From an "end-user" standpoint, I have to admit to signing up for one month with a paysite, downloading everything I could from them (often handling downloads while I was doing something totally unrelated, like homework or laundry), and then canceling my membership. I'd have enough content on my harddrive to last me six months or more if it was a mega-site.

With streaming, prior to flash becoming more common it made a lot of sense to have the download option as streaming WMVs are kinda crumby (especially when you can't navigate through the clip and the default size is tiny). With flash clips you get a better streaming experience, which I think would make a lack of a download option less of an issue.

While it is true that you can save virtually any flash stream, unless I'm wrong it is a longer process to do so on a large scale than the old 'save as' feature, so if nothing else, it limits how much of your content a member can "stockpile".

Granted, I'm not as up on the technical aspects, this is more observations from the end-user's perspective as I was that for a hell of a lot longer than I have been working in the industry. Anything I am missing or incorrect about would be appreciated as I am as interested as the rest of you folks on the nuts and bolts of this subject.

(BTW, really impressed with how respectful everyone is being on this thread, even with diametrically opposed views...on other forums this would have already descended into name-calling )