Summary: News: WSJ: Walmart to offer in-store disc to digital UltraViolet service Hollywood's latest digital ecosystem offers lots of promise, but in the five months since its release, it couldn't be further from delivering on it. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Walmart will finally make use of its membership to the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem by offering in-store disc to digital UltraViolet upgrade opportunities, for a small price of course. No doubt UltraViolet can use all the help it can get, but this is far from what we were hoping for when we learned Walmart would be in the mix -- we were hoping for the ability to buy and watch UltraViolet movies via Walmart's Vudu. Beyond our personal wishes, this no where near the big revelation that most consumers would actually find interesting: the release of the Common File Format which promises universal offline playback of our movie collection. http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/04/wsj-walmart-to-offer-in-store-disc-to-digital-ultraviolet-servi/ [1.1] What is UltraViolet? UltraViolet (UVVU or UV for short) is an ecosystem for interoperable electronic content. It's a branded set of specifications and agreements along with a centralized rights clearinghouse that allows retailers to sell movies that play on UltraViolet-compatible players and services. Put another way, UltraViolet is DVD for the Internet. Just as the DVD logo means that you can buy a DVD from any seller and expect it to play in any player with a DVD logo (DVD players, DVD PCs, DVD entertainment systems in automobiles, and so on), the UltraViolet logo means you can buy UltraViolet movies from any seller, view the list of your purchased movies in your UltraViolet digital library, and expect them to play on anything with the UltraViolet logo (players, PCs, mobile phones, cable set-top boxes, and so on). Here's how UltraViolet works: Sign up - create a free UltraViolet account. You can add up to 5 additional account members. Shop - acquire UltraViolet movies and TV shows from participating retailers. There are many ways this can happen: buy a digital movie, redeem the "UltraViolet version" or "UltraViolet digital copy" that comes with a BD or DVD, get something free as part of a promotion, and so on. (You often need to first sign up for an account at each participating service.) Add - a "digital proof of purchase" is stored in your UltraViolet digital library, which you can access from participating players and services. Play (download) - obtain one or more UltraViolet players* (which includes apps on PCs, smartphones, and tablets). A one-time registration step connects your player with your UltraViolet account, which allows it to play anything in your UltraViolet library. You can download UltraViolet files to your UltraViolet players.* Once you've downloaded a file you can keep it and play it forever. You can copy files from player to player. Play (stream) - stream from your UltraViolet library using participating streaming services. * UltraViolet is launching in phases. Streaming became available in fall 2011. Download players will become available in 2012. Hello, Google Play: Google launches sweeping revamp of app, book, music, and video stores Google is taking a big new step in bringing all of its content arms under one roof — and that new entity is called Google Play. Starting today, Google will begin a rebranding of the Android Market, Google Music, Google Books, and its video offerings. Until now, all of those content hubs had more or less resided under the banner of the Android Market, and it seems like the company is interested in making users understand those disparate pockets of content as a unified whole. A company spokesman called Play "an evolution of Android Market." Google Play (called the Google Play Store in some instances) will become the single destination for all of the company's buyable content. Accordingly,
