Thanks to the vast amount of different technologies available today, there are no 'limits' when it comes to downloading movies. What hasn't changed however are the risks of illegal downloading as it can get you in a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, there are thousands of websites that offer illegal movie downloads, music, and software. The first questions asked in the comment sections of these sites are usually "how is the quality?" or "is this a shaky cam recording" or for software "is this clean/legit" referring to whether or not the download contains a virus.

Sadly so, there are also hundreds of websites, lots of them all owned by the same company, that claim 'legit downloads', then charge you a $20 to $40 one-time fee only to give you access to some publicly free available software that lets you search through archives of ILLEGAL content and download this content with a torrent client. A torrent by the way is a type of file that instructs a client to download its content through a peer-to-peer network.

So the real question is, how do you know if the site you're using is legal or illegal?

First off, legal downloads are generally NOT free. There are certain exceptions such sites that allow you to download independent film maker's work or other 'unknown' movies. Generally though, if you the latest action movie that just hit the theater or just came out on DVD offer on a site and it won't cost you a penny to download it, it's 99.9% certain it's an illegal download.

If you're being asked to pay a one-time fee for 'full access', that's another sign that something's not right. That's like a movie theater telling you to pay $500 in exchange to watch unlimited movies for the rest of your life, now there isn't a movie theater in the world that's crazy enough to do that. Likewise, this doesn't work for an online movie download business either as they would have to pay the companies that own the rights to the movie you're downloading, and it's simply not possible to pay those kind of fees while offering your users unlimited lifetime access.

What is legit however are the sites that:

• Charge a monthly or a per-movie fee and;
• Are owned by a major (usually) US corporation.

You've probably heard of the following companies - which is another indicator that they're legal - these companies offer LEGAL MOVIE DOWNLOADS for a fee.

• Blockbuster - Not just a video store, they also have a 'download-to-rent' feature on their site where you can download a movie for a few dollars instead of having to drive to the video store. No worries about late fees either :)

• Cinemanow - This site is owned by several major film studios and offers monthly membership fees as well as per-movie download charges. The site however is rather expensive compared to alternatives but it is one of the few sites that is available to non-US residents.

• Real Network's Superpass - Real is a company that has been around since the early days of the web. They offer a monthly fee membership to download movies. The movies however are mostly older movies or otherwise not well known movies. For movie lovers this would definitely be worth a try (14-day free trial) but the average Joe will be disappointed to find there are no major blockbuster titles to be found on this site.

• Netflix - This is my personal favorite. Most of you have probably heard of Netflix - they're a company that mails you DVD's and you mail em back when you've finished watching them. You only pay a low monthly membership fee and you don't have to pay stamps or postage all the time either.
  Recently, Netflix added a new feature to all their memberships and it allows you to download a large number of movies to your computer or laptop. It gets better however, you can also send the movie straight from Netflix' website onto your TiVo, Xbox 360, and various other supported DVR and Media devices.

The bottom line is that in the end it's best to stick to sites that offer LEGAL movie downloads. You'll get the best available quality, no risk fo adware, spyware, virus or other nastiness, you get the best technology (such as being able to send your movie to your Xbox 360, TiVo, etc., and best of all you're acting within the law instead of breaking it. How would you feel if you work all day, then at the end of the day someone takes your paperwork or computer to your boss and says it's his/her work and she gets paid for it instead of you. That's right, you got robbed. And robbing is exactly what YOU are doing when you're downloading movies illegally.