Launching this week is ReelTime.tv, a new service for Australia which will allow users to purchase and download movies and TV shows from the reeltime website. Excellent except for all the usual reasons

The service, which will work only on Windows machines for now, will offer movies from at least one major studio - Universal. Purchased movies will be deliverd as three separate files. One for PC viewing, one for portable device viewing (using Plays4Sure DRM), and one for burning to DVD. The last file may be burned three times to DVD within a thirty day period. After that it’s useless. New releases are being priced at AUD$33.99 (about US$26.50).

Techcrunch » Blog Archive » ReelTime To Launch The Next Failed Movie Model

The idea of letting users download three different files for three different uses is an interesting idea (but here is a better one abandon DRM!). In Australia where there are tough bandwidth limitations downloading three different large files per movie will quickly put most households over the limit. But with Australia’s backward copyright laws it does make a little sense since it would be illegal to convert a DVD into digital files for computer and handheld.

Pricey! Of course the fact that the PC version uses windows media player’s “playsforsure” DRM, AND ties the movie to your computer’s MAC address means that you are out of luck if you want to step out of the box at all, by say replacing your computer in 5 years. Strangely my DVDs don’t stop working when I buy a new DVD player.

The portable version also uses playsforsure which is interesting since the latest microsoft device the zune will not play playsforsure. Neither of course will my ipod. If the file wasn’t crippled by DRM then I could convert it, but it is defective by design so I can’t.

And finally the third file which is for making a DVD from, well it is a proprietary format made to try to limit how it is used. I wonder if it is like CinemaNow’s which some people say makes more coaster’s than playable DVDs

This whole system is bullshit! why would I go through all this pain and suffering just to be allowed to watch a movie. I don’t usually download movies but I certainly would long before I used a system like this one. Apart from a few business people who would never use such a system anyway who would think this was a ReelTime was a good idea. Then I read the fawning interview from APC

ReelTime has addressed the basic problem of giving customers the option to view downloaded content on a variety of formats without having to bypass DRM protection, and this alone makes the service highly attractive to tech enthusiasts in particular.

World first: download-to-own movie service | APC Magazine

I don’t know what the APC magazine is thinking but tech enthusiasts are the last ones I would expect to use a system like ReelTime. They change their computers too often, understand limitations and know how to get their media and content from multiple sources which don’t restrict how that content is used. DRM is no good for anybody, and building your business on the concept that you are afraid that your users will use your content seem inherently wrong.

The only way a movie download service is going to break into the big time is to give the user a better experience than downloading using p2p networks. So far no one has come close, and I don’t think any me too efforts in the near future will do any better

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