I haven't posted for a while but when I read this morning that Warner is launching a service that allows you to download or order films from it's back catalogue I just had to find a forum to vent. The first blunder is that the service is only available in the US - people watch and enjoy movies all over the world folks! The second is the pricing is just wrong at $19.95 and downloads at $14.95. Finally there are only 150 titles available!!!!

Making out of print or niche titles available on the internet is a great idea but this can only be characterised as a half baked attempt. The guys at Warner must have missed the fact that there are over a billion downloads a year on the popular file sharing network Mininova and of these 60% are films and TV shows....I wonder how transactions Warner is planning for it's 150 movies priced at $14.95 this year???

The film and music companies may still believe in the economies of scarcity - but what we've seen in the real world is that geographic restrictions or extortionate pricing pushes people to piracy. The way to make digital distribution viable on a commercial basis is to make content widely available, easy to use and ad supported. We're starting to see the future with comapnies like Hulu and iPlayer in the TV and film space and Spotify and desitouch in the music space. So i won't be using the new Warner Archive service....doh! I couldn't if I wanted to anyway 'cos I live in the UK.