Hey Dirty Dane,
As far as protecting movies from hotlinking: The main feature that every CDN that I?ve seen uses to prevent hotlinking is some variation of token authentication or hash authentication. Different providers call it by different names but ultimately it?s still the same ? you generate a hash based on a shared secret that only the client and the CDN provider know, along with some other variables (such as an expiration date and the URL of the video itself). This way, the CDN knows when the link should no longer be valid, and any attempts to modify the link to get around it will fail.
We have 4 CDN's available (Level 3, Highwinds, EdgeCast, and Limelight) and can certainly find you a low cost solution for CDN delivery depending on exactly what you're delivering.
If SimpleCDN is charging for just setting up CNAME record, my guess is that they're getting you on any features you need or want to use. HW and Level3 for example, do not charge for CNAME record setups.
Hit me up with an email and I would be happy to go over a CDN offer for you and your business.
