In what is pretty much a win for fair use BluRay movies will have to move to Managed Copy next year. This means that you should be able to make at least one backup copy of your BluRay movies.

The problem is that the current hardware will not support it and it is uncertain if the newer players will be hitting the market.

In most cases you will need to upgrade any existing players and make sure you check on any new purchases to see if it supports the Managed Copy feature.

each studio is required to sign the recently finalized AACS license by December 4th 2009, and any studio that signs early receives up to a 25 percent discount on licensing fees. What isn’t mandatory, though, is hardware support, and although the current generation of players definitely won’t work, most expect the majority of new BD devices to. The cost (you didn’t think it’d be free, did you?) and the number of copies is up to the studio, but at least one copy will be allowed. That copy can be made via a menu on the disc and can take the form of another Blu-ray Disc or a DRM-laced Microsoft file.

Maybe a first sign that Electronic Arts is rethinking its DRM strategy is the following announcement, published on its “The Sims 3″ web site:

“The game will have disc-based copy protection – there is a Serial Code just like The Sims 2. To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed.

We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future.”

Judging by the above statement, made by Rod Humble, EA’s executive producer of the Sims division, Electronic Arts is starting to listen to its customers, after the restrictive DRM they tried to force on their customers in games like Spore, resulted in a debacle.