R.I.P. UMD

Sony UMDs (Universal Media Discs), the medium used for movies on the Sony PSP, have clearly been all but universal. In the 2 years they have been on the market, they have been extremely slow moving products, and who couldn't have predicted that? Buying a movie that you can ONLY watch on the PSP (universal my ass) at an equal or greater price than the DVD version. What motivation does that give anyone, especially people without PSPs who may be thinking about getting one, to buy these? None.

Well, it looks to be the end of the line for the UMD. Target, one of the largest retailers of the format (Wal-Mart dropped them in early Spring), has pulled the discs from their shelves. They say they will still offer them on their website, but that's just so they can dump their inventory I'm sure.

You know the cutting edge? Well, Sony has always seemed to be on the opposite edge when it comes to media; the edge that, while still innovative, is almost counterproductive and consistantly flies warp speed right into obsolescence. They've gone through so many formats (including the MD (mini-disc) most notably), almost all of them introduced as "competing formats" like all those Japanese companies love to do, and all of them have flopped. Ironically, the last Sony media format that didn't flop was the 3.5" floppy disc, but that was over 20 years ago.

They just don't seem to know when to quit. The next big thing is Blu-Ray, a high definition, high capacity media format, which is competing with HD DVD. It's just now getting started, and from what I've seen it looks great, but then again so does the HD DVD. However, if everything goes according to Sony's business plan, stores should be pulling Blu-Ray discs from their shelves by New Years.











Regardless of how their previous formats have done, they haven't quit, and all Sony bashing aside, you have to respect them for staying in the race and always innovating. I assume it's respect they're due, and not more bashing for being stubborn, but I can live with either. Innovation is what leads to great new products, and whether they are responsible for those products or not, they certainly have a hand in everything.

Anyways, back to UMDs, another factor that may put these babies to rest is Apple. Apple has their hands in everything, just like Sony, they just grab a whole lot more. Apple is negotiating with movie studios to get digital movies onto their website. In the footsteps of the iTunes craze, they want to sell downloadable movies for $9.99. The studios, because they are and have always been RETARDED, are opposed. Their counter offer was a price bracket system or some bullshit like that based on the age of the movie, with new releases costing $19.99 and old movies at $9.99. The studios obviously don't understand supply, demand, volume...common sense. They have no concept of what the market is today, and I'm not just talking about the movie market, I'm talking about (Bryan, you're going to love this) the entire basket of goods and services market. They are so blind! If they had any sense, they would throw every movie they had ever produced at Apple and let them do what they want with it. They'll make you rich. And $9.99 is the only way to do it. Just like the UMD argument, why would someone pay $20 for a digital copy of a movie that could only be played on their computers (unless burned or ripped to a jump drive), when they could get the DVD version for equal or lesser value? By the way, how hard is it to copy a DVD with a DVD-R? Yeah, not. So it doesn't make sense NOT to do this if you're a studio.

Speaking of studios, Disney is cutting it's production from 18 movies a year to 8. Along with the production cut comes layoffs, a lot of them, but this means that Disney will stick to making 8 great movies a year, and not waste time on the bad ones. I think it's a good idea, a great business move for them, and I just had to put that in there. Here's the full story.

So, with ALL that stuff being said, Sony has decided to bring a new PSP movie format to market. They are going to sell packages that include a Sony Memory Stick and a CD with 4 pre-loaded movies on them. The disc will come with a code that will allow the customer to transfer 1 of the 4 movies from the disc (Hitch, S.W.A.T, The Grudge, and XXX: State of the Union at the moment, BLOCKBUSTERS!), put them on the memory stick, and load them onto your PSP.











WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?! This is just another page in Sony's book of terrible media choices. First of all, PSP movies aren't in high demand, obviously. I thought they cleared that up with the UMDs. Second, there are so many ways of ripping movies from DVD or any other format to your PSP it's rediculous. Nobody is willing to pay for PSP specific movies, and they have no reason to be. Third, 2 days after this is released, someone will hack the disc, and everyone will find out how to get all 4 movies onto the PSP. Last but not least, the movies they're offering SUCK! If this has any chance of working, the media they release needs to be their best, not their worst. I just don't understand them. The only good thing out of this deal is the memory stick.

So that was my rant about Sony. I gave them a little respect in there, but hopefully it was drowned out by all the bashing, and man do they deserve it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to run out and get the XXX: State of the Union special edition UMD.