Online movie download service Movielink upgraded to 2.0

GristyMcFisty lets us know that movie downloading
service Movielink has announced an upgrade to its
website software. Movielink, started in November last year as a venture
of five major Hollywood studios, now offers faster downloads and a number
of new features aimed at making the service more convenient to use. Besides the
upgrade a marketing campaign targetting college students and travelers is also
planned:



"It's fair to say we are growing. We continue to gain momentum
and see increases in movie downloads," Chief Executive Officer Jim Ramo
told Reuters.

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While Ramo declined to offer exact user figures, he
said the site was adding new customers at a rate of between 10 percent and
20 percent a month. The bulk of users remain predominantly male and
between 25 and 49 years old.


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The upgrade, known as Movielink 2.0, has several
features Ramo said customers have told the company they would like. New
software allows users to view the movie while it is still being downloaded
so that a user can begin watching a film within two to 10 minutes of
starting a download.


Previously, users had to watch the movie in one
sitting, and the movie would essentially delete itself from a computer
hard-drive once it was viewed.

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The 2.0 version, however, will allow customers to rent
a movie multiple times within a 30-day period without having to download
again. It also gives users the ability to stop a movie, shut down the
computer, then later resume viewing at the same point.


Previously, Movielink had confined its marketing
strategy to online advertisements, but this fall it will begin buying
print ads and in-store promotional space aimed at college students and
travelers.


"The travel segment is one we're already selling into
and we want to grow that," Ramo said. "A second a market we want to open
up, and we think we are ready to open up, is the college market." He
declined to say how much Movielink is spending.


The college market has previously made up the bulk of
users who have been downloading pirated versions of music and films from
swap sites like Kazaa, Gnutella and Morpheus.


But Ramo said Movielink is comfortable with the
encryption software used to protect movies, and based on anecdotal
evidence, said he believes recent efforts to stem illegal swapping on the
Internet have slowed piracy.


"Piracy continues to be a concern and will always be a
concern. It's just that we now believe we have an alternative that is
competitive," Ramo
said.

Source: Yahoo! News

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