There were a number of different criteria I used to evaluate these websites offering free movies:
No P2P or File Sharing
Probably the most important thing was that I wanted a service that did not utilize any form of P2P or file sharing for all the reasons discussed in earlier posts. Both of these websites meet this standard. All movies are licensed and the services are 100% legal.
No Restrictions
A few websites I’ve encountered offering free movies place restrictions on what movies you can watch or how many – sometimes there are restrictions based on bandwidth. Again both Imovies Club and Full Movies place absolutely no restrictions. Not only can you download unlimited movies for free but also legally burn these to dvd if you so choose.
Download and/or Stream Movies
This is the first criteria where there is a clear winner. As mentioned above both websites offer unlimited free movie downloads (in fact they both use the same software called DivX Plus Player) but Imovies Club offers the option of streaming the movies without having to download them. I did contact Full Movies concerning this and they are expecting to add streaming functionality in the next few months.
For the sake of transparency I used a Dell E6400 laptop (about 3 years old I think) to download and stream these movies. The processor is Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8600 @ 2.4 GHz and RAM is 2.00 GB – so not exactly cutting edge technology at work here. The average movie was 700-900MB and took me about 5-7 minutes to download. I couple of the movies I tried to stream lagged a bit but I’m sure just about any pc or newer laptop would not have the same issue.
Movie Selection
Both websites currently have a library of close to 500 titles with more being added all the time. It seemed to me that Full Movies perhaps offered a slightly more well-rounded selection and Imovies was a little heavier on the horror/thriller genres.
Navigation/Ease of Use
I preferred the design of the Full Movies website. I appreciated having the ability to search for movies by genre, rating and also format (HD, mobile and standard) rather than just alphabetically. Having said that though Imovies Club did have a Search box which Full Movies did not so this may simply be a matter of preference.
Cost
As it turns out both of these services offer exactly the same pricing.
3 months – $29.95
1 year – $34.95
5 years – $39.95 (the best deal by far)
Bonus Features
I must say this was not something I was looking for but I discovered that Imovies Club also has a library of 45,000 eBooks and Audio Books available for download. Classics like Black Beauty and War and Peace or Children’s books like Pinnochio and Grimm’s Fairy Tales can be downloaded in any of the following formats: .epub, .mobi (Kindle), .pdf, and .mp3 (Audio).
Best Alternative To Illegal P2P Free Movie Websites
So, while both of these websites offer great value I had to decide which one I wanted to go with long-term. Although I liked the design and navigation of Full Movies having the ability to stream movies without downloading tips the scale in favor of Imovies Club. As well, the huge library of eBooks and Audio Books they provide access to is a great bonus (especially if I ever breakdown and buy a Kindle!).
Having decided that downloading free movies from file sharing websites just wasn’t worth the risks of an infected computer or possibly even identity theft or prosecution for downloading copyrighted movie files, I spent some time checking out what other options there were.
The one that made the most sense to me was movie download sites that charge a very nominal one time fee that then allows you to download or stream movies for the duration of your membership – usually between 3 months and 5 years.
A few of the features I was looking for were:
1 – No P2P (peer-to-peer) or file sharing is ever involved
2 – The movie files on the site are licensed, which means you can legally download them and also be safe from malicious spyware
3 – There should be no restrictions on which movies you watch, when, or how often
4 – Ideally you should have the option of downloading files to your hard drive (which you can then burn to a disk if you wish) or simply watch streaming movies on your computer without downloading
5 – The files should download in a reasonable amount of time and/or should stream without any lag
6 – The site should be well laid out and easy to navigate
7 – And of course the price has to be right – websites that offer free movie downloads upon payment of a small upfront fee ended-up being the best deals
As it turned out there are a lot of these sites! A number of them seemed pretty good but some are less than transparent on exactly what they offer. For example I found a couple sites that actually make you download the media content in sections which isn’t the viewing experience I am looking for. Others placed limits on what or when you could download.
There were three different websites that I ended-up taking for a test drive and in the next post I will take a closer look at the winner and runner-up.
I should mention that I have not yet joined the iPhone / iPad revolution but another criteria that I kept in mind when evaluating free movie website alternatives was the availability of mp4 downloads.
My next post will be in a couple days and will breakdown the pros and cons of what I considered to be the top two movie websites.
There really is no such thing as a free movie website. Yes there are tons of sites on the Internet where you can take your chances and file share or download what are known as torrents but you are placing your faith in strangers. The unfortunate truth is that file sharing will almost inevitably cause you problems.
Now I’m not even talking about the fact that most free movie download websites are not legal. However, in case you are not aware it is possible for people caught illegally downloading movies to be charged with piracy. If authorities want to they can trace any activity right back to the server from where you download your videos. This could mean fees or even jail time. What are the chances of that happening? Who knows but is it worth the risk?
In my opinion the biggest risk is to the integrity of your operating system. In a file sharing situation of an illegal site, the quality of video is not regulated by the person uploading the file or any administrator on the site. This means that anyone can upload anything.
If you are lucky this might only mean the movies you download may be incomplete or of poor quality-thus, affecting your enjoyment of the film. Chances are very good though that you will end up downloading files that will infect your computer.
I came across this recently in a member’s forum on this very topic. I have to admit that I have spent hours searching online for ways to download movies for free – after all, who wants to pay for something if they don’t have to? Anyway, this popular site actually had a fairly active member’s forum which I took to be a good sign but the second post I read went like this:
New Forum Member: I think you guys REALLY need to make people more aware of dangers of certain hosts. Forum Moderator: It’s the ads from the video hosting sites that are causing the issues. There isn’t much we can do beyond reminding you to just click close on them and keep your anti virus protection up to date. Another Member: you just need a better antivirus! I NEVER get viruses and IF I do I know how to get rid of them with or without an antivirus!
I don’t know if all the members in that particular forum are as “helpful” as this person but I didn’t get a warm fuzzy feeling after reading that! Now I know that with a good antivirus program installed the chances of infection are reduced but I’m sorry when I sit down to watch a movie I don’t want to worry about every pop-up or link that I click on.
Another serious issue with file sharing programs is that they make you vulnerable to identity theft. I found the attached video to be very interesting…not to mention somewhat scary.
I would consider myself middle-of-the-road when it comes to being tech-savvy. I have figured out how to start my pc in safe mode or even reset the internal clock in an effort to fix problems in the past but this is certainly not in my comfort zone. To me the possibility of losing or even having information on my pc stolen and/or having to bring it in for repairs just makes free movie websites a bad idea.
My next post will talk about the route I have decided to go rather than gambling on movie websites that promote free movie downloads.
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ngsm%20%C6%B5%B5%E3%BA%C5m Post searchpsearchnsearchosearch Chat nsearche Red - Chat p Chat b Angie i Blonde g Chatblonde Imovies Club and Full Movies. They each have their strengths and weaknesses which I will do my best to present in an unbiased and straightforward way.