It took long enough, but Wal-Mart now has its own movie download service online. The retail company has been whining about this alternative to DVD consumption for over a year, and it may even have halted the progress of iTunes and other services. But there was no way that it couldn't follow the format into the future; in November it officially entered the download game with a single title, Superman Returns.Of course -- as if we didn't see this coming -- Wal-Mart is offering some movies and TV shows at a cheaper rate than the competition. It also has titles from all of the major studios, though it is missing most of the major television networks. So far it only has 3,000 titles, with newer movies sold for a higher price than older movies, just as other services do. The site launched today is also only in a Beta stage, so it could have some glitches (it won't work at all in Firefox) -- though hopefully none as bad as the recommendations scandal.
Wal-Mart could be hurting itself a bit by giving in and selling movie downloads, as this will only contribute to the problem of decreased DVD sales, which the company depends on so dearly. But the decision to finally launch a download service may be in relation to news that Hollywood is permitting download-to-burn technology, which will likely be used in download kiosks that will be located in Wal-Mart stores. With these kiosks, Wal-Mart could still attract customers the same way it currently does with low-price DVDs. Still, Wal-Mart isn't yet allowing its downloads to be burned to a disc. It hopes to allow this later in the year -- probably after it figures out a definite kiosk game plan.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-05-2007 @ 4:56PM
DeWayne(FilmCritic) said...
Well, seeing Walmart jump into the movie download realm is not surprising. I have not tested out their movie download service yet, but I want to say that Amazon Unbox is the worst.
If Amazon Unbox gets their software fixed, then maybe I will give them another shot. Some of the movie download companies I have tested...really do have quality videos.
I mainly do horror movie reviews and many of these movie download companies are horror movies in and of themselves. Not to mention, these companies need to get a better selection of "NEW" movies!
DeWayne(FilmCritic)
MovieDownloadMatrix.com
Movies That Bite Back!
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