European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 8, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pace 16 stars and stripes sunday april 8 2007 retailers move into online movies big Chain stores dont want to get left behind by Joshua freed the associated press Minneapolis when movies shifted from videocassettes to did retailers simply cleared the tapes off the shelves to make room for discs not so easy now that movies appear poised to follow music onto the inter net the shift of music online has Hurt stores such As Best buy Walmart and circuit City and some retailers Are looking to avoid a re peat with movies Walmart has launched its own movie download service Best buy is said to be in talks to Start one and blockbuster pored buying movie download company mov relink earlier this year music and dds Are important to retailers because Treyve traditionally driven custom ers to stores each weeks new releases give people a reason to come Back and for electronics retailers such As Best buy co inc and circuit City stores inc discs Are often a cheap impulse Sale unlike a pricey computer Ort but the decline in the number of cd sold has accelerated every year since 2003 and dropped 117 percent last year according to Ned group the number of dds sold grew 5 percent last year but that was Down from a 9 percent increase during the previous year Selling prices for both music and movies have declined and Ned said did sales would have Slid faster if not for the growth of to programs offered on did there seeing fairly rapid declines in their cd business that s Likely to happen in their did business said Andrew har Greaves who covers electronics retailers for Pacific Crest securities theres less and less foot traffic coming in for cd and that s certainly Hurt their traffic and Hurt the conversion rates to other products said Stacey Widutz who covers electronics retailers at Pali capital you can be sure that there exploring what their next move is going to be in the business even if movie and music downloads dont drive shoppers into stores they at least keep retailers like Best buy in the movie and music business Walmart stores inc is the farthest along after Selling 3000 movie downloads in its first month february blockbuster inc spokes woman Karen Raskopf said the movie rental Chain intends to enter digital downloads by the end of this year perhaps in partnership with another company Jim shoppers look at dds recently at a Best buy store in Minnetonka Minn As employee James Hilgers left works in the did Section the shift of music online has Hurt stores such As Best buy Walmart and circuit City and some retailers Are looking to avoid a repeat with movies we dont see digital downloading becom ing a huge business in the next year or two but our View is we need to be in the business and we dont want to be at a competitive disadvantage she said online movies have a Long Way to go before there As easy to use As downloadable music even compressed movie files can be a Hun dred times larger than an individual song and Walmart says a full length movie May take As Long As an hour and a half to download even Over a High Speed connection and Apple Inch simple Bucka song pric ing at its itunes online store Hast caught of in the movie world where Purchase prices vary widely and Many movies Arent available at All in Many cases movies bought online cant be burned to a did and ifs not Clear whether customers once Treyve gone online to download a movie will do it at the web site of a Brickman mortar re Tailer first of All Walmart s typical customer int your leading Edge Technocrat that Likely to download and store a movie on his com Puter Hargreaves said secondly the Quality is terrible piracy Hunters oppose Bill movie industries Are lobbying state Legisla Tor for Pep Nissina to Deekle when pursue music pirates  Senate considering a Biff tic Atwood strengthen stats privacy Laws by Banning the use of false statements arid other misleading practices to get per Sonal information known As pretesting the tactic was criticized when Hewlett Packard go detectives used it last year to obtain phone records of Board Mem Bers journalists and critics in recent letters to state sen Ellen Cor Bettyne Trade groups said the propose leg isolation was written too broadly and could potentially undermine anti piracy efforts they said investigators sometimes pose As someone else to obtain bootlegged cd or movies and to break into online piracy rings from wire reports no place to go so Miami sex offenders live under Bridge by John pain the associated press Speed Over a Busy causeway on their Way to relaxation and partying in Miami Beach the quintessential Spring break trip below the pavement and far from the glitzy night clubs five sex offenders Are Liv ing in conditions not much better than prison they have made their Homes under the noisy Bridge with the states grudging for several weeks because an ordinance keeps them from living almost anywhere else on pallets or cardboard they sleep slightly off the ground to avoid the rats under the Julia Tut the causeway in Biscayne Bay you just Pray to god every night so if you fall asleep for a minute or two you know nothing happens to you said 30yearold Javier Diaz who arrived last week even some who consider this Concrete makeshift shelter just deserts might reconsider if they looked around about 100 feet away in Biscayne Bays Blu Green Waters at least one family with Young children played last week the conditions Are a Conse Quence of Laws passed Here and elsewhere around the country to bar sex offenders from living near schools Parks and other places children gather Miami Dade county 2005 Ordi Nance adopted partly in reaction to the Case of a convicted sex offender who raped a 9yearold Florida girl and buried her alive says sex offenders must eve at least 2500 feet from schools Treyve often said that some of the Laws will Force people to live under a Bridge said Charles Onley a research associate at the federally funded Center for sex offender management this is probably the first Story that Ive seen that confirms that the five men Are the Only known sex offenders authorized to live outdoors in Florida said state corrections department spokeswoman Greti Plessinger this is not an Ideal situation for anybody but at this Point we dont have any other options she said were still looking the of fenders Are still actively search ing for residences she conceded a Point that Many experts have made this is a problem that is going to have to be addressed if we drive these of fenders so far underground or we cant supervise them because they become so transient ifs not making us safer under the Bridge several paroled sex offenders in Miami Dade county live under the Julia Tuttle causeway because county rules say that sex offenders must live at least 2500 feet from places where children gather source sri new alcoholic drink stirs vocal opposition Washington Campaign ers against underage drinking have condemned a new cheap Small and colourful alcoholic drink they say is targeted at teenagers and Are writing to retailers asking them not to sell it spykes made by Antheus Embusch Are 2ounce bottles of malt beverage that resemble Beauty products and have Sweet flavors Sulci As chocolate Mango and Melon they have a 12 percent alcohol Content and Are sold for less than a Dollar advertised As shots to be drunk alone or added to Beer on Long Island by the Long Beach coalition to prevent under age drinking describes them As very dangerous and seductive in a letter the group is sending to merchants we know kids dont like the taste of alcohol so heres some thing that tastes Good she said Spector prosecutors victim not suicidal los Angeles prosecutors in the Phil Spector slaying Case asked a judge Friday to limit the defense from suggesting shooting victim Lana Clarkson was suicidal because of a declining career Deputy District attorney Alan Jackson said in court documents that the defense will attempt to attack the character of victim Lana Clarkson by painting her As the kind of person who might kill herself despite a medical history showing no depression or suicidal ideas Oil company ceo made s460m salary in 2006 los Angeles last year Oil prices soared to new Heights and so did the payout for Occidental Petroleum corp chief executive Ray r Irani who took Home More than million in compensation in 2006 Oil and natural Gas producer Occidental based in the West Wood District of los Angeles often has been criticized Over the years for the generous pay it doled out to Irani and other top officers but the amount pocketed by Irani in 2006 tops previous years compensation and ranks among the largest payouts Ever collected by an executive at a us Public company scientist says Al Gore is misinformed on climate new top Hurri Cane forecaster called Al Gore a Gross alarmist for making an Oscar winning documentary about global warming Hes one of these Guys that preaches the end of the world Type of things i think Hes doing a great disservice and he Doest know what Hes talking about or William Gray said Friday in an interview with the associated press at the National Hurricane conference in new Orleans where he delivered the closing speech Gray an emeritus professor at the atmospheric science depart ment at Colorado state University has Long railed against the the Ory that heat trapping gases generated by human activity Are Caus ing the world to warm from wire reports