Sony plans to sell DVD/UMD bundles this coming March, says a Reuters report, causing all those poor saps who
bought UMD copies of "The Fifth Element" to say “D-oh!” Coming off the news of the company
finally releasing a price point for Blu-Ray (old titles will retail for $18, while new releases will go for $24), the
article also included Sony’s strategy for the bundle packs. Sony appears to be experimenting with these packs, as
they have alluded to the possibility of similar bundles surfacing for their Blu-Ray discs. The DVD/UMD combos will
retail for $29 and should hit store shelves starting March 28.While this may not be the price drop on UMDs we’ve all been pining for, this certainly is a good but cautious step in the right direction for the format. About darned time, we say; if we see another full price tag on “Stealth” again we’re going to kvetch.
[via PSP Vault]
[CORRECTION: Blu-Ray discs will sell at the wholesale price of $18 and $24. Retailers will then jack the prices up so high you'll feel like you're buying CDs in the early 80s.]
The following DVD/UMD bundles should appear at a retail shop near you by March 28. Packs whose titles are italicized will make their appearance known on April 25:
- The Grudge
- Resident Evil
- Underworld
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- The Terminator
- Ghostbusters
- Mad Max
- The Fifth Element
- Snatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-08-2006 @ 7:28PM
sean said...
This is great, after buying the dc video on umd from silver platter for like 18 bucks I couldnt imagine paying more for a UMD, so this is good news for the future of UMD as a whole.
Reply
2-08-2006 @ 8:42PM
Brad said...
Those prices are wholesale, not retail.
Reply
2-08-2006 @ 9:09PM
Jerome said...
A very great idea!
people with no PSP will sell these UMD in garage sale ( ebay )for cheap!
Finally cheap UMD!
HAHA!
Reply
2-09-2006 @ 3:15AM
jo said...
ummm...that’s not a deal. The DVD cost all but 10cents, why don’t they just sell both for 15-20. Its same movie so it should be the same license.
Reply
2-09-2006 @ 7:51AM
Deth said...
if those prices for bluray are correct, count me in. i was expecting 30 bucks a movie. $18 I can handle (i rarely buy brand new movies).
Cheers!
Reply
2-09-2006 @ 8:41AM
soupbun said...
I'm betting this is a bad sign for UMD movies. The sales of UMD suck compared to when DVD's first launched on a wide scale in 1997.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060105005462&newsLang=en
As far the the stats show, only on the average .75 UMD movies shipped/PSP shipped in the US, according to Sony's own figures (9mil shipped/12mil shipped). I don't even know what actually sold, since this figure is still difficult to accurately determine at the moment, but willing to bet it's lower. But there were 17dvd-movie/dvd-owner in 1997. 2005, there's a 50/1 ratio on dvd-move sales/dvd-player sale, and there were 1.6 billion dvd sold. That means UMD sales is a blip in the overall scheme. 150/1 ratio. And there tends to be more than one DVD players in the DVD household now. Are we really gonna see more than one UMD player(your PSP) in every household, besides a few high-income families that have more than one child that both wants a PSP? That affects acceptance of the media. And I don't remember DVD needing to bundle with VHS to gain acceptance either. This, to me, is a really bad sign. The whole "UMD movie sales are great!" pitch is just a big marketing machine.
This looks so much like MiniDisc versus tapes/CDs. MiniDisc couldn't gain ground at the end. Everyone bought CD players and tapes because:
- tape/cd was just plain cheaper ($1.50/MD vs $.50/tape-CD)
- was more accessible. even your grandma probably had one
- you can record on to CD/tapes as well, and more easily for tapes
- MD albums cost just as much as CD.
- it was a third format for music. How many formats does the public need? Tape wasn't even dead yet when Sony tried to release MD.
The UMD movie market looks exactly the same today. Big spurt from early adopters. VHS is still not dead yet (people still spend $1.5billion in 2005), and there's no third party player in sight. The PSP might not be over-priced technologically, but it still out of most people's reach, and not even as functional - you can't play the movies on a large screen when you want to. You can't even buy the blank format yet.
So, unless we get what really need - cheap third party UMD players and recorders - the UMD movie will go the way of MiniDisc album. Gone! MD took about 6 years to die (short compared tape and VHS). So expect a similar painful death for UMD movies. I'm going to wait for UMD movies to go in the $2 bin before ever buying one.
Reply
2-09-2006 @ 12:06PM
Tucker said...
The retail prices for blu-ray discs will be more like $25-39. The prices listed in the beginning of the post are their wholesale prices, as Brad mentioned.
Reply
2-09-2006 @ 4:23PM
ChillyWilly said...
I waited for a local store to go out of business to get cheap prices on UMDs. Got a few of them for under $10.
This is a good idea, but I don't know if it will fly or not. If it's a movie I really like, I may consider the double pack so long as the cost isn't going to be that much more than just the price of the DVD-only package.
Reply
2-11-2006 @ 12:57PM
Jason Anderson said...
I already have The Fifth Element Ultimate on DVD. Dammit. Screw this. ;)
Actually, I guess it's about time.
Reply