9 ms·

Redbox is a much smarter business model. No rental space or employees needed.

by pdq 8y ago

jedberg 8y ago
But doesn’t solve the problem. Selection is very limited due to the lack of space.
- st26 8y ago
  Is that really the problem? Everybody endlessly talks about how Netflix has failed to crack the recommendation nut for something like ten years now. Maybe a smaller, more curated selection will make a comeback, as the pendulum swings away from infinite selection (of mostly garbage).
  - oriolid 8y ago
    The problem with Netflix, at least in Europe, is that good films are removed and garbage stays.
    - girvo 8y ago
      Its the same in Australia. Annoying as all get out. Stan has a much better selection.
ghaff 8y ago
It solves the renting current blockbusters problem but, for most people with decent internet, that's not much of a problem and Redbox' results reflect that. As another commenter noted, Redbox doesn't solve the back catalog problem and Netflix increasingly doesn't either. Going forward you may have to go back to just buying discs for some types of films. (Torrents aren't very consistent with old movies either.)
- namibj 8y ago
  I have to digress, regarding the availability of torrents for old movies. At a recent conference I got a chance to look at the content of a non-public site, and it's by far the most comprehensive catalog of movies with a "delivery time" of less than 24 hours for anything cheaper than FedEx overnight. There were next to no dubbed audio tracks though. It certainly was an interesting view into what already exists and appears to hold itself with just (comparatively) minimal resources on the side of the platform, judging by the absence of anything that looked like it was begging for money. The guy who let me take a look said the best part of it was that it pretty much "just worked", and noted the hassle with physical media handling and DRM breaking in non-standard display configurations/systems being the main reason they don't just buy discs. I mean, we can do games without DRM, why can't we do the same with movies? Sure some will get copied. But it's not too hard to e.g. watermark content or otherwise go after those who share content illegally. If there was a way to buy instant-download DRM-free movies from a comprehensive catalog while paying a reasonable amount for each movie, that would drive many people away from torrents, at least those, that would buy if there were no torrents (i.e., that do it for convenience, not financial reasons). It seems like the MPAA would rather leave that market segment out -- despite music showing that people do buy if they have the financial means and the UX is competetive -- than coordinating the creation of a single such service. Make each rightsholder set his price, and do it as some organisation that doesn't have to provide ROI from skimming money off of each transaction (like amazon marketplace, paypal and ebay).

Redbox is a much smarter business model. No rental space or employees needed.

by pdq 8y ago

Redbox is a much smarter business model. No rental space or employees needed.

jedberg 8y ago

But doesn’t solve the problem. Selection is very limited due to the lack of space.

st26 8y ago
Is that really the problem? Everybody endlessly talks about how Netflix has failed to crack the recommendation nut for something like ten years now. Maybe a smaller, more curated selection will make a comeback, as the pendulum swings away from infinite selection (of mostly garbage).
- oriolid 8y ago
  The problem with Netflix, at least in Europe, is that good films are removed and garbage stays.
  - girvo 8y ago
    Its the same in Australia. Annoying as all get out. Stan has a much better selection.

ghaff 8y ago

It solves the renting current blockbusters problem but, for most people with decent internet, that's not much of a problem and Redbox' results reflect that. As another commenter noted, Redbox doesn't solve the back catalog problem and Netflix increasingly doesn't either. Going forward you may have to go back to just buying discs for some types of films. (Torrents aren't very consistent with old movies either.)

namibj 8y ago
I have to digress, regarding the availability of torrents for old movies. At a recent conference I got a chance to look at the content of a non-public site, and it's by far the most comprehensive catalog of movies with a "delivery time" of less than 24 hours for anything cheaper than FedEx overnight. There were next to no dubbed audio tracks though. It certainly was an interesting view into what already exists and appears to hold itself with just (comparatively) minimal resources on the side of the platform, judging by the absence of anything that looked like it was begging for money. The guy who let me take a look said the best part of it was that it pretty much "just worked", and noted the hassle with physical media handling and DRM breaking in non-standard display configurations/systems being the main reason they don't just buy discs. I mean, we can do games without DRM, why can't we do the same with movies? Sure some will get copied. But it's not too hard to e.g. watermark content or otherwise go after those who share content illegally. If there was a way to buy instant-download DRM-free movies from a comprehensive catalog while paying a reasonable amount for each movie, that would drive many people away from torrents, at least those, that would buy if there were no torrents (i.e., that do it for convenience, not financial reasons). It seems like the MPAA would rather leave that market segment out -- despite music showing that people do buy if they have the financial means and the UX is competetive -- than coordinating the creation of a single such service. Make each rightsholder set his price, and do it as some organisation that doesn't have to provide ROI from skimming money off of each transaction (like amazon marketplace, paypal and ebay).