Since yesterday you can legally download movies and music through BitTorrent. Open up an account on BitTorrent.com and you can download from their catalogue. The inventory is still limited, but growing I assume. The bad news is that what you download is DRM protected, and limited in time for use (30 days).
Not for me though, as you have to work with Windows XP (get lost Mac users) and have to live in the US (get lost rest of the world) :(. The format of delivery is WMV, so I could probably convert it if the DRM does not prevent that.
Apart from these little 'inconveniences' I think they make a crucial mistake in order to really make a difference in the race between online digital content providers. BitTorrent could have been the first service to supply DRM free material thus making a real breakthrough and conquering the market. How do you expect somebody to pay for a movie he or she can only temporarily watch, is not sure it will work on his/her computer, PSP, iPod, etc., and more importantly, material that has 'something in it' that is called 'DRM' which they do not (want to) understand.
At the same time Steve Jobs starts openly promoting DRM free content. Job's next move will be to acquire music rights himself (he does get along well with the Beatles lately) and put their own music out DRM free on the iTunes store. And when that happens ... all the DRM-based suppliers can close their boutique.
Poor BitTorrent ... why did you guys not have the courage.
