“BitTorrent rolled out a paid music and movie download service today, leveraging its fast distribution system infamous for the massive piracy it facilitated when it debuted in 2001,” Jeremy Kirk reports for IDG News Service.
Kirk reports, “The BitTorrent Entertainment Network — launched with movies such as ‘Superman Returns,’ TV shows including ’24’ and PC games — will be a new entrant challenging other download services such as Apple’s iTunes Store and Amazon.com’s Unbox. BitTorrent’s service is stocked with 5,000 movies, TV shows, PC games and music.”
“BitTorrent will use digital rights management (DRM) technology from Microsoft that will prevent protected content from being redistributed on the Internet or played on a different PC, according to The New York Times. Content will play through Windows Media Player 11, Microsoft’s multimedia application,” Kirk reports.
MacDailyNews Note: The only portable devices supported by the BitTorrent Entertainment Network are laptop PCs. Purchased or rented content will only work on Windows.
Kirk reports, “TV shows on BitTorrent are purchased for ownership, but movies will expire after either 30 days or 24 hours after a user starts watching. TV downloads will cost $1.99, while movie rentals will range from $2.99 to $3.99… Similarly, the iTunes Store sells to own, with TV episodes priced at $1.99 and movies ranging from $9.99 to $14.99.”
Full article here.
Just what the world didn’t need: another Unbox flop. Yawn.
Related articles:
Fortune: Amazon Unbox movie service ‘unfun,’ a horror show, two thumbs down – September 19, 2006
Amazon Unbox generates resounding yawns; analyst: ‘too little too early’ – September 11, 2006
CNET Alpha Blog: absolutely do not try Amazon Unbox – September 09, 2006
Analyst: ‘Amazon Unbox – Well that didn’t work at all’ – September 09, 2006
Analysts: Amazon’s ‘Unbox’ to be ‘Unsuccessful’ vs. Apple – September 08, 2006
Cringely: Apple, Amazon, and what Steve Jobs has up his sleeve for next Tuesday – September 08, 2006
Amazon.com launches ‘Amazon Unbox’ DVD-quality video download service with TV shows and movies – September 07, 2006
“BitTorrent” rhymes with “who cares”
BitTorrent Entertainment Network = BitTEN
and ‘who care’ rhymes with
sh!tabhorrent
Movies expire! Spend the extra cash and own the movie you bum!
I get my music, movies and TV shows for free on BitTorrent. I guess it will still be business as usual.
As long as their pirated content plays on the iPod, I don’t think it matters how their legit service works, or in this case, doesn’t work.
BITtorrent EntertainMent nEtwork = BITEME
DOH! *don’t work*
Another one in a long list of stupid ideas.
Amazing how people insist on setting themselves up to fail.
Even more amazing is how they manage to always raise financing for it.
It’s so sad that we can’t use all the suck-ass services, isn’t it? How much do they think they’ll sell to all those people who don’t use iPods *or* Zunes? That’s something like, what, 78 people total? You go BT.
-c
MW: ‘both’ (kinds of music: tech & no)
The only thing nice about this is rentable movies. I wish iTunes had that feature. Most people buy music and rent movies. Have bought plenty of music off iTunes, but any film I like enough I would rather pay an extra $5-10 and get the whole package (high quality picture, disc, artwork, extras, etc.). I would rent plenty that iTunes has to offer if it was an option. Renting would even make the “Apple” TV that much more attractive. IMHO
BitTorrent Entertainment Network is also:
Token Biter – rotten treatment winner.
who cares, i use bittorent to get stuff for free 😀
weird business plan.
Burn, money, burn! So long as it ain’t mine.
I have decided that I am going to come out with my own music and movie download site…hell everyone else is doing it. I just have to figure out who I am NOT going to make it compatible with.
Maybe all VISTA users….yeah thats it!
How will this work if nobody uses it? Bittorrent is only as fast as the people who use it. If nobody uses this service, there will be no seeders for the content and it will be slow as hell. Unless they’ve setup a server loaded with “seeder” clients or whatever. This will flop.
Wow, another loser company with a loser ideathat just won’t work.
*yawn*
So what happens to the rented movie after you watch it? Is your hard drive now a landfill?
I know that this store sounds pretty unreasonable, and pretty limited, but gotta pose the question:
What if there was a store that had Macintosh and iPod support? What would MDN say then?
I mean, I’m the biggest Apple fan I know, but come on! Not everything great has to come from Apple.
More proof that DRM encourages piracy!
I think that iTunes is missing an opportunity by not rentin movies. That would be a reason for me to get an Apple TV.
With the crap movies that Hollywood puts out, even $9.99 is too much because most new movies are not worth watching more than once anyway. After a couple of years of buying a lot of DVDs, I’ve started going back to Blockbuster. The only movies I buy are for my kids, who will watch anything a thousand times. Looking at DVD sales trends for the past few years as well as the success of Netflix, I don’t seem to be alone.
If these guys are looking to EXPAND online entertainment downloading, then they stand to be very successful.
If they are looking to TAKE A PART of Apple’s paltry business (of TOTAL entertainment sales), then they will probably fail, like all the others who have built their business model on trying to crack Apple’s marketshare.
Lord, you gave them eyes, but they cannot see.
As if I had ever wanted to use this in the first place…
Move along, people. Nothing to see here.
I’m sorry, but I don’t see what option they have. Can you suggest a DRM system that they *can* use that is available for the Mac & PC?
The only alternative I can remotely think of would be based on Real’s technology.
Do we really expect someone to develop a secure DRM solution for Windows and the Mac other than Apple bearing in mind the limited acceptance it would most likely recieve from Apple users?
Just sayin’
“So what happens to the rented movie after you watch it? Is your hard drive now a landfill?”
No, it just turns that part of your drive into permanent bad sectors.
In <u>completely</u> unrelated news, BitTorrent’s owners have invested a large chunk of money with Seagate and Toshiba.