Blockbuster's been
trying all sorts of, um,
innovative things to get more foot traffic in its stores, but thanks to a dastardly invention known only as "
Netflix," that very task has proven exceptionally difficult. Now, it seems the flagging movie rental company is giving one more far-flung idea a whirl:
movies on SD cards. Around six Blockbuster and Hollywood Video stores will soon begin offering titles on SD cards, though the included DRM only allows customers 30 days from the purchase date to view it, and once it's fired up, you've just 48 hours before it vanishes completely. Each rental will cost $1.99, and while we definitely see the benefit of renting something that you don't have to return, we're still skeptical that folks will be more willing to make even one trek for a card when Netflix brings it all to one's mailbox (and
PC, etc.) for just $8.99 per month.
posted Nov 11th 2009 9:44AM
this didn't help.
Title fail
If you read it it actually makes perfect sense.
whatsup cutie?
Got verb?
1 Star = Blockbuster
2 Stars = Cable/Dish Movies on Demand
3 Stars = Netflix
4 Stars = Redbox
How dare "you some candy!"
"You so kind for renting movie, here some candy"
Sounds great!
It's actually common in news item titles to separate two items that interact with the first part of the sentence with a comma; usually this is to save space since in the printing biz every giant words is money.
"The senator allocates funds for handouts, kickbacks"
The title here would read "Blockbuster kiosks to offer movies on SD cards as you checkout. Blockbuster kiosks to offer you some candy as you check out."
@Draaaainage! >> "It's actually common in news item titles to separate two items that interact with the first part of the sentence with a comma; usually this is to save space since in the printing biz every giant words is money."
This is true. Although in this case, the simple word "and" would have been better. "Blockbuster kiosks to offer movies on SD cards and some candy as you checkout"
"you some candy as you checkout" is just plain weird.
It's funny though... since the newspaper industry is in such trouble... why are online blogs picking up some of their habits?
Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.
The headline to this story makes no sense, did someone proofread this?
It does make sense. Say it out loud.
why are you so hardcore on defending the title?
Well, it should have sounded like this:
"Blockbuster kiosks offer soon to offer you movies on SD cards, and some candy as you checkout"
But then the title would be too long. It's all about length; the understanding comes after you read the title.
No it doesn't. It should read "Blockbuster kiosks to offer movies on SD cards, you *get* some candy as you checkout"
How does leaving out the word "get" in any way shape or form make sense to you when you read it?? I don't get how N900 came up with all that other stuff either. The only thing it's missing is the word "get".
They offer you movies on SD cards and also offer you candy as you checkout. What's hard to understand? If it said "Blockbuster kiosks to offer movies on SD cards, free monkeys", would that make it any clearer?
"How does leaving out the word "get" in any way shape or form make sense to you when you read it??"
Because they offer you the candy, you don't get the candy with it, and plenty of people turn down candy, so your correction makes little sense.
"They offer you movies on SD cards and also offer you candy as you checkout. What's hard to understand?"
Basically. Lrn2facts.
For native speakers it's implied that "you" is in the indirect object case, same as "movies on SD cards." It's a common thing for titles of articles.
Exactly, the verb "offer" is directly related to the subject "you" in the following phrase: you some candy as you checkout. There's not even a need to apply a second verb, get, to give it meaning or sense.
Going back to the original topic of discussion, Nextflix and RedBox combined have proven to be quite an obstacle to surmount by any retail video rental company. Furthermore, I can already see people being able to bypass the DRM and uploading the tools to do so. BlockBuster should look into starting a service that is more like Netflix AND RedBox. A slight twist to their previous "movies in the store and movies in the mail" campaign. You should be able to get movies in the mail and return them via mail or kiosk in case you'd rather bypass waiting to get a new movie in the mail.
What's every ones's deal? The kiosks 'offer movies and SD' and the kiosks 'offer you some candy'. It's a title, it's phrased in short hand and reads and makes perfect sense to anyone not an anal english lit major.
I think it's actually the odd double placement of the word "you" that's throwing people off.
It should read "Blockbuster kiosks to offer movies on SD cards, some candy as you checkout".
no what doesn't make sense is that they think they can beat Netflix by basically ripping off itunes (only with 2 days to get in that viewing not one).
for this to really work they need to cut the price in half and put the machines in not Blockbuster stores. imagine being able to run to the grocery store and stock up on goodies AND a movie. or even better, how about more than one movie on a card. $5.00 gets you up to 3 movies at 720HD (1080 would be higher but i'm not sure 3 would fit), full dvd style with all the extras even (think itunes Movie Extras as a model). 30 days to use and all the viewing you can do within 5 days.
now that would be killer and could work. it would at least be a better start
The headline makes perfect sense if you are smart enough to know where to put emphasis.
I think "Blockbuster kiosks to offer you movies on SD cards, you some candy as you checkout" is easier to understand, or if you want it shorter and a little less awkward just let the 'you' stay implied consistently: "Blockbuster kiosks to offer movies on SD cards, some candy as you checkout"
Or for lolz:
"Blockbuster kiosks to offer movies on SD cards, you accidentally some candy as you checkout"
Well, better than having to drive to the store twice, and pay the same amount for a disc that you can only keep for a day. However, unless I move to a place within walking distance of any Blockbuster, or they put one in the same plaza as my grocery store, I'm still not going to bother with them - it's not worth the extra driving just to rent a movie.
Also: title win.
I know some people who don't even pay $8.99. Just sayin'.
To be honest, I'd much prefer this route as long as I just use one reusable SD card...
Bring it on.
Now the next question is, what sort of resolution and bitrate are we talking about on these cards? If the card is 8GB's I'd do this, even 4GB would be good. Though I wonder how long until someone figures out how to just copy the file directly.
Probably the same amount of time it takes to rip a DVD? :P
It looks like you BYOSDC (bring your own SD Card), and the kiosk loads the movie on for you. I think this would be a decent idea for RedBox, which already uses kiosks for distributing movies, and RedBox's kiosks are usually in more convenient locations.
The question I have is if this thing is supposed to work with existing cell phones and TV's, what type of DRM can it be using? Does your phone or TV have to have some type of "PlaysForSure"-type of DRM software to be able to deal with it?
I'm sure someone will bypass it in Linux within the month.
To be honest I would rather just have a streaming service, like what Netflix has to offer. Granted I would like a better selection to show up on the streaming side, but it sure beats going to somewhere and hanging around a kiosk will data transfers to a SD card.
I'm all for this. Stuck at the damned airport with only my friggin' company laptop (can't download, but can read from SD or USB)... grab a flick and plug it up... it's that or start planning ahead and arguing with my wife for the top 3 spots on our NetFlix queue before every trip.
I agree. Airports are probably the only good place for these. I would rent a movie to watch on my netbook (no DVD drive) and watch it on the plane.
The only way Blockbuster is going to save themselves is to sellout to Netflix. Then they could become brick and mortar return stores for Netflix, so that people that live and work next to one could just drop off there discs there, and have the system real-time update so they ship out your next in queue... or better yet you could drop them off and go ahead and pick up your next in queue there! And on top of that they could add the option to rent other movies(say new ones that aren't available to ship right away) for a low price and not have that interrupt the queue... Think about it... it would be magical, like that place I used to go to, to get movies sometimes... Cant quite remember the name... but the store was blue and yellow I think... Sometimes(albeit rarely) they even had stuff I wanted... can't remember..the name....
But it was funny.
Netflix would not want Blockbuster or any brick and mortar store. Part of the concept behind Netflix is that there are no individual stores to staff and maintain which greatly reduces the cost of operation. They can't offer the existing service and would have to increase the price or charge a fee at stores which leaves us exactly what blockbuster is now.
"Around six Blockbuster stores..."
So they are putting them in all the ones they still have open?
Actually, they are putting two in each of the remaining stores.
This would've been a great idea three years ago. But I think Blockbuster could still make it work, if they do the following things:
- give away set-top boxes to all members.
- put one of these kiosks in every supermarket, convenience store, and gas station.
- drop the price to a buck and, preferably, get rid of the 48-hours-to-finish-watching window.
If they can do this, I think they can sustain themselves against Netflix's streaming solution, particularly in Middle America where not everyone has the high-speed internet connection to get satisfactory service from streaming and downloading services.
+1
So how is the general populace supposed to watch these movies on SD? My TV doesn't have an SD card reader.
I'm pretty sure the general populace owns computers.
@kevin Maybe in airports and hotels, then. But I can't see it competing with redbox in grocery stores.
Blockbuster sucks. Their business model is terrible; they keep trying to replicate the movie theater experience in their stores, and that's rather costly. The BB down the road from me is going out of business and, ironically, it's never had more customers!
You left out something important.
The SD cards only work in a Blockbuster branded set-top box. You can't just pop it into your laptop and watch it. Could this be any more worthless?
oop. assuming you're right, i totally retract my comment below. in that case, yes, this is pretty worthless. sigh. it's like Blockbuster WANTS to die.
In that case, this is not just a fail, it's another epic Blockbuster fail.
From FastCompany:
"Blockbuster is piloting a new movie-rental program that allows customers to load movies onto SD cards and play them back on mobile phones and TVs equipped with SD readers.."