Digital Copy take-up "low but growing"

Studios to axe DVD version as Blu-ray proves more popular

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30 March 2009 10:48 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

The number of consumers who use the "Digital Copy" of a movie bundled with their purchased disc is described as "low but growing".

2009 figures are up from last year with the most recent stats showing between 10% and 15% accessing the digital version, compared to 5% to 13% last year.

Digital Copy, announced by Apple in January 2008, sees a Mac, PC and iPod friendly version of a flick bundled with a DVD or Blu-ray.

Users can access the encrypted copy by entering a password and then have a lower quality version of the film on their computer to transfer to one portable device.

The feature is said to be more popular with Blu-ray customers with the recent batman flick, The Dark Night, hitting a 20% transfer rate with Blu-ray purchasers.

In fact, the difference in take-up rates between the two formats has led to reports that 20th Century Fox and Sony are said to be moving toward attaching Digital Copy to Blu-ray only.

We will keep you posted.