Amazon's Disc+ program tosses in a free VOD with your Blu-ray or DVD

In a move that could help counter the instant gratification valley that currently separates online shopping from heading to the local retailer, Amazon is pushing a "limited time offer" called Disc+ On Demand that pairs 300 or so of its movies with a free Amazon VOD copy. That digital version pops into the buyer's Video Library instantly after purchase and still has to play by all the usual video on-demand rules of 24 hr / 30 day windows, U.S. address, and is currently only available in standard-definition. Still, this combination of the digital and physical purchase worlds means the online giant has beaten Best Buy's similar plans to the punch and approaches the convenience of Netflix's Watch Instantly. Just its usually lower prices has already driven many of you to be come online only disc buyers, we'll see if this helps Amazon grab the rest.

[larciel Posted Dec 10th 2009 5:31AM]

amzn is really stepping up to be numero uno. Likey!
OTOH, sorry BB,.... nah.

[DiGiC Posted Dec 10th 2009 5:47AM]

This seems totally unnecessary, they should just focus on better HD streaming instead of wasting resources!

[neoanime Posted Dec 10th 2009 5:55AM]

I think Netflix is still "numero uno" since they have had something similar for awhile now. Sure its just rentals, but some may say thats a good thing.

The limited viewing online service feels like a wanabee rental when they are selling you the exact same thing while it is being shipped to you.

[kingofwale Posted Dec 10th 2009 7:18AM]

so.... what's stopping me from returning all the movies right back to Amazon since I would have already watched them by them??

[Altairantares Posted Dec 10th 2009 9:45AM]

@kingofwale The lazyness of the typical American.

[Roberini Posted Dec 10th 2009 10:08AM]

@kingofwale Nothing's stopping you. But, be sure that Amazon will charge you the full price for that download. And, there's a good chance you'll also be responsible for cost of shipping it back. And, if you become a habitual "returner" they may not want to do business with you.

[jcrash Posted Dec 10th 2009 10:34AM]

@kingofwale it is a rental, you won't own it. So, you can use it to get a free rental, if you want to pay the shipping back on your dvd's.

[AlwaysThere Posted Dec 10th 2009 7:14PM]

@kingofwale They probably will be able to verify that you used your available "credit" to view the download. Once that has been done, you can only return for an exchange.

[radarskiy Posted Dec 11th 2009 12:28AM]

@kingofwale : The terms of the transaction which Amazon clearly lists and you could have read on your own if you weren't so busy hugging yourself for coming up with such a clever scam all on your own.

[coitis1 Posted Dec 10th 2009 8:40AM]

I thought they already had something like this. I bought the Dark Knight DVD last year around this time and got a free download of the movie from Amazon.

[BajanSurfer Posted Dec 10th 2009 10:09AM]

@coitis1 you beat me to it, yes they did do this for at least the Dark Knight DVD

[Altairantares Posted Dec 10th 2009 9:46AM]

I never got why people were willing to pay so much for blu-ray anyway, but I only watch television anyway unless I can get it online, and the same is generally true for movies as well. Amazon/Netflix Instant Watch ftw.

[Jamus Posted Dec 10th 2009 10:00AM]

This sounds very similar to the MP3Anywhere.com site that used to be in business. You bought a CD from them and then they gave you a 1 time download of the CD's tracks in MP3 format. They finally had to give in due to lawsuit expenses.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 10th 2009 10:30AM]

All BR's should come with a digital download of a DRM-free 1080p file.

I only ever watch stuff streamed from a hard-drive... spinny media is useless. Happy to pay for it instead of grabbng torrents (which take freaking years to download for big multi-GB files) if the industry wants to start offering DRM-free downloads for sale.

Until they sell it, I'm not buying it. Music industry finally adapted and sales are now up massively.. movie industry needs to follow suit.

[xtasi Posted Dec 10th 2009 1:01PM]

@(Unverified) i would watch those drm free movies with my unicorn and friend leprechaun.
The mpaa is even worst then ria. Haven't been keeping track on Engadget? what they are asking congress? selective output, etc.

I do agree with you. I would love to buy media once and play it on all my devices... like DVD's now, though ripping is gray area. I can buy a dvd, rip it to my PMP and watch it on the train on my way to work. Imagine if you bought a cd, then had to buy it again so you could play it on your car, and again for your ipod, and again for...
that's what the movie companies want us to do.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 10th 2009 2:52PM]

@(Unverified) Spinny media is far from useless.I have had many hard drives fail and have and still do, lose my internet connection from time to time, yet my burned and bought disks are always there at the ready.

[jcrash Posted Dec 10th 2009 10:33AM]

I saw this yesterday on their site. I was overjoyed, thinking I would own the digital copy and the DVD, but alas, it is only a 24 hr rental.

Give me both for one good price, please.

[JerkyChew Posted Dec 10th 2009 11:12AM]

Nice! I've been begging for this for years!

[fg Posted Dec 10th 2009 12:07PM]

If you are spending more money to buy a HD bluray then its not likely that a streamed SD rental will be very appealing however quick you can start watching it.

[ZeroCorpse Posted Dec 10th 2009 1:47PM]

This is a damned good offer. I have a Roku which does Amazon On Demand, so I'll be able to stream my movies when I lend out the Blu-ray Disc to friends or relatives. Pretty cool.

[brgale Posted Dec 10th 2009 7:56PM]

I want this to happen with books. I would love to buy an actual copy of a book and get an epub (or something) file along with it to read on my iphone.