Beginning next year, studios and other content holders will be required to give consumers the ability to make one copy of any Blu-ray Disc they buy.
Dubbed “managed copy,” the requirement has long been planned for the Blu-ray format, but has only just been finalized by the Advanced Access Content System License Administrator, a consortium of studios, hardware manufacturers and technology companies that licenses the AACS copy protection used on Blu-ray Discs.
Initially, managed copies can be made to recordable Blu-ray or DVD discs, as a download to a Windows Media DRM-compatible portable player or hard drive, on a memory stick, SD card or as a bound copy, such as a digital copy file on the disc, Ayers said.
Downloads to iPods, iPhones and other Apple devices are not approved, and the AACS-LA has not received a submission from Apple to make Blu-ray copies to Apple devices, though Ayers said Apple could apply at any time. The final AACS license allows for additional copying formats to be added.
