Movie downloads coming to the UK in July

Film downloads are finally coming to the UK, with support from Universal Pictures and Wippit, the music file-sharing site. The service will be enabled by the end of July with the ability to download Universal films on the day of DVD release.

As for pricing, new releases are going to cost £19.99 with older films costing £4.99. Whilst this might look incredibly expensive on the outset, Universal notes that buyers will get three versions of the film. One for a computer download, one for a portable device and a hard copy through the post.

However a lot of new releases cost less than £19.99, so you're paying a premium for the three different formats. Why not just get the DVD and rip your own?

For those wanting to watch the film on their iPod, you are out of luck. The downloads will only work on Windows based devices such as PDAs and some portable movie players, so that's rather aggravating.

Universal films include The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Miami Vice, which will almost certainly end up on the service. A special version of King Kong is amongst the first films to be available.

Will you be buying and downloading online, or you still prefer to be popping down the shops and buying a cheaper DVD to do with as you want? Pop down to the forums and tell us!