Digital Home Thoughts: Forget About RedBox and Returning Movies

"So, how would renting a movie from Flix on Stix work? Basically, you'd step up to a kiosk, browse for a movie (or a TV show, or even a game) using a touchscreen interface, pay with a credit card, and then plug in a thumb drive (your own, or one supplied by Flix on Stix) into the kiosk's USB port."

Here we go again. Remember DIVX? No, not DivX, DIVX. It was a system attempted by Best Buy where you could "rent" DVD-like discs that would play in special DIVX players. You would pony up some cash, and a licensing server would then allow you to watch the DIVX movie on a DIVX player for a certain amount of time. When you are done, you would toss the disc. Not ringing any bells? That is because it failed.

What about Flexplay? It was another DVD-like disc that would pay a "rental" fee and watch the movie on your standard DVD player. The catch? Well, the moment you opened the case, the Flexplay disc would begin turning black where 48 hours later, your DVD player would not be able to read the disc. Yeah, that one did not really take off either.

Well, enter Flix on Stix. It is another "rental" scheme, but instead of playing with plastic media, you download the movie onto a USB flash drive, and then play it on your computer. You cannot use just any media player though. Special software is needed because the movie is encrypted to only allow you to watch for a set amount of time. You also have to wait for the file to transfer to your flash drive (better have a USB 3.0 one!) but the kiosk thoughtfully lets you play games while waiting! Who knows what anyone else in line would do while waiting. If someone has a decent computer, would it not be better to just watch streaming movies?

What did you say? Your Internet connection is kind of pokey? Ever hear of Redbox? Yeah, those DVDs work on computers and even DVD players. And they offer Blu-ray for that high definition experience. And both of those offer the full experience rather than just the movie. So what is great about Flix on Stix? You will have to tell me, because I have nothing.