CinemaNow Offers Download-to-Burn

Movielink may have been first out of the gate announcing plans to enable customers to burn copies of the movies they download, but Microsoft-backed CinemaNow actually rolled out such a feature on Wednesday. It says the technology has been in the works for over a year.

Initially, CinemaNow will provide customers with the ability to burn only 100 older films from its library, a sign that movie studios want to test the waters before diving in. The service has inked deals with Walt Disney, MGM, Sony Pictures, LionsGate and Universal for the DVD burning capability.

The CinemaNow DVD discs will feature similar functionality to actual DVDs, with deleted scenes, interviews and other extras. The company is providing its own software to handle the burning process, and the discs will be viewable in almost any DVD player, CinemaNow says.

Printable cover art and labels are also provided to customers to complete the experience. The burning process will take between 2 and 5 hours, but it can be minimized and will complete in the background.

"Of course, this is still a "beta" product, which is tech speak for "we're still working on it". Your DVD Burner software is designed to let you know when there are updates and in the next few months we will have new ways to make this process faster, easier, and just plain cooler," the company says.

For the time being, customers can only burn one copy of the movie they purchase. Users are allowed to keep one digital copy and one burned copy of their films. Windows XP is required to use the service.