There are several options in downloading and/or watching movies online. First off, like music downloading, downloading movies online usually meant doing something illegal. These days, there are plenty of places to download or watch movies online. The illegal options will be still available, as always, though the legal movie sites are picking up steam. This article will focus on the legal websites to watch and/or download movies.

There are tons of options out there. Each similar resource site offers their very 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 which provide monthly subscriptions give unlimited downloads, for a flat monthly cost. CinemaNow, Netflix, and Vongo operate under this model.

The other major pricing model, per download pricing, is exactly 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 is the way to go. Additionally there are some movies that will be available 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 then 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 to be able 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.