RealDVD should have been lauded by the movie and television studios as a great step forward.  Software that allowed consumers to copy their legally purchased DVDs while not only maintaining copy protection but adding an extra layer to be sure that the files created couldn’t be shared.  If just one executive in Hollywood had even an ounce of foresight, they would have tried to form a formal partnership with RealNetworks.  Instead, the studios and the MPAA have ensured that millions of content buyers will continue to do things illegally …

Oh do we have fun this week!  After moving through a ton of reader email and comments (THANK YOU!), Josh and Adam get into the question of fair use and recorded TV.  How long should you be allowed to keep your recordings?  Can you archive them forever or are you obligated to buy the DVD series once it’s available?  We try to focus on these questions this week.  (Notice I said we try.  We stray a bit!)
We had some great emails and comments this week and you’ll find links …

A vast majority of the content on Hulu comes either from the web or from broadcast networks ABC, NBC and Fox.  That’s what made me laugh when I read earlier in the week about the company wanting to start charging for access.  How do you get away with charging people to watch free content or crappy movies?
Ok, Hulu was one of the first sites to put a bunch of content together and stream it to people.  You do get first run shows (for a little while) and some other classic …

Another week has come and as the selection gets a bit thinner this week, there are some quality titles to be had!  The one thing I can say for sure is that the Collector’s Pick of the Week was easy.  It was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid and it still is to this day.  You can probably guess which release it is before you get to the trailer at the bottom of the post.
 
Click here to download this week’s episode.
 
On with the listings!
 
Blu-ray

Race to …

eMusic, one of the web’s smaller music providers, today announced a partnership with Sony Music Entertainment that will provide customers access to all of Sony’s catalog which is over two years old.
Beginning in the third quarter, eMusic will offer its U.S. subscribers classic recordings from all Sony Music labels, such as Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive, LaFace, Legacy Recordings and RCA, including artists such as Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and OutKast. The agreement covers music that is two years old or more. …

“The Netflix in Windows Media Center application lets you browse personalized lists of over 12,000 Netflix movies and TV shows you can watch instantly in Windows Media Center. In addition to these personalized lists, you can search a list of over 100,000 Netflix movies and TV shows you can either watch instantly or add to your DVD queue. You can view, add, and remove items from your Netflix instant watch, and DVD queues.”

If you read here enough, you already know (or you’ll find out) that I love the Zune marketplace.  Luckily though, it’s not the only buffet on the music downloading/streaming scene.  Napster, famous for being one of the first p2p music sharing services is still alive and kicking and this week dropped the price on their lowest music streaming plan.
Now, when you sign up for Napster, you have a choice to take a $5 a month plan that’ll get you unlimited streaming and five songs to keep.  Not bad if …

It seems that people are starting to enjoy watching content online.  Video Business has published the latest Nielson report which shows that online viewing jumped 58% per user in the last year.  Turns out that online viewers consumed an average of three hours of online content in April compared to two hours and 10 minutes a year ago.
 
From the report, released on Monday:
Shorter-form video sites attracted the most users, with Google, parent of leading online-video site YouTube, attracting about 139 million unique users in April, followed by Microsoft’s 124 …