The other day, I got an email from a friend asking if he could borrow my DVD of “Scarface”. I wrote him back and told him to stop bothering me and just download it.

Well, I put it more tactfully than that; but I think I threw her off a little at first.

What I meant to tell him is that he didn’t have to go find a DVD; you can find any movie you want if you have an internet connection.

I’ve been getting an increasing number of questions about what the best way to download movies online is and whether there is anywhere on the web with a good selection of films.

First off – yes, the selection of movies online is huge online. You can easily find a movie like Goodfellas, along with all the new releases and movies from the past. You will find a far better selection online than you would in any video store.

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, let’s cover the more important question – Where can I download movies online?

Let’s start with where you should not download movies. I am speaking of peer-to peer networks like Kazaa and LimeWire here. You may be able to find music on these networks, but they are definitely not recommended for downloading movies.

When you download movies from these networks, you have a good chance of catching a virus! These networks are unmonitored, so you have no idea what exactly you are downloading.

These networks also suffer from a poor selection and slow download speeds.

Movies are of course very large files. These peer to peer programs can take as long as a few days to download a movie; the speeds can be incredibly slow. You will also have the problem of sparse selection compared to your other options.

Your next option is to use some type of paid download service. There are different websites that let you download movies for a “per download” fee. You search for a movie, pay a fee for the download (about $10), and are able to have the movie over a secure network at a good download speed.

It’s not a bad option, but there’s a much cheaper way to find and download movies with equal quality.

There are membership-based movie download websites which allow you to download unlimited movies for a onetime fee; usually about $30-$50. You can then download all the movies you want, whenever you want.

The nice thing about this service is that you have the ability to download any movie you want simply for paying the one-time membership fee. The selection is massive and the downloads are both fast and guaranteed to be virus-free.

The best download sites will also provide you with software to burn these movies to DVD so you can watch them on your TV instead of only on your computer.

Did my friend find Godzilla?

Yes he did. And I’m pretty confident he won’t be bugging me for a DVD in the future 😉

With more and more people going online to find movie downloads, it shouldn’t surprise you to gradually see a decline in the number of video stores in your area. Downloading movies is a great way to find your favorite flick without even needing to leave the house! Enjoy!