Tripping

Tripping
: I’m going to do this on every trip I take from now on: I downloaded a movie from Movielink to watch on the train ride (The Quiet American, grade B). For $4.95 (half off for an introductory offer), you get to keep the movie on your hard drive for 30 days; once you start watching it, you have 24 hours to watch it as often as you want and then, like a secret Mission Impossible message to Mr. Phelps, it self-destructs and erases itself. No DVDs to worry about returning. No late fees. No NetFlix deliveries. I may not watch a bunch of movies this way, but for a few hours on the road, this is great.

: A postscript to my aborted attempt to take the new Limoliner to Boston: On the Amtrak Acela back tonight, I eavesdropped on a guy with a Scottish accent in the next row talking about connectivity on the road and other issues and I figured out: He’s from the Limoliner. I apologized for eavesdropping and asked and, yes, he was headed to New York for a 5 a.m. appearance on WCBS to promote the bus. The incredibly forgetful stewardess on the train messed up his dinner order and I know he was thinking: Next time, the bus.

2 responses to “Tripping”

  1. Sam Avatar

    Interesting service. I wanted to find out more, clicked on the MovieLink link and got this helpful message:
    Thanks for your interest in Movielink, the leading source for movies delivered directly over the Internet. We want you to enjoy our powerful movie download experience, but it is presently unavailable to users outside of the United States.
    Well, OK, could you at least let me visit your homepage and find out anyway, since it is the WORLD wide web? Why block visitors from “foreign” countries visiting your website? Whatever.

  2. Eric Pobirs Avatar
    Eric Pobirs

    It doesn’t sound even remotely tempting unless I was utterly desparate for a movie to watch and had a fast connection handy. DVDs are now commonly found for as little as $5. This includes many worthy products alongside the inevitable dreck. A better comparison, once you get past the introductory price, is the quite substantial range of discs now selling for around $10.
    You get to keep the disc forever. Watch it as many times as you like and when you like. You can even recoup some of your investment by selling it if it doesn’t prove worth keeping.
    The emphemeral download approach has to be much lower priced to be worthwhile.