Random Access Memories

So I heard the ads (As i’m sure most of you have too) about the new “Moviebeam” service. And I called for more information.

And I got the following info:

• It is $250 for the base unit (there is a 50$ mail-in-rebate that you can be sure most people will either not mail in or not get back).
• The warranty on the unit is one year for parts and? ninety days for labor.
• There is a $29 startup fee.
• Movies are between $1.99 and $9.99 ($1.99 for old movies, $3.99 for new releases, $9.99 for HD releases)? to “rent” for 24 hours on the player.
• You must have a land phone line.
• It comes with 100 movies of their choice preloaded.
• It drops 10 of those movies each week and loads 10 more onto the player.
• You cannot pick which 10 new movies you want.
• Moviebeam does not have foreign movies at all or foreign language subtitles for US movies that often come on DVD.
• Movies might or might not come with the same extras that come on DVDs (Deleted scenes, behind the scenes, etc.)
• About 15 to 20 percent of? movies will be available as soon as they’re available at video stores or Netflix. The rest will be available 30-45 days later, the same time you can see them on pay per view.
• Moviebeam? is partially? owned by Disney, who had moved to abandon the project, but it found new backing from Cisco and Intel.

Personally I think it’s going to bankrupt out without having much impact on the market. They would be much better off taking a loss on the set-top boxes and charging more for the movies.