Blink And Remeber It Wholesale

If you've been reading this blog for a while you may well remember that while I'm in favour of bundling digital copies of movies with a DVD purchase, I haven't always found the experience to be particularly enjoyable. Recently though I've been very impressed with Tesco's blinkbox service.

While blinkbox is mainly aimed at the digital distribution of movies and TV shows (you can rent or buy digital copies of most of their offerings) I haven't actually paid them any money directly. My only contact with blinkbox has been the checkout at my local Tesco store.

Basically if you buy a supported DVD (one that is also available through blinkbox) in Tesco they give you access to a free digital copy through blinkbox as well. If you use your club card when paying then you will find an e-mail waiting for you when you get home reminding you about the digital copy, otherwise you'll find there is a code on your receipt that gives you access. The first time I came across this was when I picked up a copy of the new Total Recall film (which is actually pretty good, and which explains the title of this post) but I've had the same experience with quite a few other films now as well. I've only tried watching these digital copies on my computer (it even seems to work under Ubuntu although it isn't listed as supported) but blinkbox supports a whole range of devices from computers, to TVs, consoles, and various set-top boxes.

Amazon are doing something similar in the US with CDs which they call AutoRip, where if you buy a supported CD you will instantly get access to an MP3 copy of the CD to listen to while you wait for the physical version to arrive. This sounds like a really useful service which I hope they extend to the UK at some point.

While I think both services are a great idea I can see one small wrinkle; copyright law. Both services are essentially providing you with a digital copy when you buy a physical copy, not purely to make your life easier, but to move people away from performing format shifting themselves. The digital copies these services provided can't be easily shared (either they use DRM to lock them to your account or watermarking to make them easily traceable) and the hope is that if they provide the flexibility of a digital copy you won't need to create and share an untraceable copy. That is all well and good, but what about if you buy a DVD from Tesco (or a CD from Amazon) as a gift? If you give away the physical copy do you still have the legal right to watch the digital copy? I would assume that you don't although I can't find any details in the terms and conditions. Usually the assumption is that you can format shift for personal use, but if you get rid of the original copy then you must get rid of the copies you made as well (i.e. you can't rip your CDs to MP3 files and then sell the CDs while keeping the copies). I would assume the same legal restrictions would apply to blinkbox and AutoRip. One day copyright law might catch up with the modern world and answer such questions.

Amazon MP3

Amazon finally launched their MP3 store in the UK today. Finally their is a competitor to iTunes in the UK with a reasonably sized catalogue.

Now I've been using iTunes to buy music since before I owned an iPod. I like the service (I detest the actual application) apart from the fact that not all the tracks available through iTunes are DRM free, and even those that are are sold in Apple's AAC format and not as MP3 files. Given it's name the Amazon MP3 store is selling Mp3 files with no DRM.

The new store from Amazon also appears to win on price. Many of the tracks are just 59p which is a saving of 20p when compared to iTunes. A lot of the albums are just £3 which is a bargain as far as I'm concerned. Finally a store that understands that if you sell the product people want at a price they deem fair maybe people will buy it.

Digital Restriction Madness: The Last Word

Well Fox have finally sent me a reply to my e-mail about not being able to use the digital copy of Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

Hello Mark,

This message is to inform you that the Windows Media Player codes for Horton Hears A Who have been activated, and that you will be able to transfer your digital copy. Please contact us if you need any further assistance.

We apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Thank you,

Fox Digital Support Team

It's nice that they a) fixed the problem and b) let me know (even if I'd already spotted this myself). The point still remains though, that this should never have been allowed to happen in the first place.

Digital Restriction Madness: Success for the Little Guy!

OK maybe I'm not so little (I'm actually much rounder than I'd like) but I've had success in playing the digital copy of Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! which was being held ransom by Fox. As I mentioned in my previous post the serial number that I got with the DVD to unlock the legal digital copy that you can play on a computer or portable media player didn't work. When I contacted Fox about this I was told that it wouldn't work until the 9th of December when the film went on sale in the US.

Well either my mail was looked at by the right person or Fox independently realised they had made a mistake, but I've just tried unlocking the film again and it has worked. Of course I don't actually have time to watch it right now but at least I could if I wanted to -- although only on this computer due to the exceptionally restrictive rights they allow.

Digital Restriction Madness

I saw the following trailer for Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! over the weekend.

Click To Play

I think you will agree that it looks funny, and given that I really enjoyed both Ice Age films I decided to order it. So I went to Amazon to place an order to find there were two versions of the DVD available. The standard one disc version and a limited edition 2 disc version. The second DVD actually contains a digital copy for use on your computer or portable media player. Having wanted this feature legally for many years I decided to put down the extra cash and buy the 2 disc version. What a terrible mistake!

In theory using the digital copy should be really easy the website suggests three steps:

1. Insert
2. Transfer
3. Enjoy

So I started by following step 1 and allowing the autorun programme to start up. I then selected to transfer the film to my computer using Windows Media Player. You can also use iTunes on both Windows and on a Mac which is a nice touch. Once you have chosen how to transfer you are asked to enter a 16 digit serial number printed inside the DVD case. I entered my serial number and clicked next only to be told that the serial number was invalid.

Hmm. I checked and tried re-entering the serial number still no luck. So of I went to the support website address given when the serial number failed. This site admits that they have a problem with some serial numbers not working at all. Fortunately they provide a form you can complete to request a new serial number. Unfortunately Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! isn't one of the films you can choose from.

At this point I was getting rather annoyed. I'd supported what I saw as a media company making a step in the right direction by providing legal digital copying only to find that I couldn't use the copy because of digital rights restriction management (DRM) that keeps it locked up safe, safe from their paying customers at least.

So as the support website was no help I thought I'd try the support e-mail address instead and sent of the following e-mail:

Hi,

I've just bought a copy of Horton Hears a Who! Which contains a digital copy which I'd like to copy to my Windows PC. Unfortunately when I enter the serial number it tells me that it is invalid and so I can't make the copy. I went to your website and found that because of a mistake on your part some serial numbers won't work. Unfortunately the form to request a new serial number (http://support.foxdigitalcopy.com/sns.aspx) doesn't list Horton Hears a Who! And so I can't get it to issue me with a new serial number.

I'd appreciate it if you could fix this at the earliest possible time so that people, like me, who have bought a copy knowing that for once the movie industry has taken a step forward and is allowing legal digital copies could actually make use of the features they have paid for.

Currently those who download illegal versions would be getting a better service than those of us who have actually paid you for the film.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Mark Greenwood

Given my annoyance by this stage I though that was quite polite and restrained. If I was annoyed when I wrote the e-mail I was mad when I read the reply:

Hi Mark,

We apologize for your issue with "Horton Hears a Who" unfortunately at this time the street release date in the US for that title is on Dec 9, 2008. The digital copy will not be available for download until that time.

We apologize for any problems that this may cause at this time

Fox Digital Support Team.

I'm sorry but what does the US release date have to do with this, I bought the DVD in the UK! I've now replied with the following e-mail but I'm guessing it is night in the US at the moment so I don't expect a reply till later this afternoon:

Hi,

I'm sorry but the fact that the release date in the US is the 9th of December is immaterial. I live in the UK and have bought the region 2 version of the film. Nowhere on the box (or on Amazon.co.uk where I bought it from) does it state that we won't be able to use the digital copy for almost two months.

I'm already annoyed by the digital restriction management placed on the file, and the fact that I have not really bought it only rented it given that the small print says the code will only be useful until October 2010 and that I can only use it on one computer and one portable device. I think that in the UK not allowing people access to the digital copy they have paid for until December will be illegal under the trades description act and so I suggest that you resolve this situation immediately before you start getting a lot of bad press in the UK.

Hopefully I'll hear from you again soon with a more useful response,

Mark

As you can see I'm not happy. Not just by the fact that I can't watch the digital copy at the moment but also the fact that contrary to what they may want you to believe you clearly are not buying a digital copy of the film just renting it for two years.

Anyway I have now learnt my lesson. I will no longer be paying extra for the ability to format shift films. If they treat me like an idiot then they cannot expect me to give them more money to be treated the same way again in the future.

I've left a very negative review on Amazon so hopefully no one else will be scammed in this way. Hopefully the film will still be as enjoyable as the trailer suggests but if you want to buy it then I'd suggest the standard DVD.