Is one going required to supply proof that one has already seen a particular film before they can access a paid download on this service? It seems to me that this would be very difficult to enforce and not worth the effort.

“to make up to two copies – one for DVD players or computers, and the second for a portable”

Nope. Not for DVD players. No transcoding. You get a bigger, DRMed file for your computer, and a smaller DRMed file for any portable appliance that will play DRMed WMV files… so owners of the two most common devices that can play video on the go – the video iPod and the PSP – are left on the sidelines.

Honestly – all they had to do was say that they’d bundle an un-CRAPed MP4 file at 320×240 for portable devices and people would be impressed at their foresight.

…”as consumers seem to like to have an actual copy as well as a download,”…

duh.

they just admitted that a so-called “illegally” downloaded shared file does not equate to a lost sale.

if a film is worth paying for – after having sampled it through filesharing – and it’s at a reasonable price, many people will buy it.

Did you know you can now buy a DVD player for 1/5 the price of some “special edition” DVD movies on a 0.02 plastic disc?

SEED THE WORLD !