Software for video subscription service
- by Clinton Blackmore
I'd like to sell instructional videos over the web. Primarily, I'd like uses to subscribe to the site and be allowed access to videos over the internet. Secondarily, I might sell DVDs for those who have poor internet connections or would like a physical copy, or possibly I'd sell eBooks and the like in the future.
Regarding the subscriptions:
I'd like a system that automatically sends out e-mails when it is time to renew
I'd like to be able to offer free trials
Users without a free trial or subscription should not be able to access the content
Incidentally, I plan to host videos on my current web host and move them to a CDN when volume (and capital) make this a good idea. While I have no intention to go crazy with the DRM, it seems expedient not to directly link to the files -- how can I link to them indirectly?
It would be nice to support multiple payment processors -- specifically, I'd like to avoid a PayPal only approach.
Are there any web applications (or plugins) you'd recommend for something like this? While I've set up and administered several web technologies, I've never done anything with e-commerce. I see there are possibilities like osCommerce, one friend recommends using WordPress with plugins, and it really appears that for any given CMS, you can graft on components like this, although I imagine that not all are created equal.
As I'm not tied to a particular web application (and, while open source software that can run on a LAMP [p=perl, python, php] stack is preferable), I'd like to make a good choice at the beginning.
