Among the list of sites prepared for the next generation of entertainment delivery, I had never heard of Guba. However, it looks like they are setting some precidents that might change the price of legitimate online movie downloads.
For the last 30 days, Guba has offered new release movies priced at $9.99, catalog titles at $4.99 and TV episodes for 49 cents, though the offerings cannot be burned to a DVD. These prices are at a substantial discount to the current pricing structure at Amazon’s Unbox service ($14.99 and up for new releases, $9.99 and up for catalog titles) and the forthcoming Apple download store, which is likely to bow new release movie downloads at around $15 dollars.
As a collector of movies, I myself have absolutely NO use for “pay for download” services. Guba might have some mighty impressive prices, but you cannot burn these to DVD, so they cannot be added to your collection anyways.
And what about when they do allow these DRM (Digital Rights Management) movies are given the permission to write to DVD, then you end up with a ripped copy with no lable, and no cover art for your dollar store purchased DVD case.
I just dont like the idea of offering movies for download. I know it falls in the “if you can’t beat them, join them” philosophy inspired by the pay legalization of music downloads, but I just dont see any good coming of this at all.
