網(wǎng)上電影租賃升溫但阻礙仍存

1、每天前20名注冊(cè)可獲免費(fèi)名師輔導(dǎo) 學(xué)英語(yǔ)記詞匯練口語(yǔ)真人一對(duì)一教學(xué) 搶注網(wǎng)址： 網(wǎng)上電影租賃升溫但阻礙仍存Sun Apr 4, 2:02 PM ET By Rob Pegoraro (中文大意)從網(wǎng)上租借電影光盤(pán)的主意現(xiàn)在看起來(lái)比兩年前要現(xiàn)實(shí)得多，當(dāng)時(shí)一個(gè)名為“Movielink”的電影光盤(pán)租借網(wǎng)站剛剛創(chuàng)建。現(xiàn)在，隨著互聯(lián)網(wǎng)傳輸速度越來(lái)越快，用戶(hù)已經(jīng)習(xí)慣于在網(wǎng)上租借電影光盤(pán)在家庭影院系統(tǒng)中播放，“Movielink”也不再是一枝獨(dú)秀，其有了一個(gè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手“CinemaNow”。更重要的是，諸如蘋(píng)果公司的iTunes和Roxio公司的Napster等網(wǎng)絡(luò)音樂(lè)服務(wù)的發(fā)展已經(jīng)顯示，用戶(hù)愿意在網(wǎng)上購(gòu)買(mǎi)價(jià)

2、格優(yōu)惠的電影。但是，電影租賃網(wǎng)站本身并沒(méi)有像iTunes發(fā)展得那樣快，盡管他們現(xiàn)在提供的下載速度要比以前快得多。分析人士稱(chēng)，原因是網(wǎng)上租賃業(yè)務(wù)銷(xiāo)售的光盤(pán)內(nèi)容和種類(lèi)有限，而且與離線(xiàn)零售店相比價(jià)格上仍然略高，這使得他們?cè)诟?jìng)爭(zhēng)當(dāng)中對(duì)用戶(hù)的吸引力不足。另外，雖然現(xiàn)在用戶(hù)可以在沒(méi)有下載完整部電影之前就開(kāi)始觀看，但下載的時(shí)間仍然較長(zhǎng)，如果連接速度不快有時(shí)需要等待一個(gè)小時(shí)。CinemaNow的下載速度不錯(cuò)，但用戶(hù)需要擁有足夠的帶寬才能確保電影的畫(huà)面質(zhì)量不打折扣。另外，兩家租賃網(wǎng)站的服務(wù)計(jì)費(fèi)均是從用戶(hù)開(kāi)始瀏覽就計(jì)算上了，而不是從下載完成之后才開(kāi)始計(jì)算，這意味著表面的服務(wù)費(fèi)比實(shí)際上的服務(wù)費(fèi)要低很多。最后，用戶(hù)還

3、不能將下載下來(lái)的電影復(fù)制到CD或是DVD光盤(pán)上在機(jī)器上播放或是將它們轉(zhuǎn)移到另外一臺(tái)計(jì)算機(jī)上，除非你擁有一個(gè)與電視機(jī)匹配的連接器，可以在電視上觀看，否則你無(wú)法將下載內(nèi)容轉(zhuǎn)移到其他硬盤(pán)上。 The idea of renting movies online seems a lot less silly than it did two years ago, when a site called Movielink debuted. Internet connections have gotten a little faster, weve had time to get used to the id

4、ea of the computer as home theater and Movielink (www.M) has been joined by a competitor, CinemaNow (). Most important, music services like Apples iTunes and Roxios Napster have shown that people will buy fairly priced downloads, even when the same stuff is available for free on file-sharing systems

5、. But the movie-rental sites themselves havent improved nearly as much, to judge from a week of trying out each. CinemaNow and Movielink now offer better downloading options that reduce or eliminate the lengthy wait to transfer a movie to a computer.But they still carry too few titles at too high a

6、price. Theres very little here to lure anybody from ordinary movie-rental stores, DVD-by-mail services like Netflix, or cable and satellite pay-per-view options.Both CinemaNow and Movielink look and work alike in some respects. You must run Windows to watch anything at either site. Both require load

7、ing their own download-management software as well, but Movielink is more annoying to use - the site cant even be viewed in any browser but Internet Explorer and was agonizingly slow. Forget using either site without a broadband Internet account - these movies weigh in at 500 or more megabytes apiec

8、e. Although you can start watching movies before theyve finished downloading, that still involves a wait of at least a few minutes and as much as an hour, depending on your connection. (Over a 608-kbps digital subscriber line, Finding Nemo took 2 hours and 22 minutes to finish downloading.) CinemaNo

9、ws streaming-media options permit almost immediate viewing, but to avoid sacrificing quality youll need enough bandwidth to accommodate its full 700-kbps feed.These sites rental rates start at $2.99 for up to 48 hours of viewing - the clock starts ticking when you first begin watching, not when the

10、download completes - but all the flicks I rented cost $3.99 or $4.99 and allowed 24 hours of use.CinemaNow offers a few other pricing choices. You can sign up for $9.95 or $29.95 Premium Pass monthly subscriptions that include unlimited rentals; the more expensive plan adds access to an After Dark c

11、ollection of adult movies. The site also sells 30 rather obscure titles as so-called permanent downloads - Manilow Live! can be yours for $14.99 if you have a hankering for the syrupy singers work.You cant copy any of these downloads to a CD or DVD for viewing on a DVD player or move them to another

12、 computer. If you own a laptop with a TV-compatible connector, such as a composite-video or S-Video jack, you can plug it into your set for viewing on a bigger screen, but otherwise each rental stays welded to your hard drive.Movielink offers its titles in RealVideo and Windows Media formats; Cinema

13、Now only provides Windows Media downloads. Picture quality varies but never comes close to DVD; for instance, Movielinks wide-screen-formatted titles have a resolution of 512 by 288 pixels per frame, or less than half that of a wide-screen-enhanced DVD.To my eyes, these services downloads come close

14、st to regular cable TV, aside from occasional outbreaks of pixilation or blurring in busy or cluttered scenes. Both CinemaNow and Movielink suffer from a pathetically thin selection - 854 and 747 titles as of Friday afternoon. Since many movies are made available to these sites only for limited peri

15、ods before moving to cable and satellite TV (for example, Finding Nemo was no longer available after Saturday from either service) those numbers fluctuate over time. Unless youre looking for a movie from the past few years, the odds weigh heavily against you finding it on either site. Half of the ti

16、tles I considered renting - for instance, Heathers, Glengarry Glen Ross and Office Space - werent available.The older the flick, the worse your chances: Of the top 10 titles on the American Film Institutes greatest American movies list, Movielink provides only one (Lawrence of Arabia) and CinemaNow

17、offers none. Movielinks chief executive, Jim Ramo, explained that until the late 90s, studios didnt buy Internet distribution rights, which means the site must negotiate with individual copyright holders for each movie. Ramo noted that he cant provide Ferris Buellers Day Off, because the rights to t

18、he song Twist and Shout, which plays in one scene, would cost too much to obtain.Who would want to put up with services as dysfunctional as this? Its hard to imagine.College students who have broadband Internet but lack TVs in their dorm rooms might appreciate not having to return a DVD to the store. Then again, most college students dont have money either and will probably stick to the free file-sharing services.And I suppose that Afte