A lot's been happening on the Digital Copy front since we posted our first feature story on the subject earlier this year. For those not familiar with Digital Copy, it's a small transportable version of a movie or TV show provided by the studio when we purchase one of their titles on Blu-ray or DVD. Offered in part to help reduce video piracy, this file can either be located on a DVD inside the physical package, transferable to a computer and/or a portable player, or downloadable over the internet, each requiring a unique printed code number in order to unlock (provided with the disc). Studios like Disney have since entered the fray, Universal is offering consumers more options, while Warner and Sony are making particularly bold strides forward.
Supernatural The Complete Third Season, new this week on Blu-ray, includes a voucher for a complimentary download of the entire season. It works like this: Packed inside the box is a card with instructions and a redemption code number to use in the iTunes Store, and then all 16 episodes (it was an abbreviated season due to the writers' strike) download from iTunes to our computer, a video windfall that would ordinarily set us back $31.84. But wait, there's more: Flip the card over and we'll find instructions for grabbing Windows Media versions of the same 16 episodes, using the same code, from the Warner Bros. Digital Copy website. Released way back on September 2nd, the DVD version of Supernatural Season Three included a similar offer, following but greatly expanding upon Fox's TV-on-DVD milestone: Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest, which included a Digital Copy of that double-length Star Wars parody.
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| The third season of the WB series Supernatural is the first disc release to include a Digital Copy of the entire season, with purchase. |
Not to be outdone, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has finally announced the details for their first-ever release to include an iTunes-compatible Digital Copy, a possibility first hinted at during CEDIA Expo in Denver this past September. Sony has been including a Digital Copy of select titles for several months now, to transfer to a PC or even upload to a PlayStation Portable, their renowned multimedia handheld hardware. The lucky release to initially embrace the ubiquitous Apple portable media player is this summer's stoner comedy Pineapple Express, which will be available on January 6, 2009 on Unrated Blu-ray Disc as well as a two-disc Unrated DVD.
With the added iTunes functionality, the portable possibilities are almost endless, as this one package will include not just the high-def disc but a version for a PC (including laptops), PSP and the iPod. So if you want to take Pineapple Express with you anywhere, anyhow, this edition is a pretty good value, with more such well-equipped Sony titles to be announced.
Upcoming Blu-ray Titles with iTunes Digital Copy (and more!):
