Top 6 Reasons To Be Choosy About Legal Movie Download Companies
As paying consumers, we want to be sure we are getting the best deal for our dollars. Whether it's buying a television or buying a music CD, it's important we know that our money has been well spent.
With the advances in Internet technology it is becoming increasingly easier to legally download major motion pictures via digital methods, for a price. Before you whip out your credit card, here are some things to consider about the digital movie download company you may be considering giving your hard earned cash to.
1. Picture Quality - Most movie download sites try and keep this to the bare minimum to reduce the urge of customers to "burn". Some movies will have noticable pixelation or "bands" running through them throughout the duration of the movie. Unfortunately, there are no services that offer extremely high video quality that is comparible to purchasing a physical DVD from your local store at the time of this writing. Most legal movie download services will give you a picture width of around 640 pixels. This is generally the standard, although there may be some exceptions to this rule.
2. Restrictions, Restrictions, Restrictions - This is the big determining factor in many a consumer's decision with regards to movie download sites. There are often times so many restrictions that one has to wonder why they would even consider this option compared to venturing down to the local video store to rent a movie. Most legal movie download sites will not allow any type of DVD burning whatsoever. With the exception of CinemaNow.com, most DVD burning is prohibited. Beyond this point, complications can also arise from what types of formats the downloaded movies are available in. Different file types require different types of movie software viewers such as Windows Media Player, Real Player, or iTunes.
3. Download Times - Of course, with all things downloadie, download completion times will vary. It is much easier for those people utilizing a broadband or high speed internet connection to get their movies faster. And so most of the legal movie download sites will tailor their services to this group. It is possible to download movies on an ancient Dial Up connection, but downloads could take 24 hours or longer to complete. Which is not a good thing as most of the movie download services require you to download and view your movies within a 24 hour period.
4. Available Titles - This is also a huge determining factor for sign ups to legal movie download sites. The reason being is that most paying subscribers are use to having an excellent, growing selection of movie titles normally found at the local video rental store. But, with downloadable movies, the selection leaves little to the imagination. Sites such as www.CinemaNow.com and www.Vongo.com have the greatest selection, however newer titles are yet to be added to the mix, making it more difficult to pick up new subscribers. Add to that the fact that most titles available for download are a few years old or more, it makes the process of sign ups even more strained.
5. Burn Options - This is the "make or break" deciding factor for many folks. With the ease of downloading and burning of illegal movie downloads to recordible DVD discs, the legal sites don't stand a chance. Trying to control the "allowed to burn" option is one that legal movie download services should really consider adding. As paying customers, people want this option desperately. But it is being slighted repeatedly. As of the writing of this article, only 1 company offers this service, www.CinemaNow.com. Understandibly, motion picture associations want to control how their properties are owned, and, of course, how they collect the fees for ownership. Ignoring the digital age will do them no good in the long run. Hopefully in the next few years, this will be a more widely available option for their digital consumers.
6. Pricing - This is always debatible. What are you really paying for with legal movie download sites? Selection? Convenience? Ability to Burn Movies? Whatever your selling point on a particular service, you should always be sure you are getting what you want to pay for. Be sure to read thoroughly their website terms, use of their service, and options offered. There is a lot to go through, but be sure you know what you are getting BEFORE you hit the "Pay Now" button. Of course, pricing will vary from site to site and can range anywhere from $3.99 per movie up to $29.99 for monthly subscriptions for movie download services.
The top 5 legal movie download sites can be found at:
www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16261631
