In the ongoing quest to legitimize the name,
BitTorrent will be launching a digitial media store on Monday. They first
showing of this new outlet will house 5,000 movies and TV shows as well as games
and other media.
The store's opening marks a triumph for San Francisco-based BitTorrent. Despite the software's reputation for helping people illegally share millions of unauthorized video files, the company's managers have convinced studios such as 20th Century Fox, Lions Gate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios that they come to Hollywood with a laurel branch in their hands.
But the deal did not come cheaply. To sell entertainment companies on the idea that they could profit from the file-sharing system, BitTorrent executives had to make some important concessions, such as wrapping songs and movies on the site in a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system. Among the many challenges the new store faces are proving the technology can bring movies to users faster than the clunky distribution methods now available and not alienating the millions who have grown accustomed to using BitTorrent to snatch files off the Web with virtually no DRM and at no cost.