It looks like Fox is offering a convenient solution for those that wish to view their films on Apple products. Every DVD you buy from Fox will now have an iTunes copy available on the disk that you can easily throw on your computer and other iTunes equipped devices. We get the following news release thanks to our friends at moviesonline:
Twentieth Century Fox and Apple(R) today announced Digital Copy for iTunes(R), which provides customers who purchase a DVD with an additional Digital Copy of the movie. Just like movies purchased from the iTunes Store, an iTunes Digital Copy can effortlessly be transferred to iTunes and then viewed on a PC or Mac(R), iPod(R) with video, iPhone(TM) or on Apple TV(R). The first DVD to make its debut with iTunes Digital Copy is the Special Edition DVD premiere of the Family Guy “Star Wars” parody, “Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest,” which is being released in stores today. Fox and Apple are planning to deliver many more DVDs with iTunes Digital Copy this year.
This is makes sense, it is convenient for the consumer and it is a fantastic move by Fox to add value to a DVD purchase. With so many people taking films on the road with them now, and with iTunes being the most popular device to store them I think this is the best possible add on for the standard DVD. Kudos to Fox for taking the initiative! I can certainly see this being standard on all DVD’s and I would be surprised if other studios did not follow suit.
I am still a fan of data only, and would like to see all physical copies of film go the way of the Dodo; but I am in the minority. Many people like to have a physical DVD to hold and enjoy. With kick ass packaging they can be a nice room accessory and an impressive collection is still a sight to behold. Even those that prefer to watch DVD’s at home on a payer will be pleased to have this add on, it gives people the option to view the film on a variety of gizmos.
We now wait and see how long it takes for the other studios to follow suit.
Also to Kathmandu: “since anyone can easily rip and transcode a DVD to a file that can be played on an Ipod” I think the advantage are twofold. 1) to the majority of i-anything users (especially the newer ones, e.g. dad) that it requires virtually no knowledge about computers or formats or anything like that
2) It’s much quicker to have a copy already available on the disc than to rip and encode it yourself. Also presumably studios would have more time to perfect the quality of the rip.
… still, I have a creative zen, so I’ll continue to rip my own too :)
Apple are taking over the world! I’m surprised the movie industry isn’t doing more to move away from apple/i(etc). The music industry was too slow and now apple have them by the balls and I could seriously see the movie industry going the same way. Still, although I would have preferred to have seen a divX copy on the dvd, there’s no point in complaining about free gifts…
Now, if I rent one of these DVDs, could I hijack the digital copy and keep it long after I’ve returned the DVD?
Well, since anyone can easily rip and transcode a DVD to a file that can be played on an Ipod, my question is: Will these files be on Blu-ray or HD-DVD discs which are more difficult to rip? Or are they just providing the iPod files because they don’t have much choice?
Not to mention the fact that if I want to play the file on my PSP I’m SOL…
I’ll just rip my own files, thank you….
Kat
Any news on bitrate / resolution?
i know this isn;t about downloading per se but i just mean the digital revolution in general…hug it…kiss it….call it a whore do whatever you have to get it onside but just accept it and we can all move on with our lives…..
Thats right studios….don’t fight the future they way the record companies did and effectively commit suicide…embrace the new and people will be happy to play by your rules..
the record companies should have jumped on the downloading/digital buisness immediately instead of fighting and unwinnable fight and turning everyone against them.
I am not in anyway a fan of bootlegging and illegal downloading but I am more thna willing to pay to have access to downloadable content so why put me in a position where i am unable to give you my money? I want to….I am begging you to let me give you my money…
anyway I love this idea….I just got apple tv and it is fucking awesome and lats night I was thinking about how great it would be if I could easily put dvds from my collection onto it without converting etc etc…this is perfect