Want to own a Blu-ray but don’t have the patience to see it show up on the doorstep? Amazon understands.
The online retail giant decided to link online video and packaged media with its new Disc+ On Demand service.
It works like this: You buy a DVD or Blu-ray that’s listed as a Disc+ On Demand title. The disc goes in the mail and a freebie link to the Video on Demand slides into “Your Video Library” at Amazon.
From there, the movie can be streamed or downloaded. The catch? The online version must be watched within a month — and once the digital copy’s been seen, it goes up in smoke “Mission: Impossible”-like.
The online bonus version streams and downloads in standard definition, even if you buy the HD. If the disc is returned to Amazon, the Video on Demand fee applies retroactively.
Among the newer titles hooked up with D+D are “State of Play,” “Drag Me to Hell,” “Away We Go” and Coraline.” There are 300-some titles, many of them the usual catalog suspects.
Most of us buying a DVD or BR probably won’t have much use for this — why preview the movie on a home computer before watching the disc on the big screen?
One answer may be gift giving. Wrap the Blu-ray, see the movie yourself. A harmless bit of rebate greed. And of course young kids are all into repetition and immediate gratification, so that’s a fit. (Disney Studios Home Entertainment thinks along the same multiplatform lines these days.)
In any case, give Amazon credit for linking the online and physical worlds in a new way that sort of makes sense. They’re trying, folks.
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