Dell to Offer Preloaded CinemaNow Movies

Dell has announced a new way to "jump-start" a digital media collection: preloading selected new computers with movies from CinemaNow.

Earlier this month, computer maker Dell announced that, for an extra $20, it would pre-load the superhero movie Iron Man on selected new computers. Now, the company is expanding the idea, announcing a way for purchasers of new computers to “jump-start” their digital media collections by pre-loading movie bundles on selected new notebook and desktop computers purchased through Dell’s Web site.

The pre-loaded movies are offered through a partnership with CinemaNow, and prices for movie bundles start at $25. Title collections are “hand-selected” by Hollywood studios, and include offerings like the three recent Spider-Man films, the Matrix trilogy, every installment of The Fast and The Furious franchise, along with a childrens, romantic comedy, and comedy bundles from Paramount.

The pre-loaded bundles will be available under the “Movies” icon in the Dell Dock—an amusingly Mac OS X-like application launcher. The movies are all protected using Microsoft DRM technology, but users will be able to stream them to connected devices in the home as well as play them back on Windows Media mobile devices.

Dell says it plans to refresh its selection of movie bundles on a regular basis as well as widen its selection of titles.

Dell’s decision to offer pre-loaded movies on new machines is the company’s first serious foray in to media offerings, and it plays to the company’s strength (selling computers) rather than putting it into head-to-head competition with Apple and other digital media retailers by offering downloadable content. For now, Dell seems content with a co-branded CinemaNow store…but the computer maker obviously has its eyes on a larger share of the digital entertainment market.