Audio Video News

Say what you want. The MPAA is about as popular as the RIAA, more known as a policing agency tackling pirates and illegal downloads than a helpful ally - right up there with the IRS in a lot of people's minds. But, maybe the MPAA is beginning to see the light.

The MPAA, the Motion Picture Association of America, is launching a Web site that will actually help movie-watchers watch movies legally. Imagine that.

As more and more sources become available to view movies online, it's becoming obvious that all are not created equal. At the moment, there's no one site that has every movie that's out there. Unfortunately, lots of folks try one legit site, can't find what they want, so they turn to non-legit ones. BitTorrent vs. Netflix. Sometimes, it's not even intentional. Searching online, it's hard to differentiate between the legal and illegal sites.

With the blessing of all the major studios, this new Web site will let users search for a film title and tell users where to buy movie tickets and DVDs (and disc rentals), or where they can go online to download or stream the movie. This will be a not-for-profit free service for consumers.

Hopefully, with legal options so easy to find, people will be less likely to seek out illegal avenues. Hopefully. -Leslie Shapiro

ars technica

Photo by Fernando de Sousa