Modern technology has just freaked me out!

[bookzombie]

Okay, this morning I bought, from Tesco, a copy of the Aardman Animation film 'Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists!', which I missed at the cinema and has just come out on DVD.

By the time I got home half and hour later I had an email from Blinkbox (which whom we have an account) saying: 'We see you have just bought 'Pirates!' from Tesco. If you log onto your Blinkbox account you can watch the film now' or words to that effect.

I'm not sure whether I think that's awesome or completely freaky! Mainly awesome, I think, but with reservations...

It does raise some interesting thoughts as well: just because I bought the film, it doesn't mean that I was buying it for myself - it could have been a present for someone else. So they are essentially allowing you to watch a movie that you've bought irrespective of whether you bought it for yourself. That's an interesting - and actually quite canny - piece of marketing.

Comments

[owlfish]

Your post was multiply useful to me! To know that Pirates! is now on DVD; and to learn about the existence of Blinkbox.

I see from its website that it's now owned by Tesco.

[bookzombie.livejournal.com]

Ah, that explains it! You got the Blinkbox copy for using your Tesco clubcard.

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

Slightly sinister, I'd say. They're watching your every move!

(I am pretty sure that the sole reason for the existence of Person of Interest is to soften our resistance to the idea of constant surveillance because it's for Our Own Good. Also, of course, to do 'Batman' without shelling out a copyright fee.)

Definitely sinister

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

All sorts of problems come from this. Just buying a DVD as a present for someone you share the account with becomes difficult, and if you were buying, say, Debbie Does Dallas for your own... enjoyment, there could be all sorts of issues.

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

But you've bought it, why do you want to watch it on Blinkbox?