Not into downloading The Cave for $25.99 vs $9.99 |
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A couple days ago I lamented how disappointing it was to see the pricing of the new DVDS for download via Movielink and Cinemanow. Yesterday I experienced my concerns firsthand when I saw the DVD The Cave on sale at Best Buy for $9.99 and then last night stopped by Movielink and saw their price for the download of The Cave was $25.99. I could rent it for $4.99 which still seems too high to me.
(Sidenote: I thought the price was actually $26.99 last night … is it possible I just looked at it wrong or the prices move this quickly?)
Now leaving out my movie tastes entirely, which my wife would agree are entirely suspect at times, what is wrong with this picture?
Pricing isn’t some minor detail, Hollywood (of course they aren’t listening to me) and if online DVD downloads are to be the future, then they need to be competitively priced and provide the same experience movie fans can walk into the retail store and receive. I can go buy that DVD from Best Buy or wait for 30 minutes to an hour for it to download and then not have it even play in any of our DVD players? Yeah, I want to pay much, much more for that privilege and convenience. Not.
Think I’ll get in the car and go buy the full meal deal, thank you. Or just wait for The Cave to show up on Vongo as part of our $9.99/month gig. And yes, we still do have Vongo. We’re not using it a lot, but it’s still worthwhile for our usage.
Maybe I should ask you, kind readers who have seen this movie, if it’s even worth $9.99 (no spoilers please)? Sort of looks like Alien meets Piranhas.
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Never saw it, but it looks like a B-rated scifi flick. I wrote a post about this two days ago and got picked up by CNN’s Money. Amusing because I still don’t see how people are justifying the cost. Basically, they’re telling you that the cost of the movie itself (as data) is worth more than the data + medium. Someone definitely didn’t take mathematics in grade school.
What is the deal? I mean if I don’t get something physical with this, then it better be well usable on multiple devices (which it isn’t) and it better be cheaper than the medium driven one. It’s a pathetic excuse to drive downloadable movies without a subscription base. I wonder sometimes how people make that justification since there is no way it costs “MORE” to produce. Just look at downloadable software. Always cheaper if you buy it without the CD. Always.
If they’re looking for better profit margins, forget it. People would rather pay for the gas to drive to Walmart than pay that $25. Apple’s iTunes proved minimizing cost can allow DRM and be a successful business. But if you raise cost, people will just turn towards the lower cost medium, be it piracy or what not. It’s really ridiculous. I have to get off my soapbox now before I choke myself from society’s stupidity.
Comment by darkmoon — April 6, 2006 @ 12:45 pm PST
take it from the metal guy - The Cave sucked. Just sucked.
Comment by Matt Wardlaw — April 6, 2006 @ 1:03 pm PST
There is no way that Movielink is intended to make money. Which is a shame, because it could be a very good business, if it was either priced more competitively or allowed greater flexibility. But since it does neither, it is only a gesture to onliners to quell the requests for online availability. Either that, or just plain stupid.
Comment by Sterling Camden — April 6, 2006 @ 1:39 pm PST
[…] - Movielink site still doesn’t work with Firefox (unless you use the ActiveX plugin maybe?), which means if I link to them, you’ll first be prompted to use IE and second be prompted (is using IE7 anyway) to turn on ActiveX just to be able to view the store page. Why? - three computer only DRM and movies won’t play in regular DVD player - The Cave is still $25.99 when it can be found as cheap as $9.99 in retail stores. Big Momma’s House 2? $26.99. Grandma’s Boy, which we just saw last night as part of our Hollywood rental plan is going for $26.35. Rumor Has It which we also saw recently is going for $27.99 […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » Movielink offers a few new online movie prices at $15.99, still too expensive — May 16, 2006 @ 1:48 pm PST
[…] Meanwhile, Hollywood is moving laboriously toward a model that netizens do like with deals like Guba which allow burning movies purchased online to a single DVD. The Cave currently costs $13.99 via Guba, which is still a few dollars more than we saw the DVD at Best Buy on sale for $9.99 + tax. TV series like Babylon 5 Season 1 cost $1.79 per episode via Guba for a total of $41.17 (and each episode must be purchased individually) and this includes no extras/special features (right?) or packaging. Amazon is selling the Babylon 5 - The Complete First Season (affiliate) DVD for $43.93 with all the goodies and packaging. It’s encouraging to see the movie deal online getting closer, but I will continue to bang the drum that the deal online must be priced less to be successful, just like buying music. Collector’s and fans want the packaging and cover art. […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » RUMOR: iTunes to announce movie rental plan at WWDC, says Think Secret — July 18, 2006 @ 7:25 am PST