In the light of a recent Apple announcement that downloadable/rental movies will be coming to the UK itunes store, here are the reasons why I’ve always stuck with a DVD by post service:
- there’s a far greater range of archive films, TV shows etc. available
- DVDs of new films are produced more quickly than online downloads
- you don’t have to tie up an internet connection with the download for several hours
- you don’t need to worry about how much free disk space you have
- you can watch on whichever device you like, e.g. an ordinary DVD player, not just a PC
- you don’t need to worry about DRM, just put the DVD in another drive, and many players are region free
- you get all the subtitles and extras
- with Amazon, Lovefilm et al, you just compile a wishlist and get the next DVD in the post automatically
- amazon give gave you a 10% discount on DVD purchases
- there’s no requirement to finish the film within 24 hours of having begun to watch it, and you can keep the DVD as long as you like until you want another one
And despite all these things, every downloadable film service I’ve seen costs at least as much and typically a pound or so more than the cost of renting an actual DVD through Amazon.
