PS3 Video Store DRM allows one download

A recent article at Ars Technica describes how Sony doesn’t allow consumers to download bought movies more than once from the online PS3 Video Store. Those that have experienced the Playstation’s renting service must agree that it is a joy to rent via your gaming console. But a forum-goer at Ars Technica now warns everyone who plans to buy a movie on their PS3 since Sony uses a rather restrictive DRM.

The forum-goer, who’s better known as ‘Noice’, warns his fellow PS3 users by starting a thread on Ars Technica’s forum. He deleted his movie from the console’s hard drive, but later found he couldn’t redownload the content.

Sony isn’t unclear about this matter, but still it’s weird to notice that once you bought a movie it doesn’t mean you can redownload it. Many PS3 users empty their hard drive once in a while since these tend to overload when your movie collection starts to grow.

Playstation’s support page is perfectly clear on this matter. "Purchased content can be downloaded to a single PLAYSTATION 3 or a single PSP system," it reads. "Content cannot be redownloaded once it has been downloaded to either a PLAYSTATION 3 or PSP system."

By not allowing customers to delete and later redownload content Sony actually restricts them to build a movie collection on the PS3. For those that accidently delete their newest movie Sony has a special consumer service. They will allow the customer one more redownload, but after this all your chances are finished and you have to start to literally throw away movies…

The Playstation 3 is promised a lifetime of at least ten years and therefore it is questionable whether this Movie Store is modern enough to survive until the next decade.