11 online video stores compared

NBC’s recent decision to end selling television shows through the iTunes store, is a reminder that, unlike digital music, Apple isn’t the undisputed king of online video. In fact, far from it. Aside from the numerous ad-supported video sites, of which YouTube is the industry leader, there exists a plethora of paid-for video download stores — both rental and purchase-to-own — each of which is hoping to take a large slice of this emerging and potentially lucrative market.

In this post, we take a look at eleven paid-for video download stores, noting that while there appears to be much competition, many of the resulting services lack innovation, in terms of their technology choices and how they approach copy-protection.