You may have noticed that many new DVDs and Blu-Ray discs are being advertised with a new, extra ‘feature:’ Digital Copy. These films, such as Wanted, The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!, come with an additional disc. On this disc is a copy of the movie you can put it on your computer, and from there, view it on your PC’s screen or on your television via an Apple TV or some other computer-to-TV device.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well… no.
This is simply the movie industry’s latest attempt to sugar coat DRM (Digital Rights Management). You already bought the movie. You should be able to watch it on any device you own that can show the movie and back it up. Of course, that’s the last thing the movie companies want you to do. As far as they’re concerned, you don’t buy a movie, an episode of a TV show, an album, or song. You rent the use of it on one, or at most, two, devices.