This past Friday night I decided to stay in and watch a movie. Let’s take a look at my options for obtaining a movie to watch.
I could “rent” a movie from Rogers On Demand but they have a pretty limited selection, and the movies have failed to download on a couple of occasions forcing me to call Rogers to make sure my account wasn’t charged for a movie that I didn’t get to watch.
I could download a movie via Bit Torrent which I’d get to keep for as long as I like and could even pass along to friends, but that’s illegal!
I decided to go the old fashioned route and rent a DVD from the Mr. Movie just a few minutes walk from my apartment. This was the only option that required me leaving my apartment, not a huge deal on a nice summer evening, but might suck in a blizzard in February. This was the only option that allowed me to pay cash/debit. This was also the only option that allowed me to ask for advice from an employee that hopefully knows a thing or two about movies (not always the case).
Renting a proper DVD seemed like the best, legal option until I got home and started watching the movie only to find the disc was scratched and skipping all over the place. This does not happen with digital files on a hard drive. The video store had closed for the night and I was stuck with a scratched disc that was skipping all of the scary parts!
Here’s my beef. I would love to be able to download movies legally. iTunes offers this service in the USA, but licensing prevents this same feature from being offered in Canada. That same licensing put in place to protect copyrights will probably lead me to Bit Torrent the next time I feel like a quiet night in with a movie.
This is a classic case of large companies rejecting new technology instead of properly embracing it. I don’t think Hollywood is in as much trouble as the music industry, look at the lines for Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers. But as TVs and surround sound audio systems get bigger and movies are leaked on the internet faster, it won’t be long before people decide not to deal with some inconsiderate jerk kicking their chair and just stay home. If Hollywood isn’t ready for the internet it’ll be in serious trouble.
Sure, if people don’t pay for movies Hollywood won’t be able to make them anymore. Fine. Someone will come along who makes movies AND understands the internet and what consumers want. They’ll take over, it’s really not that big of a deal.
But will it blend?