Universal says £20 will get you three copies of King Kong – one on DVD, one for PC and one for portable devices.

UK film aficionados will soon be able to legally download and keep big name movies, according to Universal. The film studio says that the new AOL-based download service will allow fans to pay £19.99 for a DVD version of a movie, plus one copy for their computer and one to load on to a portable media player.

Annoyingly, the extra copies will only work with Windows software – so you can forget downloading movies to your Mac or sticking them on an iPod.

Existing movie download services have always been somewhat limited, either restricting the films on offer to independent studio output or restricting the time for which users could keep them. Not any more – the new service, which Universal claims could “completely revolutionise” the way we watch movies – features top blockbusters like King Kong and Pride and Prejudice.

The service is being operated by Universal and DVD rental company Lovefilm, and will be accessed via [Only Registered users can see links . Click Here To Register...]. It kicks off on 10 April.

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