12.04.06
Multimedia - the next battle ground
Given recent YouTube success, there are many interesting startups now concentrate on the video and music multimedia space ranging from P2P Video delivery that I mentioned in my blog before to media marketplace and movie download and rental services.
Movie download and rental services have been existing for a while. Recent entry from Amazon and soon-to-come ClickStar adds more competition and validation to this market. Here are a bunch I see in the market place: (I round up the number to make price simpler)
| Name | Service | Price |
| AOL Video | Purchase | $10 - $20 |
| Amazon Unbox | Rent or Purchase | $1.00 - $20 |
| CinamaNow | Rent or Purchase | Free - $20 |
| ClickStar | Rent or Purchase | Free - $25 |
| Guba | Rent or Purchase | $1 - $10 |
| iTunes | Purchase | $10 - $15 |
| MovieLink | Rent or Purchase | $1 - $20 |
| Starz | Rent | $10 per month |
| TotalVid | Rent or Purchase | $10 per month |
| Vongo | Rent | $10 per month |
If you are looking for market place, there are a few jumping on the theme that allows independent producers to sell their content online directly to content aggregators or consumers. This is sort of like a ebay marketplace for digital content. The notable ones are inDplay for motion picture and Pump Audio for music.
A lot of these will depend on how quickly and cheaply the last mile broadband can be deployed. In addition, this business takes a lot of funding, deal marking, legal protection and content. The destination is clear, the timing is a little fuzzy, business model is evolving and startups tend to be a hero when they got bought or road kill in the end