3:40 PM -- I've noted before how lame the video features are in existing set-top boxes -- among them a general lack of hard-drive space or the ability to easily add to it.

Today, I read that Microsoft's Xbox -- which is quickly trying to become all things to all people -- will soon allow you to download movies. Oh boy! The only problem? Several sources report that when you get an Xbox, there's only about 10 to 15 GBytes of hard-drive space -- which wouldn't hold that many movies.

I also read that content will be limited. "And while Microsoft has struck deals with companies including CBS, MTV, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, its first offerings aren't nearly as broad as those offered by Amazon.com's recently launched Unbox services," says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (by the way, what ever happend to the Pre-Intelligencer?).

And of course, you won't be able to move the movies to another device -- such as, say, an Apple iPod.

Also, I'm not an Xbox user -- but I have a question for all you "gamers." Does it take as long to boot up as Windows? Because when I want a movie, I want it NOW.

Other than that, it sounds dandy.

— R. Scott Raynovich, Editor in Chief, Light Reading