Xbox 360 has a 20GB TV downloads problem
By Stan Beer
Wednesday, 08 November 2006 13:21
According to Microsoft, that's no problem at all. Just delete the content you've paid for and then download it again at no cost any time you like.
According to Ovum analyst Jonathan Coham and this writer, Microsoft has got to be kidding. Coham says: "In terms of capabilities, the Xbox 360 only has a 20GB storage capacity. This significantly limits the console's ability to store premium content, especially considering it is required for game updates and save files. This means that users will need to delete content they have paid for. Although Microsoft has said these users will be able to re-download the content free-of-charge, this would be a bizarre concept for most. Microsoft should concentrate on providing better storage capabilities, either externally, locally or via network attached devices."
What Coham forgot to mention was that re-downloading from Microsoft might well be free, but your ISP will still count that multi-megabyte download as part of your download allowance, meaning you can download less that month. That's definitely not free.
In a nutshell, many would agree that Microsoft has the right idea by offering TV and movie downloads to the Xbox 360. As Coham points out, Microsoft has a ready made audience of 4 million Xbox Live customers and has indicated that it has content deals in the offing with major content-providers CBS, MTV Networks and Paramount Studio and Warner Brothers.
From an entertainment hub perspective, the ability to download TV shows and videos already puts Xbox 360 ahead of Apple's upcoming iTV offering and Sony's PlayStation 3. In fact, Xbox 360 being connected to the TV throws out a challenge to Microsoft's own Windows Media Center PCs.
However, if Microsoft wants to get serious about making Xbox 360 an entertainment hub, an optional high capacity hard drive add-on of say 250GB is essential. After all, if Microsoft is serious enough about the entertainment hub potential of Xbox 360 to make an HD DVD plug-in drive, then a decent hard drive add-on for movie downloads should be no problem if they really want to sell movie downloads.
