Thursday, September 30, 2010

A Sampling Of The Best Movie Downloads Services Online

By Megan Bradley

We're a wired culture with the ability to satisfy and curiosity, question, or whim at a moment's notice. Many times multitasking has the inclusion of background music, taking time to social network, or watching your favorite movie while you work. You don't have to go to the video store anymore to get what you want and even the expense of pay per view is a thing of the past. The internet has democratized what we can do with entertainment and the prices are lower than ever.

The leader in on demand movies is NetFlix which started as a subscription service that would send movies directly to your home. As time has gone on, they've recently expanded into instant movie streaming either through your computer, a playstation game system, and in the future will extend to the Wii. Entertainment is a menu and you can choose what you want to eat and where.

The technology of video on demand (VOD) can stream in real time through a specific box connected to your television, a digital video recorder (DVR) or your computer. Streaming videos gives the same variability as if you were watching a DVD - you can still fast forward, pause, rewind, jump chapters and frame, etc.

This freedom with movie downloading has been around for quite some time, but it's only been recently that the business has legitimized itself toward paying websites. There are a multitude of websites that can allow you to get movie downloads from peer to peer networks, exactly like the file sharing that has changed the music industry over the last decade. However, besides the quality of free downloaded movies being suspect, there is the increased chance of putting your computer at risk for malware. Adware or spyware can be downloaded along with the movie you choose and can slow down your computer as well as steal your personal information. Legitimate movie downloading sites offer you quality and protection.

Apple's iTunes, Starz's Vongo, Amazon's Unbox, CinemaNow and MovieLink are five movie downloading sites that offer an alternative to the behemoth that is NetFlix. If you're going to watch movies on your video iPod, there is only one choice and that is going through iTunes. The price per download is one of the more expensive services at 12.99 for the first week, 14.99 for new releases, and 9.99 for older titles.

Because you are only able to watch your downloads on an iPod or your computer, the price is exorbitant for the limited number of venues to watch your movie. Also, iTunes does not offer free movie selections and, for families, it has weak parental controls and no subscription or rental options. It's a hard pill to swallow to be forced to purchase a movie rather than just spending a little to watch one.

The Starz library of films is what powers it's download service Vongo and, as such, it does not offer current movie titles. However, being a rent-only site makes it more palatable to watch whatever you want without having to commit to a high price. The current subscription price for Vongo is 9.95 a month.

Amazon, the book selling as well as everything under the sun behemoth, has branched out into the movie downloading business with great results. Any movie you download can be viewed in multiple machines and platforms, all coupled with extremely sharp image quality. Their menu of choices also include both TV and movies for prices topping out at 3.99.

The most comprehensive site is CinemaNow which has a library of 4,000 movies including new releases, but sets itself apart by having options to subscribe, rent one at a time, buying a movie, watching some for free, and best of all, being able to burn the movies you watch onto a DVD.

One of the cheapest and best used as a quick fix for boredom is MovieFlix which, for 7.99 a month gives you access to large database of movies excluding new releases. The image quality is better than free, but not as good as NetFlix, Amazon, or CinemaNow. Depending on your devices, your needs, and really you wants, there is a movie downloading site to quench your thirst for entertainment.

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