Flix on Stix Skips the DVDs, Puts Movies on Your USB Flash Drive

While going into a store and finding a DVD or Blu-ray to rent may not be what's popular anymore, other services like Netflix and Hulu are seeing quite the attraction, thanks to the fact that you don't actually have to go anywhere other than your computer, TV, or maybe as far as your mailbox to watch a movie. Then, there's services like Redbox that allow you to rent a movie for cheap, on a daily rate, and then return it back to the kiosk when your'e finished with it. But, Flix on Stix wants to take that idea, and make it a bit more useful for those who may not want an actual DVD to take home, or have to worry about returning it.

The idea is a pretty simple one. Instead of letting people rent movies on a DVD, Flix on Stix wants to let people use their own USB flash drives, or let them use one offered by the kiosk itself, to watch whatever movie they want. While there are talks about offering pre-loaded USB drives via the kiosk, it seems that the most likely event will be making customers bring their own, and then transferring the film onto it.

Price wise, Flix on Stix is aiming low. $1 for three days; $2 for six days; $3 for nine days; and $4 for 12 days. And, as we mentioned above, you won't have to worry about returning the flash drive to the kiosk. Instead, the company behind the idea wants to include software with the rental that would make it automatically refuse playback after a certain amount of days.

All of the kiosks will be installed with USB 3.0 ports, making it possible for those who have spent the money on a USB 3.0 flash drive to have quick installs of their movies. However, unless a major price shift happens by the time Flix on Stix happens, it's likely to assume that the majority of people won't have USB 3.0 drives. That means some long waits at the kiosk as you're movie downloads and installs onto your flash drive. Will anyone really want to wait that long, when Redbox is remarkably quicker, or they can just use Netflix? There's no word on when, or if, this idea will really hit the market any time soon, but if someone can put enough money behind the idea, we won't be surprised to see these vending machines pop up in some big cities.

[via UhGizmo!]