One of the things holding some people back from making the leap to digital distribution is the lack of a physical copy to hold on to. But what if you could combine a physical copy with a download that meant you could watch straight away - without leaving the house - and still end up with a disk to add to your shelf?
That's exactly what Amazon has just launched with its new Amazon Disc+ On Demand service. For certain films in its digital collection, as soon as you order a DVD or Blu-ray online, the film will be added to your digital library to watch right away.
There are a few caveats though. Only the standard-definition versions will be available to stream or download - even if you purchase a Blu-ray - and the video will only be available for 30 days from the date of purchase. The latter shouldn't be a problem though, since you should have the disk long before the online copy expires.
Unfortunately, the biggest caveat of all is that the service is only available in the US, and since Amazon doesn't even have a video-on-demand service in the UK, it's unlikely to transition to these shores any time soon.
Regardless, we think this is a huge development and a massive step forward for digital distribution. There are a lot of people out there - including this correspondent - who are clamouring for a solution that combines physical media with the ability to consume the content straight away. Hopefully they will apply a similar system to CD purchases, and that the service will eventually make it to the UK.
