Movie deal for US iTunes users

iTunes users in the US are to get access to digital movies, but UK users will have to wait.

At Macworld in San Francisco, Apple said a deal with 20th Century Fox means its customers who buy a DVD also get a free digital copy of the movie.

However, at the moment only US iTunes users can benefit and no dates were given for a UK and European launch.

Having a digital copy means the movie can be watched on a video iPod, iPhone, PC or Apple TV - the company's media streamer with a hard disk built-in.

To download the digital copy, the customer runs the DVD on their computer and enters a code into their copy of iTunes. The movie is then automatically copied to their iTunes library. To prevent illegal sharing, each DVD will only transfer its iTunes digital copy to one iTunes library.

Apple said the first DVD to come with an iTunes digital copy will be the Family Guy Star Wars spoof, Blue Harvest. More movies with digital copies will be released over the year.

Apple's new movie rentals service is also only available in the US at the moment. This service allows people to download films from major movie studios such as Warner Bros and MGM.

Customers can rent films for 24 hours to play on the current generation of iPods, iPhones and Apple TV. US prices range from $2.99 (£1.50) for older films and $3.99 (£2.00) for new releases.

People wanting high-definition films will be charged a dollar more on top of these prices. Again no launch date for the UK and Europe but Apple indicted it expects the service to be rolled out at some point.