by 
With fears of a Mayan apocalypse behind us, we can now get back to our hopes and dreams for the future — such as an iTunes Match-like service to convert our DVDs into a cloud-based movie library. (It’s not here quite yet, but CinemaNow has something pretty close.)
Best Buy’s CinemaNow has introduced a new Disc-to-Digital Program, allowing DVD owners to convert their collection into digital movies right from the comfort of home — for a price, and only for certain titles.
Available for Mac and Windows, the currently beta program one-ups competitor Walmart and their VUDU service, which requires movie lovers to step into a retail store in order to get their DVDs converted to digital — a process that actually requires no real “conversion” in the traditional sense.
CinemaNow has decided this is an old-school approach, so they’ve teamed up with Hollwyood’s answer to iTunes in the Cloud, UltraViolet, to make it easy to convert your discs into digital files that can be streamed or downloaded from compatible devices on a computer, HDTV or mobile device — which ironically, should include VUDU itself, another UltraViolet partner.
To do this, users will be required to link their CinemaNow and UltraViolet accounts, which will then make their digital libraries to any other service which also uses UltraViolet (including the Flixster app for iOS and Android). An Adobe AIR-powered CinemaNow Player desktop app then reads DVDs inserted into your Mac or PC and in seconds, allows users to purchase the digital version: $2 for SD or $5 for HD.
Fair warning: Not every DVD title is available during the beta period, so be sure to check this link (PDF) before randomly sticking discs into your computer.
For movie lovers, it’s hard to imagine a better scenario — except maybe if Apple finds a way to convince Hollywood to create an iTunes Match system for movies and TV shows for a flat annual fee, as it currently does for music.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
