Seagate teams with Paramount, pre-loads movies onto 500GB FreeAgent Go
By Darren Murph 
posted April 12th 2010 12:01AM
posted April 12th 2010 12:01AM
AN INDUSTRY FIRST: SEAGATE OFFERS FREEAGENT GO™ HARD DRIVES PRE-LOADED WITH PARAMOUNT PICTURES' FEATURE FILMS
Ultra Portable Drive Comes Pre-loaded with One Movie for Activation and Twenty Other Films for Purchase to Help Jump Start Consumers' Digital Movie Collections
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. - April 12, 2010 - Today, Seagate (NASDAQ: STX), the worldwide leader in hard drives, and Paramount Digital Entertainment, a division of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, announced their agreement to pre-load a selection of 500GB FreeAgent Go™ ultra-portable hard drives with Paramount movies. Beginning immediately, United States' customers who purchase specially-marked packages of the award-winning FreeAgent Go ultra-portable hard drive will be able to activate Paramount Pictures' popular film, Star Trek (2009), for no additional fee. This collaboration between two industry leaders underscores a new era in digital movie collecting by enabling people to build, store and enjoy their personal libraries of favorite films in their preferred medium-whether on the computer or the TV-at home and on the go.
In addition to Star Trek (2009), those who have purchased the specially marked hard drives also receive an assortment of 20 Paramount Pictures movies pre-loaded on the FreeAgent Go 500GB ultra-portable drives that can be easily and securely unlocked through the online purchase of a license key. The films will be licensed for multiple devices to allow for portability and enjoyment of them on a desktop computer, laptop computer, or widescreen television, using the FreeAgent Theater+™ HD media player[1].
"Seagate and Paramount Pictures are delivering major motion pictures to consumers in a unique and innovative solution. For years Seagate hard drives have been powering the devices that allow consumers to enjoy their digital libraries. Today, we are simplifying content delivery by giving consumers the ultimate flexibility in how they enjoy their movies all in a convenient package," said Dave Mosley, executive vice president, Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management, Seagate.
To take advantage of this special offer, simply purchase a specially marked 500GB FreeAgent Go ultra-portable drive from Seagate.com, or wherever Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drives are sold. After online registration of the drive, a promotional code will be provided for redemption at http://seagate.paramountshop.com. Redeeming the offer code provides the license key to unlock Star Trek (2009) and the option to purchase additional keys to unlock the remaining film titles that are pre-loaded on the drive.
A choice of up to 20 popular Paramount titles can be unlocked for a fee[2] including:
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* GI Joe
* Shooter
* The Hunt for Red October
* The Italian Job (2003)
* Ghost
* Patriot Games
* Beowulf
* Enemy at the Gates
* The Spiderwick Chronicles
* The Love Guru
* Coach Carter
* The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
* Nacho Libre
* Jackass 2.5
* A Plumm Summer
* Carriers
* Dance Flick
* Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
* Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
"Collaborating with Seagate on this massive movie pre-load reinforces our commitment to embrace technologies that give consumers choice and flexibility in how they access and purchase their digital entertainment. Paramount Digital Entertainment has created a powerful solution that allows companies like Seagate to offer a seamless experience for consumers to access and securely activate pre-loaded movies, ensuring that exciting films are available everywhere they wish to enjoy them," said Malik Ducard, senior vice president, Digital Distribution The Americas, Paramount Digital Entertainment.
"And with over 38 hours of movie viewing enjoyment pre-loaded onto the portable device, we are offering consumers a great opportunity to jump start their digital libraries."
About Paramount Digital Entertainment
Paramount Digital Entertainment (PDE) is a division of Paramount Pictures Corporation. PDE develops and distributes filmed entertainment across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices, videogames, and emerging technologies.
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.
I hope you can delete those "pre-loaded" movies.
@Special Agent Steve Agreed. I'm sure formatting a hard drive would do it, if they're protected files. Though I'm sure you'll be able to delete them. Most companies aren't THAT...rude? Is that the word I'm looking for? I guess rude.
@Special Agent Steve "Oh, and if you'd rather just have free space rather than movies you already own / couldn't care less about, the delete command works wonders."
@Special Agent Steve
READ THE DAMN ARTICLE!
"Oh, and if you'd rather just have free space rather than movies you already own / couldn't care less about, the delete command works wonders."
Its the freakin LAST sentence for gods sake!
READ PEOPLE!
Either one of two things will happen:
A: Someone will figure out how to crack the pre-loaded movies, or
B: You'll just wipe the space anyways.
If I'm already paying out the arse for your storage medium, why should I have to pay extra (ie, spend my own time) preparing the drive to be actually usable up to the manufacturer's claimed storage capacity?
I'll take my $150/hr consulting fee for the time it took me to format the drive, Seagate.
@dragonfli I'm guessing A.
@dragonfli - They're giving you a free movie for crisakes! Maybe they should pay you for the electricity the thing uses too, or the time it takes you figure out which end of the plug goes where. This sounds like bitching just for the sake of bitching.
@dragonfli They give you the movie for free, so you'd buy the Seagate crap. And yes, I don't like the idea either.
@dragonfli My guess is both. Someone will crack the movies and realize they're crap, so upload them on the internet and delete it off the drive.
@Darren Murph I've lost respect for you for owning 8 copies of Nacho Libre. I'd be appalled if you even owned one copy.
@engadgetcomexcludeengadget
Nacho Libre is amazing. So shut your mouth.
Isn't this just like how Dell preloaded movies on their laptops? Although, these have essentially a free movie, so....
I can't believe Engadget wants to Tap Nacho Libre....
That's just so...
Seagate HDDs suck. Every single one I have ever owned failed on me. Even the one in my iMac.
@mtnDewFTW Yet you have many and you keep buying them. Nice
@Coober Actually, I only bought an external once. It broke after about a few months. Then this other time, I got one as a gift from a friend who worked at Best Buy. And I got one in a brand new iMac recently, and that was also broken.
So, I only really bought one. The other's were a gift or not an option.
@mtnDewFTW
The only hard drives I've ever had fail on me were the IBM Travelstars that Apple kept insisting on putting in my iBook G3. I went through like three of them. Aside from that I've had tons of other hard drives from different brands and none of them have failed.
@mtnDewFTW Same here. Only problems with Seagate.
@mtnDewFTW Really? I've been using Seagate for years... not a single issue.
Wait wait, someone at Engadget has a Windows 7 rig?
XD
here I thought this was a strict apple only site
@Damien K Its a gadget site. Most have both. And most have windows on their MBP's. Or at least I would assume.
What the??
Why would I want some cheap hollywood acting on my disk.
Might as well sell the disk full of 500GB of youtube videos at least there fun to watch.
Hollywood 2010 is a pile of &*!^
@DrBlaze IKR??
I can't wait until the 1st of January 2011 when the Hollywood will be really good again.
So where's USB 3.0? Is it that hard to implement USB 3.0, add 20-50$ to a price and get a "First USB 3.0 External Hard Drive" label? Can someone tell me why there are no USB 3.0 Drives yet?
@rainbury
I'm not sure who was first.... but here are a handful of USB 3.0 external hard drives at NewEgg:
http://bit.ly/dzAfcV
Please for everyone's sake READ the WHOLE article BEFORE commenting. It will save you & everyone else from stupidity.
As for the article itself, I like this idea. I think optical media storage for films, photos and music are on their way to extinction. As more people gain internet access, the less there's a need to have a hardcopy via Disc. I yearn for the day when I can have very portable drive with HDMI output full of my entire library of films.
Does anyone know what the resolution of the preloaded movies are? A 20 GB space for about 20 movies gives you around 1 GB per movie. Even with H.264 maxed out during the encode you'd be struggling to get decent quality at 720p, so I'm assuming these are Standard Definition? Which quite frankly is pretty lame considering the very least specced monitor or TV you would hook a Win7 rig / lappie to is 720p capable! Still at least its a step in the right direction; making it easier to access content.