A Movie In Your Pocket

What if you could rent a movie in under 30 seconds by simply inserting a USB flash drive into a kiosk and then watching your rental at home or on the road without ever having to worry about returning a DVD?

That’s precisely the question posed by Digiboo, a new, self-described “digital media download company.”  Digiboo describes its efforts as “as step toward making downloading and distribution of movies and other content much faster and easier.”

Having recently secured funding from actor Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment technology investment segment, Digital Revelations, Digiboo is now preparing to launch a trial run of their “movie in your pocket” product in January with select Hollywood Video and Movie Gallery retail stores.

According to a release by the company, a broader expansion will follow, bringing its digital kiosks to airports, bookstores, coffee shops, college campuses and more.

“There’s no subscription, no set-top box, no out-of-stock movies and no returns,” said Digiboo’s Chief Executive Officer and former President of MGM Home Entertainment Richard Cohen in the statement.  “Digiboo’s technology enables films and other media to be played on many different kinds of devices – providing the seamless convenience and portability that movie lovers have been looking for, and what’s been missing from other models.”

It would seem Blockbuster is also looking to get into the DVD-less rental game, but with the potentially problematic use of SD cards instead.  A Fast Company article that ran earlier this month pointed out a host of issues, among them the facts that SD slots are not universal across PDAs and many computers aren’t SD compatible...not to mention, televisions.

Some critics in the blogosphere also question the motivation behind producing any sort of physical rental device at all, given streaming and video download options available directly online – no extra device needed.

This might be the case in the future, but I would argue that in the interim, a video rental solution that is fast and hassle-free could amass a following.  After all, if no one were renting physical movies any more, Redbox – the company that offers DVD rentals for $1.99 a day dispensed from a kiosk – would not be the thriving business that it’s become.