Digital Home Thoughts: Might Copying HD-DVDs Become Legal?

"Under a licensing agreement in its final stages, consumers may get the right to make several legal copies of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies they've purchased, a concession by the movie industry that may quell criticism that DRM (digital rights management) technologies are too restrictive. The agreement, if supported by movie studios and film companies, could allow a consumer to make a backup copy in case their original disc is damaged and another copy for their home media server, said Michael Ayers, a representative of an industry group that licenses the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) copy-prevention system. AACS is used on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, the new high-definition DVD formats, to prevent unauthorized copying of the discs... The idea is that the content companies could charge a premium according to how many copies are allowed, Ayers said. It remains a possibility that consumers, if given the chance to make three copies of "Spider-man 2" could give those copies to their neighbors, which technically would qualify as low-volume piracy. But AACS LA believes that movie studios will see higher sales with the managed copy option, even with the chance it could be abused, Ayers said. "Studios will have to take that into account when they select pricing," Ayers said."

Well, it's not really what we were hoping for, but at least they're trying to think of something. Bear in mind this isn't the end of DRM for HD-DVDs, just the beginning of a 'lighter' DRM scheme. If this were to become a reality, you'd better believe the first thing most of us will do will be to 'legally' rip the DVD into a DRM-free file format. But first they're going to have to convince us we want to pay an extra $10 for that HD-DVD just because it allows us to make one or two copies from it. You know, we can already make unlimited copies of our HD-DVDs, just not legally, so personally it would be a hard sell for me. How about you? Does this idea get you excited?