A Solution in Search of a Problem

If you don't work for Sony, you might be surprised to learn that people aren't interested in buying overpriced movie discs that can only be played on a single device which actually have less content and lower quality video than their DVD counterparts. I guess that only Sony thought that they could convince people to do this.

I have to offer some Full Disclosure type information before I continue. I am a mostly satisfied owner of a Sony PSP, who was finally convinced to buy one after seeing one playing one of my favorite movies, Spiderman 2. I think that my exact quote was "kewl!." That being said, I don't exactly see the appeal of buying UMD movies which were relatively expensive, and seemed to be released almost as an afterthought. When more and more studios started to expand into UMD releases, I seriously wondered if I was missing something. After seeing several articles about this today, though, I have come to the conclusion that UMD movies are a solution in search of a problem.

I think that the concept of UMDs in general is a great hybrid of CD and cartridge based video game technologies. You get the storage benefits of a CD, but the stability, durability, and ease of use that cartridges provide. However, with the prices of portable DVD players coming down to sub $100, I can't justify the extra money to buy both a DVD and a UMD of a given movie, even if it is a favorite of mine, such as Spider-Man, Mystery Men, or Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Those movies benefit from being able to watch them with friends together around a TV, instead of jostling around on a PSP screen. The PSP experience with a movie turns it into a potentially solitary one, which is not what movies are about.

Now that real games are starting to come out for the PSP, such as Maverick Hunter X, Exit, and the great and mighty Lumines, I think that sales for UMD movies will continue to decline. It was a solution to a problem that only existed in Sony's minds.

UMDs not selling all that well