p2pnet - rss feed: Goodbye Sony UMD
p2p news / p2pnet: Sony’s much-vaunted Universal Media Disc is on it’s way out, from all accounts.
Launched about a year ago, it was supposed to give Play Station users a movie experience but, "At least two major studios have completely stopped releasing movies on UMD, while others are either toying with the idea or drastically cutting back," says PC Magazine.
"And retailers also are cutting the amount of shelf space they’ve been devoting to UMD movies, amid talk that Wal-Mart is about to dump the category entirely."
Jupiter Research’s Michael Gartenberg told vnunet.com UMD movies have always had a difficult value proposition because they cost as much as a DVD, but can only be played on Sony’s PlayStation Portable.
"Sony has to build on that as a platform and get more ways for UMD to be viewed on different devices," he said, adding that UMD will still be there for PSP games, "But for the device to succeed as a movie player, Sony will have to introduce additional accessories that allow consumers to hook up the devices to a television, for instance."
Also See:
vnunet.com - Sony’s UMD Facing Last Rites, March 30, 2006
vnunet.com - Sony’s UMD movies on the chopping block, March 30, 2006
March 31st, 2006 at 5:24 pm
HOW ABOUT LOWERING THE STINKIN PRICES OF THEM AND SOME OF US MIGHT CONSIDER IT!!!
It costs more to buy a UMD than it does a DVD. Some UMD’s are like 30 bucks. The only ones I have bought have been like 15 bucks, and I didnt own them on DVD. And the only one I thought was a good value to buy was the first and second season of Family Guy.
If they want it to prosper… other playing devices wont work. These movies are tiny, and if you put them on the TV, bluring will start… especially if you put it on an HDTV. It just isnt worth it. Since there basically 1/8th the size of a DVD, make them 1/8th the price, OR at least make them half the price as their conterpart. It costs more here to buy say Mr. and Mrs. Smith on UMD than on DVD by 10 bucks. If they want it to work, they have to lower the price of them, if not… ill continue to convert my movies and play them off my memory card, cuz its almost at the point where instead of buying 2 UMD movies, I can buy a 1 gig memory card…. nuff said… heh
March 31st, 2006 at 8:50 pm
It’s a dead duck, just like blu-ray.
March 31st, 2006 at 8:56 pm
and then I realized that it was a stinky SONY product. No way!
Another SONY triumph! Add to the list: Beta, BluRay, DRM, UMD, HA, Ha, ha…
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Don’t forget Minidisk and the sony walkman that didn’t play MP3s.