14 DAY TRIAL // After it was revealed to have held the top position as hard-drive supplier in the fourth quarter of 2009, Seagate has forged a deal with Paramount Digital Entertainment for the marketing of a special hard drive, pre-loaded with 21 motion pictures developed by the film maker, either to celebrate or perpetuate its success (or both). The new FreeAgent Go USB 2.0 unit, mostly intended as a backup solution, has a total capacity of 500GB, a small part of which will be taken up by the aforementioned, DRM-loaded film collection.
End-users that are familiar with the term DRM will have realized that, as with all situations too convenient to be true, there is a catch. While the two partners were gracious enough to make sure that all buyers would be able to immediately enjoy Star Trek, all other 20 films, such as Ghost, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Enemy at the Gates and Beowulf, will require them to purchase a special license key from this very special website. This means that the actual price of the 2.5-inch storage unit will eventually increase by $9.99 to $14.99 for every new title purchased.
"Seagate and Paramount Pictures are delivering major motion pictures to consumers in a unique and innovative solution. For years Seagate hard drives have been powering the devices that allow consumers to enjoy their digital libraries. Today, we are simplifying content delivery by giving consumers the ultimate flexibility in how they enjoy their movies all in a convenient package," Dave Mosley, executive vice president, Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management, Seagate, said.
"Collaborating with Seagate on this massive movie pre-load reinforces our commitment to embrace technologies that give consumers choice and flexibility in how they access and purchase their digital entertainment. Paramount Digital Entertainment has created a powerful solution that allows companies like Seagate to offer a seamless experience for consumers to access and securely activate pre-loaded movies, ensuring that exciting films are available everywhere they wish to enjoy them," Malik Ducard, senior vice president, Digital Distribution The Americas, Paramount Digital Entertainment, shared. "And with over 38 hours of movie viewing enjoyment pre-loaded onto the portable device, we are offering consumers a great opportunity to jump start their digital libraries."
Those wishing to know the full list of films that come with their new hard disk will be able to find more information here.