back to article Films-on-USB kiosks come to airports

Travelling to the US this summer? Take your Android tablet or Windows laptop with out and you may be able to grab a movie or two on USB stick for the flight home. The oddly named Digiboo this week began rolling out kiosks at US airports which allow travellers to buy or rent one or two films which are copied onto a USB Flash …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Or why not just connect via wifi and download a film off iTunes etc. Most people would sort this out before they get to the airport...

    1. Bill Neal
      Pirate

      WiFi

      Many US airports have free internet via WiFi anyway, so you could just download while you wait to board.

  2. Andrew Jones 2
    Thumb Up

    Drop the DRM for purchased films (keep it for rented) purchased films do not need DRM.

    Otherwise a good idea.

  3. Bakunin
    Devil

    DRM? Will not buy.

    Well good luck to them, but I certainly wont buy a film with DRM (or rent one for that matter) and I encouraneg friends not to either.

    So with the purchased films what happens if I want to watch it on another device? Or I do a reinstall? Or either of those two if the company goes under?

    Rent or buy? With DRM you're always renting until the company decides otherwise.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: DRM? Will not buy.

      DRM for renting seems fair - it needs to expire else what's the difference from a bought film?

      1. Christian Berger

        Re: DRM? Will not buy.

        The point is, renting a computer file simply doesn't make any sense. Having a "renting" offer only means that this will foster piracy from people who "rent" the film in order to remove the DRM.

        It's wrong to sustain business models which collide with reality, and it's wrong to lie to content creators that DRM works and is advantageous to them.

  4. Matt_payne666

    buy a standard definition film?

    sorry, but iwhat decade are we in?

  5. kinhardware
    Facepalm

    Shame about the activation step needing an Internet connection.. I guess one thing they should do is have a wifi hotspot built into the kiosk that can be used to do this relatively easily/quickly. Still, it's an extra step that complicates the process which won't do them any favours.

  6. leeeeeb

    You can tell this was invented and pitched before the studio DRM requirements were fully realised. Impulse buy a movie straight onto a memory stick at the airport, great idea. Introduce an element of DRM with online activation, and you instantly lose customers and create a sizeable customer support issue.

    In fact even without the DRM, would it not be more convenient to do this by integrating it with the terminal wifi? Add some NAS storage and a web shopfront to the access points frontpage, and flyers could purchase and download whilst sat waiting to board.

    1. Captain Underpants

      Good idea, though I wouldn't bet on the average airport Wifi deployment having been designed to support even local high-bandwidth transfers of the sort that this would involve (assuming 700-1500MB per film and a user uptake of >1 user per 30-minute period).

      Same, only more so, goes for using terminal wifi to get a film from iTunes (unless the airport has some sort of amazing backbone plugged straight into an Apple datacentre).

      1. leeeeeb

        Hmm, some quick back of an envelope numbers tell me you could do a 1GB in about a minute using wireless N (assuming 150Mbps). That's of course in the fantasy world of perfect conditions, the QoS of public wifi is probably so poor that the idea is hopeless for a few years yet.

    2. Christian Berger

      Why not go a step further?

      Well in fact why not just have a similar arrangement TV stations have, just allow them to "broadcast" movie for everyone to record. Essentially just setting up a NAS box somewhere and allowing people who are in the room, to download those movies for free. Make it some kind of complimentary service to premium customers inside your lounge.

      Since there is no DRM to pay, and no individual licenses to be managed, this could be very cheap. A europe-wide broadcast of a movie often costs only double digit sums, so something like that could be very cheap.

  7. Miek
  8. Captain Underpants
    Thumb Down

    DRM for rentals? well, alright.

    For purchased files? At $15 a go? You're having a %^&*ing laugh, especially given that most larger airports (of the sort where this scheme is likely to be feasible) will have tax-free shops with an HMV/Zavvi or whatever where you can probably get an optical-media copy of the same film for the same price or less.

    Once again, a good idea ballsed up by moronic industry thinking. *sigh*

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Which airports?

    I can see it being useful for people flying with crappy old-tech airlines like United, but the likes of BA and KLM already offer seatback screen & a big video library, for anyone who's insomniac enough to not want to just rest with their eyes shut anyway.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Too expensive.

    Too restrictive.

    Too low resolution.

    Too small selection.

    Too much hassle.

    Too easy to download non-DRM'd movies.

    1. Keep Refrigerated
      Trollface

      Re: Too Do List

      Don't worry, the content industry would like to assure you that they are pouring millions of dollars into solving the problem... the last problem... on your list.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Too Do List

        I'm not worried, they might be able to get a bit of a stranglehold on the internet, but they haven't got a chance against Sneakernet.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakernet

  11. Lee Dowling Silver badge

    Or I could just buy a DVD before I go.

    No DRM. No Internet activation. Can copy to hard drive, USB, or just carry the disc (Region restrictions a slight inconvenience and nothing more). Permanent "ownership". Some resale value. I can change laptop whenever I like without losing the movie.

    And probably quite a bit cheaper.

    1. Scott 40
      WTF?

      I don't know where you buy your DVDs, but almost all the ones available in the US have DRM of some sort. It is not a trivial task to copy them to the hard drive.

      1. Captain Underpants

        Aye, but you still have a hard copy of the source for your efforts, which can be read with relative ease through a variety of hardware and software solutions (not to mention bypassed in a variety of ways).

        No guarantees along those lines with this offering.

  12. Gordon Fecyk
    FAIL

    Corporate notebooks + non-admin = no sale

    No good IT department would permit staff to take company property and install unauthorized software on it, including whatever DRM this kiosk system uses.

    Here's the evil part: Said staff would then call from the airport to their IT department helpdesk. "I'm sorry, Director of Whatever, company computer policy Charter X Part Y prohibits employees from installing unauthorized softtware." And then I'd be out of a job just because I was doing my job.

    So thank-you, Digiboo, for becoming a possible source of IT unemployment.

  13. Milkfloat

    If you are going to go to the effort to get your device onto the internet to authorise the DRM, then you may as well just torrent or legitimately download a film. It was a nice idea until DRM reared its ugly head.

  14. JaitcH
    Stop

    I wonder if, like so E-books, if ...

    world regional controls are imposed on registration and preventing validation if you try it outside the country of purchase.

    And how do they handle compensation if the copy is defective?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Travelling to the US this summer? Take your Android tablet or Windows laptop with out and you may be able to grab a movie or two on USB stick for the flight home."

    Let me fix that for you:-

    "Travelling to the US this summer? Take your Android tablet or Windows laptop with out and after having it data raped on the way in, you may be ripped off buying a DRM infested movie for the flight home."

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