to get a nicer gaming experience.

People who play by the rules should be super stoked about this! This is one of the few times where Game companies can protect their product from freeloaders without punishing legitimate consumers. ]]>Nov 2nd 2009 7:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/]]>Nov 2nd 2009 7:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
Compressing a movie to fit on a 4GB flash drive...makes me shutter.]]>Nov 2nd 2009 7:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 7:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 7:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 7:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 8:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
Dont forget there are larger USB drives than 4GB

a 64GB one can store blueray quality films just wait to that or larger than 64GB gets cheaper with films preinstalled]]>Nov 2nd 2009 8:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
In theory flash drive sounds cool, as we all picture in high-tech and future-esque, but in practice, not so much.]]>Nov 2nd 2009 8:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/"And since when are flash drives limited to 4 gb?"

You can get up to 128GB on a thumb drive from Fry's. For thumb drives, the issue isn't size/space, it's cost. An 8GB thumb drive costs $15. I'm sure that the cost for them to make a DVD is a lot cheaper than that, probably a few cents. They need to bring the $/GB price down for thumb drives to make them a practical competitor to DVDs.]]>Nov 2nd 2009 8:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
They maybe more expensive now, in the future when cheaper to produce they could easily over take blueray as a format for storing movies (leagal or illeagally), lots of devices including mobile phones, PDAs, MIDs, Netbooks, laptops, smartbooks, PMPs, DVD players, Blu-ray players, TVs are currently compatable with either SD/ SDmicro/ USB/ SDXC standards

Plus SDHC / SDXC / SDmicro are all smaller than optical disks]]>Nov 2nd 2009 8:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
I'm sure by steal he meant download. Which technically is not stealing since in most cases you pay for the licenses to play the game. As long as you have the proof of purchase or product key it doesn't matter where you get the installer from.]]>Nov 2nd 2009 8:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
No one says we're limited to shitty MPEG-2.]]>Nov 3rd 2009 1:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/I agree with your overall assessment that this isn't all that viable right now... but at one point you said,

>>"You do realize that a disc will ALWAYS be cheaper than a flash drive, right?"]]>Nov 3rd 2009 4:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
The short version is that piracy is built into the cost of media. So, if piracy didn't exist, DVDs could be, in theory, as much as 30% cheaper at retail. If this new media diminishes piracy, they may be able to put this out for LESS than a comparable optical disc.]]>Nov 3rd 2009 4:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
But what does it really matter anyway? Since they are 4GB they won't even be DVD quality. And since DVD's DRM is easy to remove why not just buy the cheap DVD and rip your own digital copy at whatever quality you like?

This is just stupid. Its got all the inconvenience of physical media with none of the quality. Either give me instant access and convenience or give me the best available quality. If you can do neither you'll never make it. ]]>Nov 2nd 2009 7:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
4GB of H.264 or equiv can produce a much better picture than 8GB of MPEG-2 used in a DL DVD.

It all depends.
]]>Nov 2nd 2009 7:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
Even if it was the same quality of DVD, you still have to go to the store to buy these things so there goes the convenience factor. What's the difference between hauling a packet of USB drives around these things and a box of DVD's? At least DVD copy protection is easily broken which makes it more flexible as a digital file. And Flash RAM isn't nearly as cheap as optical media so someone going to have to eat the extra cost and my guess is it won't be Paramount. I just don't see how any sane business person could give this the green light.

Any new format that is going to stand a chance in the marketplace has to have a compelling advantage over the status quo: either quality, convenience, or price. And it has to have CE industry wide agreement and all the studios on board. This has none of those things. Its just a slightly different form factor... a novelty and a gimmick. A few studios might agree to put a limited selection of titles out little things like this every so often to dip their toes in the water but I doubt any of them think these formats will ever gain any traction. Over the years micro-cassettes, Minidisc, DVD Audio, SACD, UMD have all come and gone without any real impact in the US market even though they all had tiny little sections devoted to them in stores for a while (and I mean tiny, like 3 feet or so).]]>Nov 2nd 2009 9:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
So we're paying more, for worse quality. Pass.]]>Nov 2nd 2009 6:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/> "4GB? That's smaller than a single-layer DVD!"

It depends... DVDs still use old MPEG2 compression... developed in the mid 90s.

Maybe they are using a more efficient compression scheme... who knows?]]>Nov 2nd 2009 6:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 7:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
Optical discs are practically free to manufacture after the equipment has been purchased and those prices still haven't come down from $25-30 per BD or $15-25 per DVD...so now we want to throw flash memory to push the cost up more?]]>Nov 2nd 2009 6:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 7:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 6:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 7:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 7:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 7:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 7:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/



]]>Nov 2nd 2009 7:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 2nd 2009 7:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/For every person that says it sucks, 3 people went and saw it.

And frankly, the movie was what is was. A brainless action CGI flick. What did people expect? it was based off a toy line. Same with Speed Racer and G.I. Joe. The original content was nothing to write home about in the first place.

Shut up, enjoy the pretty fires and boom boom's eat your $30 popcorn and have a coke and a smile. ]]>Nov 2nd 2009 8:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/meggan fox didnt act in that movie at all,
she just, well. i dont know what she did
but i liked it.]]>Nov 2nd 2009 10:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/Nov 3rd 2009 1:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/paramount-and-kingston-team-up-for-movies-on-flash-memory/
Steps
1. Buy your own flash drive of your choosing
2. Go to a kiosk similar to Redbox
3. Select movie(s) to rent that will fit on said flashdrive (bigger drives hold more movies)
4. Take home movies to watch on PC or DVD with a USB port

I would be perfectly OK if the movies are DRMed and expire after a few days or a week or so in this scenario. A scenario like this could make for a feasible local rental model that if affordable enough might be faster and more convenient than torrent, and have a wider selection of new releases than streaming services. It would also offer a potential solution to bandwidth caps.

There is no way I am going to purchase an over-priced DRM locked down thumb drive that can only ever be used to store a single movie. I'd rather buy the full higher quality movie on an optical disc at a lower price. ]]>Nov 2nd 2009 7:03PM