Movielink Test Run

Found on JoBlo on Saturday, 29 April 2006
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The Movielink announcement last month about releasing VOD movies for purchase left me with a lot of unanswered questions. First, who the hell would pay for this? Why would you spend $20 for KING KONG on your computer when you could go to Wal-Mart and buy the DVD for $14 and watch it on your computer, TV, portable DVD player, etc.

After adding BROKEBACK to my shopping cart and completing my purchase, I'm told I need to download an application titled "Movielink Manager," that will essentially manage the download of the file from their server to mine. Easy enough, right?

My download was scheduled to begin immediately after the Movielink Manager installed but never did. I tried again and still no luck.

I'm told my Windows Media software isn't quite up to date and that if I don't update I won't be able to play Movielink files.

Windows Media Player is now updated and I'm prompted to restart my computer. As you might expect, Movielink recommends saving any other documents before restarting. However the dialog box is not letting me click anywhere outside its parameters leaving my only option to restart my computer and lose all my data (including my running diary).

After a refreshing night of sleep, I check the laptop and find that BROKEBACK finally finished downloading earlier this morning at 12:41am. That's 4 hours and 40 minutes after downloading began on a Verizon DSL connection.

I can already see the dollars rolling in. Seriously, this is probably working exactly as it's designed, so the industry can say: "Hey, we have tried legal downloads, but nobody wanted them. Those evil filesharers never accepted our gracious service".