"An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted." - Arthur Miller

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Sony UMDs not selling

In news of the "Duh" kind, recent reports indicate that the UMD format for movies, only playable on the PSP, are not selling well. Let us count the obvious reasons why not. To begin with the average UMD is $20. The average DVD is $15-$20 depending if on sale or not. On top of that, the UMD has limited space. The result is you get just the movie. None of the extras like commentary and behind the scenes stuff. On top of that, UMDs can only be played on the tiny PSP, while DVDs can be played...well anywhere. So basically you pay more and get much much less buying a UMD. Usually that means a price difference, but in the pretend world that Sony lives in, less equals pay more. If Sony is truly serious about this format, they will compete in the one area they can, the price. The price point must be in the $5-$10 range to stand a chance. If they can't do that, they might as well give up on the format.

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