UK to pioneer download-to-own movies

UK to pioneer download-to-own movies

英国倡导下载购买电影

Film fans will soon be able to download and keep DVD quality movies quite legally. Universal Pictures, one of the big Hollywood movie studios, says it will introduce the download service in the UK from next month and expects it to spread rapidly around the world shortly afterwards.

电影迷马上就可以下载到完全合法的DVD品质的电影了。Universal Pictures ，这个大型的好莱坞电影工作室，称他们将从下个月在英国提供下载服务，并期望能在世界范围内迅速开展这项服务。

Until now, movies have only been legally available as pay-per-view streamed video or for a limited time. The new service from Universal will allow Internet users to download and keep copies of the film they have bought. The DRM software will also allow customers to make up to two copies of the movie - one for the standard DVD player or computer and another for a portable device.

直到现在，电影只有一种合法的发布方式，那就是按次收费或者规定好时间。而Universal的这种新的服务将允许网络用户下载并保有一份他们买来的电影。 DRM软件允许客户组合一个movie的两个拷贝。一个为标准DVD或者电脑，另一个为了轻型驱动器。

The service intends to officially kick off on 10 April with the DVD release of the blockbuster remake of King Kong directed by Peter Jackson - the man behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy - although it is already live today. Costing £19.95, customers

这个服务计划在四月十日发布Peter Jackson导演的重量级的电影《King Kong》(重拍版)- Peter Jackson的作品还有《指环王》三步曲 - 尽管它已经被发布了。这个DVD的价格将是 £19.95;

will not only get the download but also a physical copy of the DVD in the post the next day. Universal says its current business plan only includes the physical version as consumers seem to like to have an actual copy as well as a download.

(用户)并不仅仅是得到一个下载的copy ，还会在第二天得到得到一个DVD盘片。Universal说它当前的计划里面只包含一个物理版，（但是这种发布方式使得）消费者看起来他们是从网上下载下来的一样。

The service will be offered through Lovefilm.com or through AOL. No doubt AOL's parent Time Warner, no small movie studio itself, will be watching the take up of the download-to-own service with interest.

这个服务将会通过Lovefilm.com or AOL来提供。不怀疑“AOL”的父公司时代华纳，这个"no small" 的电影工作室会很乐于开展这种“downloda-to-own”服务。

Along with King Kong, Universal plans to launch the download-to-own service with another 34 titles including Pride and Prejudice, Serenity, Doom and Nanny McPhee with prices ranging from £9.95 to £19.99.

和《King Kong》一起，Universal还计划发布他们其他的34部电影包括《傲慢与偏见》，《宁静》，《Domm》，《魔法保姆》，他们的价格为 £9.95 -- £19.99。

Universal chose to launch the service in the UK because Britain is Universal's biggest market for home entertainment outside the US. The decision was also driven by the take up of broadband in the UK. Around 60 percent of British homes - about 17 million households - now have a domestic broadband connection. It takes between 40 and 60 minutes to download the average film through a 2 megabits-per-second broadband connection. As faster broadband 8Mbit broadband services are rolled out across the country over the next year, this figure will fall considerably.

Universal之所以选择在英国启动这项服务，是因为英国是Universal除美国之外最大的家庭娱乐市场。这个计划将会得到英国宽带的支持。60%的英国家庭--也就是1700万的家庭－－现在拥有宽带接入，这意味着他们只花40-60分钟就可以下载一部一般意义上的电影。而明年，更快的8M宽带普及计划将在明年落实。

编者解释：

• What is Download-to-Own?
  This is equivalent to buying your own copy of DVD! DOWNLOAD-TO-OWN allows you to buy and download a ‘permanent’ copy of a movie file. The movie that you purchase can then be played back an unlimited amount of times on the device that you download to at no additional cost.
• DRM

• DRM == Digital Right Managent