Flix on Stix

With brick and mortar video shacks on the decline, Flix on Stix offers another approach. Just announced at CES, FoS kiosks enable a consumer to download movies, books, games, etc., onto a flashdrive for viewing/playing anytime. The kiosks will be in supermarkets, malls, college campuses, etc.

You plug in a USB drive, select the media you want, pay with a credit/debit card, load it up, take it away.

Playback will work on either a PC or Mac, and certain mobile devices. Once rental expires the user is given an option to extend or purchase. If you decline, media is automatically erased and there is nothing to return.

If you sign up as a member with FoS website you can order desired media, which is then downloaded via the internet to the kiosk of your choosing for pick-up at your convenience.

Kiosk harddrives will maintain about 1,500 titles.

Some (movie) titles will be made available before release on DVD. Presumably, an exclusivity deal would allow FoS to release selected titles before theatrical runs.

I'm not sure how this is preferable to downloading via the internet for viewing/reading later, like on a trip to the beach where you can't get online. Looks like a transition from traditional models to purely digital ones.

Still, I like the idea. Saves two trips and standing in line. Potentially, would also save a trip to the movie theater, but the same can be said for online streaming/downloading currently available.