Urgent Windows computer help

[Mabelen]

I am visiting my sister in Spain, who is the last stages of Lou Gehrig's disease. She is bedridden and unable to communicate. My sister in law suggested that I download movies for her to watch.

I have Netflix and Amazon Prime. I bought a USB drive. I have downloaded both apps onto my pc.

Netflix - I found a movie in Spanish. I read that even if you download a movie, it may not be playable from overseas. Ok, I thought I will risk it. I downloaded it onto Netflix only to find that a) it's downloaded in an obscure location, so I how do I  copy it to the USB drive? Google was my friend. I did it, except it's no good to play back from the USB drive.

Amazon - Supposedly Amazon does allow downloads onto the pc hard drive, but when I go to the movie there is no Download option!

I have spent 3 hours and I have zero to show for it!

Any suggestions? I am leaving on Saturday morning.

[Selkie]

No suggestions, but hugs to you and your sister. I'm so sorry.

[Mergath]

I think you need to use a third-party app to download movies from Amazon. It's called PlayOn, and it's not free, from what I've read. Also, I'm thinking there's a good chance it wouldn't work overseas, depending on the licensing. You can download content to play offline from Amazon and Netflix, but it isn't a file type that's playable except through wherever you downloaded it from in the first place. You can't just load it up with VLC player or something and watch it.

There's really no way to download content from Netflix and Amazon straight to an external drive because it would make it too easy for people to share the content. There are screengrab apps that can record the content as it plays, but if you aren't overly techy, I wouldn't bother with that.

Does your laptop have a dvd drive? If so, it would be easiest to play dvds while you're there on your computer.

If you really, really want to get these movies, you could download them from a torrent site like Pirate Bay with a bittorrent client. This isn't legal in the US, and is very, very illegal in Spain and you could end up in prison, from what I understand. If you go this route, DOWNLOAD THEM BEFORE YOU LEAVE.

Wait, are you bringing your laptop?

[Lanny]

We live in Colombia and we subscribe to Netflix in Colombia. There is a huge selection of things one can choose from. Not as many things as in the USA, but still a huge variety of things to choose from.   Does Netflix offer service in Spain? Netflix is I believe, a "Streaming" service, although possibly they allow one to Download certain files, but I am not at all sure about that.  My wife has the account and it just went up and I think approximately $12 USD now, for up to 4 devices (SMART TVs, etc.)

I  hope that she does not suffer.

[Mabelen]

Thank you all for your replies and good wishes.

No, I am not bringing a laptop. I just wanted to bring a USB drive with the stuff so that she could use it at her leisure. She does not have a computer right now. She is getting a new one which will have a communication system in it that she can control with her eye movement, although it won't be ready while I am there. I am aware of the option of downloading illegally but, call me a chicken, I am crossing international borders, I'd rather not do anything remotely fishy.

I will check how much Netflix Spain is when I get there. From what I read, Netflix subscription has Colombia as 3rd cheapest country versus Spain as 7th most expensive, with the U.S. somewhere in between. 

[Lanny]

If Spain is in the E.U. that is probably why it is one of the more expensive countries for Netflix users.  There are various taxes and regulations that companies operating in the E.U. must comply with.

I hope that she gets the new eye movement controlled machine very soon and that she does not suffer.