The NEW BitTorrent

On Monday, BitTorrent Inc. opened it’s new iTunes-like digital media store with minimal fanfare but a solid repertoire of material. This author took a little time to investigate the site, which can be found here. The new service is a’ la carte, with movies for rental and TV shows for purchase. All in all, the prices look pretty great. TV shows are priced comparably with iTunes at $1.99 while movie rentals are a cheap $2.99 (BTW, I hate Blockbuster and their $5 rentals…). If the service is technically sound, which I plan to try while I’m home over spring break, I see no reason why it can’t legitimately challenge iTunes, provided the media works on a solid portable media player (cough cough iPod cough).

The bonus…

Some of the content is DRM-free, as Digital Music News reports, though I can bet it won’t be major studios’ material.

Still, this is a pretty big step for the digital media market. Just imagine if something like this would’ve happened when Napster was around. We’d be so much further along in this digital transition, be it better/faster technology, more interoperability or cheaper prices. BitTorrent has been a four-letter word for many of the big media conglomerates, but now the studios and labels are willing to talk because they FINALLY see the dollar signs. Better late than never…