Live free and DVD hard

[Alpine]

Truly a digital video disc


FOX IS GETTING into the digital distribution game - via physical media. Yes, we all knew that Murdoch was perverse, but now we have proof.

The new DVD of 'Life Free or Die Hard' aka Die Hard 4.0, due out in November, will not just come with the movie on DVD - the DVD itself will contain a digital media file designed for download to PC or portable device.
That means buyers won't have to hack the CSS encryption on the DVD disc to get a digital copy of the movie. Good news, right?

Well, only sort of. The media will, obviously, be copy-protected and this comes in the form of Microsoft's Plays for Sure DRM. Now, The Vole has already abandoned this DRM schema for its own products, so quite why Fox wants to run with it we aren't sure, but it means that the file won't play on the Zune.

The other player it won't work with is, obviously, Apple's Ipod or Iphone. Given that these are the most popular music and video players on the planet, it seems strange that Fox would exclude 90% of the market from using the file on the go.

Oh well, back to the hacks, then.

The INQuirer