Digital copies on Blu-Ray

Written by Kelsey Brookes Tuesday, 28 July 2009 03:53

Gizmodo has published an excellent article, creatively titled 'Why Are Movie Studios so F%&king Stupid?', which explains in great details just how badly the media distribution industry fails to understand the market.

The writer had recent purchased a copy of Zack and Miri Make a Porno on Blu-Ray and was delighted to discover that the disc also included a digital copy of the film.

You'd think this would enable you to download the content you legitimately purchased and watch it on any device you own.

You'd be wrong.

To watch this DRM infested horror (note, even RIAA thinks DRM is dead!) you need to install special Windows only software and only on limited number of machines and only a limited number of times.

No Mac OS, no Linux, no media centres, no iPhones, no PSPs - in other words, unless you're sitting in front of your Windows PC, you can't watch the damn thing.

So why bother? Sure, many of us do watch movies on our computers, but is it really our first choice of relaxation venue? I think not.

Why do media companies continue to punish those who actually purchase their content? Why do I have to sit through FBI warnings, be barred from skipping ads and not allowed to transport it to the delivery mechanism of choice?

Is it really that hard for media companies to understand that by punishing their customers and putting up roadblocks to the viewing experience that they're simply creating pirates?

Read the full article on Gizmodo