WSJ: Sony Eyes Video Download Service

With its failed "Connect" music service going bye-bye, its Walkman line trailing badly in the portable music market, and PlayStation 3 sales lagging, Sony may be down—but don't count it out just yet. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the electronics giant is prepping a video download service to rival Apple iTunes and the Xbox Video Marketplace.

According to the WSJ, the would-be Sony video store would work in conjunction with the PS3, the PSP, and its Bravia line of HDTVs, and it would look and feel a lot like online video stores on iTunes and the Xbox 360. Of course, Sony just announced its first video Walkmen for the U.S. (pictured above), which will work with Windows Media DRM schemes. So basically, you'd have your video on the go with your PSP and/or Walkman, plus shows and movies at home over your PS3 and your Bravia HDTV (although I'm assuming the would-be service would work with other sets as well).

As the Journal story points out, Sony is picking a propitious time to jump into the video downloading market (if the rumors are true, that is; no comment from Sony for now). Apple may have a stranglehold on music downloads, but the Apple TV set-top box never quite caught fire, and its video store was rocked last week with news of a contract tiff between Apple and NBC over its catalog of shows (as it stands, such online hits as "The Office," "Heroes," and "Battlestar Galactica" may disappear from iTunes come December). Microsoft and Amazon have a couple of strong video download services (Xbox Video Marketplace and Unbox), but no one player dominates online videos as Apple does with music downloads.

So, what'll it mean to the rest of us if Sony launches a video download service? If the new service works with open DRM schemes like Windows' PlaysForSure standard, it'll be great news for those with PlaysForSure-ready music and video players—especially if Nokia, which is launching a music download service later this year (that works with the Windows DRM scheme), jumps into videos as well (which I'm sure it will). More competition means more choices and better prices, and that's always great news for us consumers.

For iPod users, the picture is less rosy. Unlike the recent trend toward DRM-free music, downloadable videos will be armed to the teeth with copy protection for the foreseeable future—and for now, iPods will only play DRM'd music and videos using Apple's closed FairPlay standard. So while the video download marketplace may explode with competition on the Winodows side, iPod users may be left high and dry—that is, unless Steve Jobs allows iPods to work with other, open DRM schemes. Don't hold your breath.

Related:
Sony to Challenge Apple In TV, Movie Downloads [Wall Street Journal]