Space Shifting DVDs to Cost Extra?

Depending on who you listen to Steve Jobs has supposedly been pitching the idea of selling "premium" DVDs that would include an extra fee for the privilege of transferring your legally-purchased DVD to a different device. "The courts have held that "space-shifting" your CDs to a portable music device is a fair use. So you can legally import your CD collection to your iPod, or any other device, without paying a penny. But Steve Jobs apparently wants to charge you $4 for the privilege of doing the same with your DVDs."

Comments

For that price...

[nine-times]

I tell you, I *might* be persuaded to pay that price if it was some sort of continuous license w/unlimited downloads. For example, if I could take a DVD from my current collection, get it so if I lose the file I can always re-download from Apple, and if they release an HD version I get it for free, then that might be worth $4. Otherwise, screw you, I'll rip the DVD myself.

Re:Steve Jobs or the MPAA

[hedwards]

I may have misunderstood the article, but I thought that Steve was the one pitch the idea of putting the copy on the DVD. The encryption is going to be there whether or not anybody outside the MPAA likes it. I believe that Steve was mostly pushing the idea of putting an itunes compatible file on the disc as well.

Even that sucks though, limiting the file to just an Apple format and charging far more for the file than it is reasonably worth it. And at that point, either the file is locked to one device or it renders the DRM on the disc completely useless. In either case it doesn't seem to benefit consumers much, if at all.

Shouldn't the courts acknowledge that DRM isn't a protection measure if most people can break it easily. I mean at that point, what's the real difference between DRM and exotic file format?

Re:No way...

[dc29A]

I would pay 4$ extra for a DVD that would include the following bonuses:

- One iPod and PSP version video of the movie along with one version in a standard codec.
- One iPod and PSP version video of each episode (if it's something like a Futurama season DVD) along with one version in a standard codec.
- Flac/Wav/lossless version of the songs, if it's a concert DVD.
- No DRM on the ripped stuff.

I am sick of installing 10 gazillion CD/DVD rippers and encoders just so I can watch my DVDs on my PSP and my DSM-320. 4$ for me would be no big deal to pay for that service.

Re:No way...

[TheRaven64]

The thing is, I don't think that Apple is going to make much money off of this I have a 3G iPod (20GB). I have ripped every CD I own, and it's not quite full. In the four years since I got it, my music collection has grown by about 3GB (and I've been buying a lot more music recently than I used to since I started listening to Radio Paradise). In the same time, the iPod in the same market segment has increased in capacity by 60GB. When I can get a 24 or 32GB flash version, I will probably upgrade (moving parts are so 20th century). After that, I probably won't buy a portable music player for a very long time.

On the other hand, I have around 50-100 DVDs (not sure exactly how many, some are seasons of TV shows in boxed sets with multiple disks). Assuming around 7GB per DVD, that's 350-700GB. Even reencoding as H.264, that's a few more generations of iPod before I have enough space. More to the point, you don't need to buy too many DVDs a year to make your current storage device obsolete.

If iTunes let you rip DVDs in the same zero-click way it lets you rip CDs, I would probably have ripped a lot of my disks already, and would be a lot more interested in an iPod with video out (especially one that had support for 5.1 sound out via an external splitter). For $4, I'm not interested though. I suspect the aim of this is to get the functionality shipping in iTunes and then lose a class action lawsuit objecting to them charging.