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February 08, 2006
DVD/UMD Bundles Coming
Well, it certainly took them long enough. Sony has finally decided to bundle UMD movies with DVDs for just a few dollars more than the DVD alone. On the bright side, this is a boon thing for customers who are eager to build their UMD collections for (reasonably) cheap. On the dark side, this could be a sign that UMD sales are starting to drop, as Sony suddenly feels the need to start bundling the two formats together. I love the quote from Sony's executive, too:
"A lot of people have DVD players and also have PSPs, and this way for one price they can get one movie and play it back on both formats," he told Reuters.
I wonder how much of the market research budget that conclusion cost. Sony is just now figuring this out? That people haven't forsaken DVDs in favor of UMDs on a Sony PlayStation Portable? If this is a new realization for them instead of just the usual combination of pandering and profiting then Sony is more out of touch with their customers then we could ever have imagined.
Posted by MattG on February 8, 2006 at 08:00 PM in Sony | Permalink
Comments
Next thing you know, Microsoft will realize that Nitnendo WANTS to make games for younger players and notice that things rated M don't sell as well (as a rule of thumb) as those rated E.
Posted by: BGNG | Feb 8, 2006 9:06:54 PM
The really funny thing is that Sony, by crippling their PSP and forcing memory card video to play at decreased resolution, was the primary hurdle in people already being able to convert their legitimate DVD purchases to a PSP-readable format.
The UMD format is doing better than I, at least, expected. That said, Sony should just unlock their artificial resolution limit and let people exercise the rights they already should have with the DVDs they purchase.
Posted by: Muttonchop | Feb 9, 2006 7:01:08 AM
HA! You think you have "rights" with your "purchase" of a DVD? You are mistaken. You are likely not the owner of a lot of your DVDs, the publisher is. They are just allowing you to hold onto it for them, but you must surrender it at any time they demand it back. Furthermore, you are not allowed to make a copy of these DVDs, even for personal archival purposes. A movie not released in your favorite format? Too bad, if you convert it, you are breaking the law.
Now if only I had the millions of dollars required to buy congressmen, maybe power could be restored to the consumer instead of the corporate machines.
Posted by: chad | Feb 9, 2006 2:22:56 PM
Oh believe me, I know the story there, Chad. It's a pain, but as long as the DVDs play in my DVD player and on my computer, I live with it. I don't buy into UMDs though and I'm no fan of rebuying content in "new" formats unless there's something special about the new version. I have a great DVD library now and I'm in no rush to jump to HD-DVD and so on just yet.
Posted by: MattG | Feb 9, 2006 5:36:02 PM
I'm not sure which side of the fence I'm on on this one. I think that if I know how to convert it, I should be able to rip my DVDs and make a backup (hell, I only listened to burned CDs in the car when I had a CD player so that I didn't have to be careful with them).
I bought it, it should be mine to do with as I please. If that means loaning it to a friend, so be it. If it means burning that friend a copy, that's great, too. After all, I bought the DVD. It's no different than when I make a photocopy from a cookbook to give to a friend.
On the other hand, I don't think that just because I own the VHS version of something that I should be able to get the DVD version for free. If I want to make a DVD of my own out of that VHS, though, nobody should stop me.
Posted by: Justin | Feb 9, 2006 5:46:03 PM
To Chad: You've conflated the bundle of rights we call abstract copyright with the physical rights to an object which you've bought. Purchasing an object confers physical rights that are bound to the right to property which is 'inalienable.' The entertainment industry DOES present a lot of incorrect information in this area, affirming and then rejecting the same rights where it suits their profit margins (Example: your CD is only licensed content in a physical container, except when it gets scratched, and then it is your property and they will not honor a 'license' by replacing it free of charge).
Also, you're just flat-out wrong on a lot of info. You ARE allowed to make archival copies of DVD media by law. You are probably NOT allowed to break CSS copy protection which is used on most DVDs (although this issue has been 'decided' by the 2600 case, it is still always a gray area due to different circumvention methodologies. Some probably are prohibited tech, some probably are not).
It sounds like you agree that copyright law needs to be changed or that the system is very flawed. That said, it's a shame you're posting falsities that, if believed, will certainly only make more people believe they have less rights than they actually do. I suggest you read up on it before posting incorrect information some place like here: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
Posted by: Muttonchop | Feb 10, 2006 9:38:06 PM
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