All in the game: downloads via Xbox 360

Xbox 360 movie downloadsThe best player for movie downloads on the market: the Xbox 360, according to a story in today’s New York Times tech section.

From setup to signup, to selecting a title and starting the show with a press of the remote’s play button, the Xbox 360 is simple. It is as easy to use as the on-demand and pay-per-view services familiar to most watchers of cable or satellite TV. … But at $400 for the model that includes a hard disk, which is needed to download movies, the Xbox is a big investment. If you aren’t a gamer, it is hard to justify spending that amount just to watch a few movies.

Writer Joe Hutsko notes that Xbox Live has 165 titles available for “rental.” A Microsoft spokesman vows there would be at least a title every day added to the service. The Xbox 360 elite, due this winter with its 120-gig hard drive, will make more video-related activities possible.

The story is pretty basic but a decent roundup of movie download options. It goes through the alternatives — the usual suspects such as MovieLink, CinemaNow, Vongo, the Unbox and the only Mac-friendly system, Apple TV.

There are scores of alternatives, but at this stage the movie selection is a factor for each one. Steve Swasey, a Netflix spokesman, said: “Whether it’s Netflix or Apple or Amazon or Wal-Mart.com, we’re all facing the same constraint: title availability.”

Not mentioned is the other advantage to the Xbox 360: its ability to play HD DVD movies. The format is on the run from Blu-ray, but this should be handy for a couple of more years anyway. The add-on HD DVD player, which I own, is cheap in all respects, but once you get it going, the high-definition magic does its thing.

Cool freebie: concert movie download

Bjork at Glastonbury on movie downloadHere’s a sweet deal: Julien Temple’s “Glastonbury,” a concert performance film featuring highlights from three decades of the British festival, will be available to download on MovieLink for two weeks starting June 25.

ThinkFilm’s DVD version of the 2006 film came out Tuesday. Acts include Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Björk, David Bowie, the Killers, Blur, R.E.M. and the White Stripes.

After the two-week freebie, the “Glastonbury” download will set you back $19.99. The performances will be available as a package for $15, or individual artists for $1.99. The free downloads begin the day after this year’s festival wraps.

← Previous Page