There are various options in downloading and/or watching full movie movies online. First off, like music downloading, downloading movies online usually meant doing something illegal. Currently, there are lots of places to download or watch movies online. The illegal options will be still available, bear in mind, but the legal movie sites are picking up steam. This information 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.

There are actually 2 main pricing models that the internet movie download sites use – monthly subscriptions and per download pricing.

Sites that provide 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, 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. There are also some movies which are available for free from each of the services and various free trials will be accessible to try them out.

The selection varies from service to service. New releases are hit or miss. Movies seem to be available on DVD as well as for rental ahead of being readily available for download. CinemaNow appears to get the films more quickly than the others. iTunes selection is the most limited of the major services.

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

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