 In the modern digital world, when your time isn’t worth the wait, where ‘on-demand’ is a common term that we’re use to, the urge to get something, for example music or movie ASAP can’t be ignored. People got use to such convenience. But would you want to overpay for music or movies to Amazon.com, iTunes store or any other online or offline movie store? Probably not.
I hear someone yelling from the back rows, that "why would someone pay for something that's available for free?" Yeah, you can search the web (p2p networks, bit torrent, etc) and download digital media (movies, music) for free. However you’ll spend much more time and most-likely get a low-quality product, what would result into wasting more of your time, nerves and money. Oh, and don’t forget the viruses and other nasty stuff you can catch during your search-rendezvous. So we’re back to the point where we started from – it’s much more convenient to pay a few bucks and get a high-quality movie without any hassle. If you were ever a fan of AllofMp3.com, admiring its usability and convenience, you’ll definitely love ZML, which is like AllofMp3’s brother. The only difference is that ZML is a movie library.
Brief Description
Oh, Pardon me…not just another website reviewing latest movies, not just a movie library, it’s The Movie Library. Here you can download all your favorite old movies and the latest blockbusters. Although ZML had launched not long ago, there are more than a thousand of movies here. Downloading movies from ZML is easy - you get registered, preload cash to your account and select the movies you want to download, and then click the link to download the movie file. Very neat and very simple, don’t you think so?
Pricing/Formats
One of the sweetest things about ZML is the simple convenience of downloading the movie in quality and exactly in the format you want. It’s the 21st century and we aren’t tied to our PCs all the time, many people find the idea of watching movies on their iPod or PDAs very attractive.
The other thing that I like about ZML - the prices here. The price range is from $1.99 to $4.99 depending on the file format. ZML probably has the cheapest rates for downloading (keeping to yourself, not renting) movies on the web.
Movies are available in high-res "DVD" (720x300 DivX v5), DivX (640x264 DivX v5), iPod (320x132 H264), or in PDA (320x132 DivX v5) movie formats. Unfortunately, not all movies come in all these formats, some are available only in DVD, some only in DivX and PDA/iPod; but there is no need to worry about it, ZML is young and is rapidly developing, so it’s just a matter of time.
Payment-wise, ZML accepts only MasterCard and Visa, no AmEx or Paypal yet, but it should be added in the near future.
Advantages
ZML allows you to download without any limitations at decent speeds, and you can always resume your download later, hence the download link is available for 2 weeks.
One of the other advantages – ZML is very useful for those places where it’s hard to purchase or receive movies by mail. Did I forget to mention the “DVD zone” issue? With ZML you won’t have to worry about it.
One of the new features at ZML is that you can download without registering and preloading cash from your credit card. This is achieved via text messaging (SMS), all you have to do is send “go go zml 3” to 2333 (you’ll be charged for the SMS, that’s how you pay for the movie), and receive an access code which you’ll have to enter on the payment page.
Besides all this cool stuff you get image previews, short audio and video previews of the movie and all general info on it, e.g. list of actors etc. These 2-3 minute episodes are taken from the movie file located on ZML, and represent actual video and audio quality of the movie file. Same goes for the image previews – you get about 15-16 image previews, and trust me you won’t be disappointed in the video/audio quality.
ZML vs. Others
Now let’s briefly compare ZML with other popular services via which you can get movies.
1. Netflix – a rental service, you don’t get to keep the movie. You have to wait until you receive your movie by postal mail. I’m not saying that Netflix is totally worthless, on the contrary it’s a very good service which is used by lots of people, but there is too much hassle comparing to ZML, and you don’t get to keep the movies.
2. iTunes store – you’re tied to iTunes and the prices start from $9.99 per movie. iTunes has lots of advantages, but let’s keep it for music and related to it.
3. p2p networks - lousy encodings, very poor quality in most files, incorrectly named and even fake files, viruses, and the “sharing” aspects of p2p..and the list goes on and on. I see only one advantage in p2p – it’s free, but is all the inconvenience worth it?
Conclusion
Personally, I like ZML. Although it needs some improvement, it’s worth being called The Movie Library. Just think of it, very cheap prices, user-friendly, iPod and PDA file-formats if you decide to go mobile, DivX and DVD formats and excellent audio/video quality. I think it’s worth spending ~ 2-5 bucks for a movie from ZML.
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