The Truth About Digital Copies

So, I thought I'd come share a little bit of a rant tonight while it is on my mind.  Joel and I both love movies, and we have our fair share of DVD's and now Blu-Ray's.  If it is bought today, according to Joel, it MUST be Blu-Ray :).  (This post is not against Blu-Ray's)

The trend right now is for Blu-Ray's to come bundled with either a DVD copy & a Digital Copy or just a Digital Copy.  For those of you thinking, "What is a digital copy?" -  here is a link to help you understand what I mean - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_copy.

The purpose of a Digital Copy is that you can put your favorite movie onto your portable device, i.e. your iPhone, iPad, etc. 

So, my gripe is that tonight as I was preparing to download a few of our digital copy movies to my computer and then to my iPhone I got this message.

If you can't read that it says - Sorry, the offer is no longer available.  Now, when I first saw that message I thought surely not.  There must have been some kind of error, but nope, much to my dismay as I tried it again I got the same message.

This prompted me to do a little more looking.  So, two issues I now have with the Digital Copy idea.  One, you can only put it on ONE device.  I sort of understand this, I mean copyright law should come in somewhere.  But, for example, Joel and I both have phones that we could play the movie on, but we are only able to put it onto one of them.  Ultimately, I am ok with this issue - that's not really my gripe.

My real issue is that the Digital Copy offer expires (see picture above) after a certain amount of time.  It should never expire - you only get to use it once, but you should be able to choose when you use it - you paid extra for the Blu-Ray, DVD, & Digital Copy.  Therefore, you should get to use all of them, at whatever time is convenient for you.  

In case you're wondering how you might find out when your digital copy expires here's where you look:

 Either on the back cover of the case OR on the bottom of the insert that has your one time use redeemable code.  Notice it is in the extra fine print that I have circled in the picture above.

 Here is a close up view so you can see that in just a single (very small print) sentence they make your paid extra for the digital copy no longer useable.

So, moral of the story is that if you have bought or plan to buy digital copy versions in the future, you should check the expiration date.  Also, make sure you put it onto the device you plan to use it on the first time, because after that you have no choice.

Moral of the story for me: I will no longer pay extra for a digital copy.