20th Century Fox Home entertainment announced its rolling out a new program to make available an electronic copy of select movies for play on portable video players starting with Die Hard 4 on November 20th and Warner Bros will do the same later with Harry Potter 5.An app called Digital Copy will launch when placed into a computer giving the user the option to play the movie or transfer the movie to Windows based computer or player. The format is made for "PlaysforSure" players so assume it will be wma so iPod users may be left out unless convert first. Of note is the copy is DRM free (but requires a 16bit code similar to computer software), an interesting adjustment from the pirate paranoid member of the MPAA.
Considering that normally getting an electronic copy of a movie can cost up to $10 via iTunes, its a pretty good extra incentive to get the special feature DVD. Also, this will make for an interesting test pilot to see if making movies available DRM free will help or hurt DVD sales. I think the impact will be zero to be honest. Unlike the MPAA's assumptions, I think most users that pirate a copy had no intention of buying one to begin with. Its not a lost sale because there was never an intention to buy to begin with.
Regardless, this is an idea worth supporting. I planned on buying Die Hard 4 anyway, but now I will make sure to get the special edition for my portable player.
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