toggle

AAPL Stock: 431.77 ( 0 )

http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/03/31/itunes.for.movies/

Sony aims to create iTunes-like service for movies

updated 02:05 pm EST, Thu March 31, 2005

 

iTunes for movies


At the US Digital Hollywood conference, Sony says its wants to and will release its top 500 films available digitally in the next year. The BBC reports that films will be put onto flash memory for mobiles over the next year and that Sony will develop its digital download services for films: We want to set business models, pricing models, distribution models like (Apple chief Steve) Jobs did for music, but for the film industry," Mr Arrieta told CNET news." Sony and other movie studios are looking to prevent Apple or other single entity from taking a leadership/power position in the digital film world. The Sony partnership includes Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros.


by MacNN Staff

Post tools:

TAGS :

 industry, digital music/video

Related Articles

Recent Articles

toggle

Comments

  1. Miniryu

    Mac Elite

    Joined: Oct 1999

    0
    03/31, 02:19pm | report spam | Reply |

    Are movies the new thing?

    I know everyone is predicting that portable movies will be the new MP3s, but is there any market evidence to support this transition? I know that a lot of college students like to download movies to their computers, but its only because they are free. I don't think people will be willing to pay for them the way they do MP3s, but I may be wrong. Even if they do sell, how likely is it that masses of people will want to watch movies on the go. It will be a luxury item for people who travel frequenly on bussiness flights or athletes who have a lot of road games.

  1. ennerseed

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2000

    0
    03/31, 02:37pm | report spam | Reply |

    NOT just portables

    I would rather download a movie than go to Blockbuster, or wait for my next Netflix arrival. Apple should been on this at day 1.

  1. redwood

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2003

    0
    03/31, 02:41pm | report spam | Reply |

    Real and Starz have this.

    Of course it's Windows only, but it's actually really nice to download movies and watch them on the road.

  1. automorrow

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2000

    0
    03/31, 02:43pm | report spam | Reply |

    Doomed III

    Sony has no clue .. Their mini-disk was a complete failure .. the memory sticks suck .. and dropping the Clie was just plain stupid. Who wants to watch their 'dumb' movies anyway .. they may be good at making cheap electrocnics, but their product speculation is far from accurate to the future marketplace. They are in paralysis from analysis ... with a think tank of over-modded ani freaks with no senses beyond their weekend rave techo-trance dance parties....RIP the Pokeman

  1. JohnnyFive

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2003

    0
    03/31, 02:49pm | report spam | Reply |

    RE: Not just portables

    Apple wasn't there on Day 1 of the music download business. They weren't there when it was day 1 of the MP3 Player market. Yet they somehow managed to be at the top of the game. Don't discount Apple yet. Cause if/when they do do it, I'm sure it'll be the coolest thing.

  1. koolkid1976

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2003

    0
    03/31, 02:54pm | report spam | Reply |

    re: NOT just portables

    So you are telling me you would have better experience sitting at your computer at home watching the movie on a monitor as opposed to on your tv? You must either have a really small tv or a really nice monitor.

    Computers makes music more convenient to listen to than IN HOME CD's and stereos. I doubt many people would say watching a movie on a IN HOME computer provies more convenient viewing that watching it on the television.

  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

    0
    03/31, 02:58pm | report spam | Reply |

    Re: not just portables

    Yeah, but you forget there's a bunch of people who feel TV is a wasteland and so they don't own one (yet apparently feel that the movie studios produce nothing buy fine quality entertainment well worth the price of admission).

    And if you're on the road, it would be nice to have some movies handy, rather than hauling around their DVDs or whatever.

  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

    0
    03/31, 03:04pm | report spam | Reply |

    What they mean...

    We want to set business models, pricing models, distribution models like (Apple chief Steve) Jobs did for music, but for the film industry," Mr Arrieta told CNET news." Sony and other movie studios are looking to prevent Apple or other single entity from taking a leadership/power position in the digital film world.

    In other words, "No one thought online music sales had a chance, and now Apple tells us and threatens us to get the prices THEY want. So, we want to make sure we get as much money as possible, so we want to set all these price structures and restrictions up beforehand and Apple can take it or leave it!"

    And what's with the flash memory? Are they just positioning this service for stupid cell phone use (yes, "The Matrix" on my 3x2 inch screen just rules!) or is their idea of how to make sure someone doesn't 'steal' their movies, by putting them on a different media and making them copy-protectable.

    However, I don't think I'm the one who should be commenting about this, as I don't rent DVDs, buy PPV movies, nor go to the theaters (for the 5 movies a year that might be worth the time, effort, bother, and cost, there's 200 that's just "I spent $3 to see this c***?". At least with TV you can change channels until you find something worthwhile.)

  1. swatson

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2000

    0
    03/31, 03:09pm | report spam | Reply |

    they have

    a decent portable movie watching device in the PSP. If i could burn a song to disk, or put it on a gig memory stick pro. They might have something.

    also

    RE: Who wants to watch their 'dumb' movies anyway
    I liked Spider Man 1 & 2, and a lot of other people did too

  1. iolaire

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2001

    0
    03/31, 03:09pm | report spam | Reply |

    on demand - yes

    Recently I've started subscribing to Comcast's HBO. With it I get HBO on demand and we watch it a lot. The convenience is so nice - especially combined with HBO's high quality original content. But I've never paid for a Comcast on demand movie - we get our movies from the library - that should explain why. But I bet others do? I could see many people buying online. But I don't know if people would be happy if they do the iTunes model and make you back up the movies you purchased!

Show More Comments

Login Here

Not a member of the MacNN forums? Register now for free.

 
close
Photo
toggle

Network Headlines

toggle

Most Popular

MacNN Sponsor

Recent Reviews

Logitech FabricSkin Keyboard Folio for iPad

Since the fourth-generation iPad didn't evolve much over its predecessor, the market for iPad accessories has remained somewhat static ...

Huawei Ascend Mate

The Huawei Ascend Mate is a phone that fits the screen-size gap between the 4 to 5-inch smartphone and the seven-inch or more tablet, ...

MaxUpgrades MaxConnect for 2006-2008 Mac Pro

Nobody outside of Cupertino's privileged bunch knows the future of the Mac Pro line for sure. Despite Apple's reluctance to tell us wh ...

toggle

Most Commented

 

Popular News