There are various options in downloading and/or watching movies online. To start with, like music downloading, downloading movies online usually meant doing something illegal. Right now, there are many places to download or watch movies online. The illegal choices are still available, as always, however the legal movie sites are picking up steam. This article will focus on the legal online websites to watch and/or download movies.

There are a variety of options around. Each site offers their own pricing model, selection, movie formats, and user experience.

You can find 2 main pricing models that the internet movie download sites use – monthly subscriptions and per download pricing.

Sites that offer monthly subscriptions give unlimited downloads, for a flat monthly cost. CinemaNow, Netflix, and Vongo operate under this model.

The additional major pricing model, per download pricing, your domain name is precisely what it sounds like. There will be a fee for each movie download. Amazon Unbox and iTunes operate this way.

Unless you aren’t planning on watching very many movies in a month, the flat monthly fee will be the way to go. Additionally, there are some movies which are accessible for free from each of the services and various free trials are available to try them out.

The selection varies from service to service. New releases are hit or miss. Movies appear to be available on DVD and for rental prior to being accessible for download. CinemaNow appears to get the films more quickly than the others. iTunes selection will be the most limited of the main services.

The predominant file format for the download services is Windows Media Video files (.WMV). iTunes will be the obvious exception, which offers files as MPEG-4s.

Each service requires you to download their software so that you can download and watch movies. Each interface will be different, but its really a matter of personal preference. Vongo and CinemaNow each have good interfaces.