Xbox Video Download Service Succeeding By -- Gasp -- Being Decent

Movie download sites and services are playing out to a more predictable storyline than the most trite Hollywood flick: one after another, they all suck. Their offerings are plagued by restrictive copy protection, poor site design and usability and other drawbacks, while many of them apparently ignore their biggest problem for many people -- it's difficult to download a movie then watch it on a TV set rather than a computer. It's hardly surprising to learn, then, that Amazon's movie-download store (which covers all the bases when it comes to these problems) continues to struggle, while the Xbox Live video download service is apparently doing quite well. While the Xbox service isn't perfect, it does offer a few significant benefits, namely that the machines are typically hooked up to a TV, and that it also offers HD content. The HD video appears to be a big draw, because despite its $1 higher price and significantly longer download time, HD content is more popular than the same content in standard definition. While there are only 3.5 million Xbox 360s in the US, video content is selling as well as, or better than on the download sites, which are available to far more PC users. While it may be news to the download site owners, it's hardly surprising that users will flock to services that offer a good user experience.

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