So, it was announced that movies were now including in iCloud/iTunes Match. Awesome.

Then it was announced that digital copies would be eligible for this as well. Awesome.

So, I popped in my UP! fourth disc to import the digital copy into iTunes. When I clicked to open the Disney app, I got a big uh oh: "PowerPC applications are no longer supported."

So, I'm sure (hoping) going forward the digital copy apps will work, but it looks like I'm out of luck for all the Blu-rays and DVDs I've purchased. And I'm guessing ripping the actual DVD copies won't make them sync with the cloud. Booooo.

Couldn't you just look for the digital file on the disk and copy over into iTunes instead of using some app.

Using new iPad dictation

No, it requires you to launch the app and enter a code to authenticate.

I haven't checked to see if I can somehow open the contents of the app, but exploring the disc in Finder only shows one file on the disc - said app.

hmm. That is so stupid. These movie studios never cease to amaze me.

Then maybe only other solution is to open the disc on a Windows machine and get the file that way.

Digital Copies actually work in a similar way to purchases. What's actually happening when you "unlock" a digital copy is that iTunes is "downloading" it from the DVD instead of the iTunes Store, but the process followed by iTunes is otherwise the same -- you basically are doing a $0 "purchase" of the movie, with a different download source -- you'll even get a receipt from iTunes for it and it will show in your purchase history. It will also be DRM protected in the same manner as any other purchased movie.

This is why it works with iTunes in the Cloud as well (provided you're using a U.S. iTunes Store account, of course -- Movies in the cloud are not available in Canada yet).

Doing it on a different computer that's running 10.6 or earlier, or Windows, should work fine. In fact, you should even be able to do it under a Parallels/VMware session. Just make sure that you're logged in with the proper iTunes Store account before doing it, as the digital copy will be tied to that particular account both in terms of iTunes in the Cloud and the DRM, and you can only use the redemption code once. This is especially important if you have both a Canadian and U.S. iTunes Store account, since if you're using your Canadian account, you won't be able to get the cloud streaming advantage.