Electronically Obsessed A tech addict's guide to using the Internet to streamline your life

Free digital copy with DVD or Blu-ray purchase? Not so fast…

Read the Fine Print to determine if you're actually going to get your digital copy that you've been promised

Movies and Digital Copies

In the last few years, I've been pretty annoyed with the fact that you can't seen to enjoy your movies in all the different ways that you want.  For example, if you buy a DVD movie, you can only watch that DVD on a device that includes a DVD player.  For the most part, you aren't allowed to make an archival copy or make a copy of the DVD movie to watch on your iPod or any other portable device.

Some people started pirating their movies using peer-to-peer services or bulletin boards.  The movie studios felt that if they offered a digital copy of a movie with the purchase of a DVD, people would be less likely to pirate the movie using a peer-to-peer service.

Free Digital Copies with DVD/Blu-ray Purchase?

When this process works, users are pleased.  I recently purchased the new "Star Trek" movie on Blu-ray and received a free digital copy of the movie through iTunes by providing an authorization code included in the package.

Wait, there's a catch...

However, there is a catch to these digital downloads.  As I found out tonight, many of these authorization codes expire about a year after the movie's release.  Tonight, I purchased a Blu-ray copy of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."  When I went to download the digital copy, I got an unpleasant surprise.  The authorization code for the FREE digital copy of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" expired on September 30, 2009.  This means that because I purchased the movie (new and unopened) after the authorization code's expiration date, I was out of luck.

Of course, the disclaimer regarding the expiration of the authorization code was buried in the back of the package and written in extremely small font.

Action Item

When you purchase a DVD or Blu-ray disk that advertises a FREE digital copy of the movie, read all the fine print to determine if the digital copy authorization code has an expiration date.

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