by Dan Moren
Movies Anywhere testing loaning digital movies to friends
Chaim Gartenberg at The Verge:
With Screen Pass, Movies Anywhere users will be able to share up to three films per month, giving temporary access to the recipient. Users will have seven days to accept the offer, which will give them access to the film for 14 days. Once started, recipients will have 72 hours to finish the film. The three-share limit resets on the first of every month, letting you share more films. (Unused passes won’t roll over.)
Obviously, it comes with its fair share of restrictions: not all movies in the catalog will be available for sharing (though apparently there will be around 6000 at launch), and of course, major studios like MGM, Lionsgate, and Paramount still haven’t joined the Movies Anywhere club.
But, all of that said, Movies Anywhere is one of the best digital services going, and I’m heartened that they’re at least rolling out some form of sharing. That’s long been the biggest challenge with digital media, essentially boiling down into two camps: the first, unprotected media that can be shared in a totally unlimited fashion (which rights holders aren’t usually jazzed about), and the second, protected media that can’t be shared at all (which annoys consumers).
There’s a closed beta of this feature launching this afternoon; a wider beta will hit in May, and the feature should launch later this year.