DVDs and the big picture

The studios and their technology partners waged a similarly head-shaking fight against Kaleidescape, whose inordinately expensive home video servers use military-grade security to keep their contents from being copied. Rather than reflexively battling such companies, the studios should be working with them to find a legitimate way for people to free the movies they've bought from their shiny plastic prisons. Consumers have already discovered how much more valuable their music collections are to them when stored digitally instead of on a bookshelf; it's inevitable that they will do the same with their videos. And although the music industry hasn't adapted well to the change, there's no question that the digital revolution caused by MP3s has spurred demand and consumption.

Several of the major movie studios have started selling premium-priced DVDs and Blu-ray discs that include extra copies of the film that can be transferred onto a hard drive. But attempts to create an industrywide approach have been stymied by disputes among Hollywood, tech companies and equipment manufacturers. A more recent effort to develop standards for downloadable movie files could help consumers create digital libraries of new releases, but it overlooks the discs already gathering dust on their shelves. RealDVD may not be the right product either, but it addresses a demand that the studios can't afford to ignore.