Wal-Mart and Vudu have announced this week that all buyers of physical copies of the new release Toy Story 3 from Wal-Mart will receive a free digital copy from Vudu.
The only catch is you will need to purchase the Special Edition 3-Disc Set on either DVD or Blu-ray. Single-disc sets are not included in the promotion.
Buyers can play their Vudu digital copy anywhere with an Internet connection, including via Blu-ray players, the Boxee Box and other set-tops.
The new offer seems to be following a trend started by Amazon last year with the launch of Disc+ which gives users a free digital copy of over 10,000 titles when they are purchased through Amazon.
Wal-Mart acquired Vudu last year.
Result for: internet connection
Yesterday, AT&T announced new data plans for their smartphone line, including the iPhone and iPad tablet, which will be less expensive for customers, but will also limit data use. The carrier also eliminated its unlimited plans for new subscribers starting June 7th.
Slacker, the online radio service, has announced today that iPhone supported offline playback is now available, giving Slacker Radio Plus subscribers the chance to download up to “thousands” of audio tracks from custom stations then listen to it later without the need for an active Internet connection.
The music caching feature has been standard on Android and BlackBerry devices since earlier this year.
Slacker’s announcement is great news for future iPhone owners, who may be fans of streaming music but will be trapped with capped 3G data thanks to the new data plans. Slacker subscribers can now download the music they want while connected to a home wireless network or a Wi-Fi hotspot, and then play it back later while saving bandwidth.
All that is needed for current Slacker subscribers is to download the updated Slacker 2.0 app.
Result for: internet connection
Jesse Becker, head of Netflix marketing has announced today that the company has begun shipping out Wii streaming discs to some users that have signed up at www.netflix.com/Wii already.
Says Becker:
“We’ve got some great news to share. We are in the final phase of getting ready for the launch of streaming to Wii. Today, we shipped out instant streaming discs for the Wii to some of our Netflix members. Their feedback will ensure that we deliver a great experience to everyone when we launch. Instantly watching movies and TV episodes from Netflix via Wii will be available soon at no additional cost – all you need is a Netflix unlimited plan starting at $8.99 a month, a Wii console and a broadband Internet connection. If you have reserved your disc already, you don’t need to do anything - we will send you an email as soon as we ship the disc. If you haven’t, reserve your disc today at www.netflix.com/Wii and stay tuned for a launch announcement!”
