Digital Copy arrives in the UK with hopes of ending piracy. Pah!
The “Digital Copy” concept was unveiled nearly a year ago at Macworld 2008, but given the time it takes for most ideas to crawl the Atlantic seabed to Blighty, the first DVD title featuring the technology has only just been released here.
Twentieth Century Fox’s “What Happens in Vegas” DVD now comes with the ability to legally rip a copy of the film to your iTunes library, where it can then be moved onto your iPod or iPhone, or just watched on the desktop without having to use the disc.
Jim Gianopulos, chairman and chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment, said he was “thrilled” with this “incredibly simple way for our customers to get even more out of their DVD purchase”, claiming that iTunes compatibility was one of the most requested features of DVD buyers.
Whether it really will deter people from downloading films from the Internet is another matter. Currently, the number of discs likely to get the Digital Copy treatment is small — a subset of one studio’s newer releases.
Of course there are other ways of illegally ripping legally bought DVDs to iTunes, or any other software movie player — illegal only because the powers that be don’t think people who buy DVDs should be allowed to watch it in any format and on any platform they choose. We can’t possibly condone the use of those, though.
(Via The Telegraph)
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