iTunes Digital Copy from Fox DVD goes under the microscope
By Ryan Block 
posted January 16th 2008 11:44PM
posted January 16th 2008 11:44PM
posted January 16th 2008 11:44PM
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Well, I actually bought the DVD last night (Target had a sale) and went home to play with it.
The video files (as others have said) are on a second disc and there is an activation number in the DVD insert. One the Mac side, an AppleScript is launched and it launches iTunes (and only iTunes) taking you to an iTMS page where you enter your activation number and... you download the video from the iTMS! The Mac users do not use the files on the disc.
On the Windows side there is actually a manager program that asks if you want to use iTunes or Windows Media Player. I didn't get any further because Parallels told me I was out of space, so I'll have to play with that tonight. I did explore the second disc and, yes, there are two files in there: one for "PC" and one for "Portable," but I have not been able to play with either of them to see if the DRM is already there (I assume it is).
The point to all of this is that the idea is half-baked. Why I need to download the file from the iTMS when it's sitting on a disc I bought simply astounds me. Why the ownership rights do not follow the disc (let's say I sell it on Half.com) further astounds me.
If Fox is going to go down this road, then there should just be a download for iTunes and a download for WMP, not a secondary disc in the packaging.
Now... am I upset I bout the DVD? No. I'm a Star Wars fan and I tend to be a completist, especially with the spoofs, so getting this DVD made sense. However, the fact that I was able to play with the Digital Copy was what made me pull the trigger on this purchase even faster.
Don't get me wrong: If I can get a portable video quickly (ripping a DVD and then transcoding to iPod-compatible files does take time) then I'm fine with that, and I don't dislike this concept. However, it's overly restrictive and almost silly in the execution. Hopefully some good will come of this... I'm just not holding my breath.
"am I upset I bout the DVD?"
Bah...
That should be "am I upset about the DVD?"
I need coffee.
Hackers, start your engines.
I could care less until they actually include a FILE on the disc. An iTunes coupon only matters to who? iTunes users. I am not, never will be. Amazon Unbox is one thing, or maybe some netflix credit, or something I dunno, but then you stray too far from the point.
In either case this seems more like a reach around for apple than a bonus for the consumer.
Hmm...Isn't Steve the one who wrote an open letter saying that we should ditch DRM all together? Seems like somebody needs to heed their own words. I know he was talking about DRM in music related terms, but to me it seems that there is really no difference. Apparently Steve thinks differently.
PS -- Fair Use doesn't exist...the DCMA took care of that.
I bought this DVD to try this feature out (and to own a copy of the DVD). I was not able to get the iTunes version to copy over to my PC computer; this is after being forced to upgrade to 7.6 (while everyone in the world was downloading it). 7.6 did not work and iTunes could not recognize any files on the DVD. I attempted to see if the WMP version would work with iTunes and had a heck of a time installing all the Microsoft DRM software to get the PC one in. Once in, the PC version does not work with iTunes (as expected) so I cannot get it onto my iPhone. It seems like this is a complete waste of time unless you have a Mac or like the WMP model.
I just went through this when I got the 2-disc version of the latest Harry Potter DVD release over the holidays. It came with a "free" digital copy that could be transferred over to my PMP (no iTunes required). Even though I already had WMP 11 installed on my computer, it required even more updating just to make sure I was thoroughly DRM'd to within an inch of my life. Don't really want to have to update software everytime I move a movie to my Zen, thankyouverymuch. Let me know when I can drag and drop; no fuss, no muss. Till then, I'll pass.
When this is easier than FairUse Wizard it will actually be worth buying.
Strange how everyone says it works on macs. now for this ONE movie im pretty sure it doesnt cuz i sat down to read the box. i bought live free or die hard. and it has the same thing (the digital copy) but it says it only works on PC's not Mac's hmm im confused or its a different company (didnt look) or thye updated it sense then.
I have a Mac, and have loaded Blue Harvest onto my iPod from it.
From what I can gather, Fox had to wait until iTunes 7.6 to implement the Digital Copy for the Mac. I was just at the store and looked at the Die Hard movie that has Digital Copy. It says "does not currently work with iPod,....".
Hmm, has anyone tried putting the Die Hard copy into a Mac, now that iTunes 7.6 is released? ... or maybe Fox will have to re-release it with a Mac-compatible version.
If you go to the FoxDigitalCopy site, the FAQs say that it uses WMA-based DRM, and doesn't mention Apple's FairPlay DRM.
The most amazing part for me was opening up the Blue Harvest DVD and seeing the instructions for copying the file *to your Mac* with the instruction for copying the files to Windows on the *reverse* side on the insert.
I don't remember ever seeing Windows instructions being relegated to the back side of the sheet on such a mainstream product. That's a new one. Way to go Fox!
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