Movie downloads via Xbox 360

My new toy for this Thanksgiving is the Xbox 360 and I have it hooked up to my home theater system and HDTV. Totally rocks! The Xbox 360 was launched on May of 2005, so I am late. There is a new feature that was launched on November 22, 2006 for the Xbox 360. The ability to rent movies via your Xbox 360, making Microsoft the first to launch this feature. It is analogous to the iTV, a set-top box that is being developed by Apple for release in the first quarter of 2007.

You can rent a movie by paying using Microsoft points available for retail purchase. Another gift idea for someone who owns Xbox 360, Microsoft points! :-) The movie will be deleted automatically after 14 days or after you watch it once whichever occurs first. I was pretty impressed with the download speed through my High Speed Internet and was curious if the 360 uses bit torrent for its downloads.

In short, it is sort of like your cable Pay per view, but the only thing is you'll have to wait for it to download first. There are not a whole lot of movies available at this time, but I can see the list growing soon.

The ability to rent movies online without leaving your home or waiting for movies (netflix/blockbuster) to arrive is definitely a plus sometimes.