Dell Makes DVD Burning Drive for Digitally-Downloaded Content

Dell has plans to make what could be stringent copyright lobbyists' worst nightmare: a PC drive that would let customers take movies downloaded from CinemaNow and burn them to DVDs that can be played in most standard DVD players. While it sounds like a logical function (and let's face it: it is), those who feel strict copyright laws should be enforced will frown upon this device, claiming that it, along with other like devices, "infringes on copyrights".

The drives, which are based on Sonic Solutions' Qflix technology, work in tandem with the Roxio Venue application and specific Qflix CinemaNow titles (there are reportedly about 100 set to be available thus far), to create Qflix DVDs. The drive is already available in the U.S. as an option for most Inspiron, Studio, and XPS notebook PCs, and sells for US$120.

While some movie downloads from the CinemaNow Website are available in Canada, I doubt that this product and service will be. It's just another to add to the list that potential Canadian copyright law changes could deem illegal. This is despite the fact that it makes perfect sense to 1) enjoy content that you've legally purchased anywhere you want; and 2) be able to make back-ups of downloaded movies in case your PC crashes. Not to mention that DVDs created from this program are indeed copy-protected, just like regular store-bought DVDs.

"People are accessing and managing more and more digital content with their PCs," explains Michelle Pearcy, Director of Global Software Marketing at Dell, "but often they're limited by where and when they can view their content. With Qflix, movie fans can now burn their movies and TV shows to DVDs..."

Sonic Solutions' Executive Vice President of Strategy Mark Ely makes a bold statement in claiming that the Qflix technology is "bringing the $35 billion DVD sell-through market into the age of electronic distribution."

While I do see the other side of the coin where content can be mass-produced and sold in an illegal fashion (a la bootlegged content), stopping the development and integration of technology really isn't the answer. With that said, hopefully this product and the Qflix technology will cross over to the Canadian market in the near future.

Dell to Launch iPod Competitor?

Dell is reportedly working on a portable music player and complementary music download software that will rival the Apple iPod and iTunes. We've heard the "rival the iPod" strategy over and over, but no one has really succeeded in coming even close to the iconic device. Could Dell's product be the one to do it?

According to reports, the device Dell is currently testing sounds pretty basic, and is rumoured to sell for around $100 should it become available (some say as early as September). It would use WiFi, and have the ability to connect to a number of different music download services, which are somehow accessed and organized through a Dell software program.

I'm tempted to "yawn" at this announcement. Why? 1) nothing has really been confirmed yet, and 2) many have tried, and none have succeeded in surpassing the iPod in user interface, design, and, most important, consumer demand.

Keep in mind that I'm not an iPod fan nor owner, despite what it might sound like. But you'd have to have been living under a rock for the past few years not to realize that it'll take a heck of a player and software suite to turn people's attention away from their precious i-devices. A few suggestions that might help sway the decision: make music transfer and acquisition easy, find a way to rid the device and the tunes that are loaded onto it completely of DRM, make it accept all music file types, and add an SD or microSD card slot for expandable storage.

Aside from that, it's too bad that Dell just announced it would be getting rid of its standalone kiosk locations in Canada (it has already done so in the U.S.) They could have served as great music downloading stations!