I picked up The Wrestler on Blu-ray last week after much hesitation. It was one of my favorite movies of last year, but I almost couldn’t get past the hefty price tag (MSRP of $39.99 and around $26-$28 online), especially considering the near-complete lack of extras. What was included, though, was a digital copy on a separate disc that can be used once, with an elaborate code key printed on an insert. And while I love the advent of mobile media, this seems ridiculous.

I’m sure all these extra discs are adding to the cost of my movies, and I’d be willing to bet that at least 95% of them are never used. Wouldn’t a cheaper and less wasteful solution be a free iTunes download if you actually want the digital copy? Many of these discs won’t even work a few months after they come out (Hellboy II and Mamma Mia off the top of my head, and yes, I do own both movies), and since you can’t reinstall the movie once you’ve installed it once, what’s the point of having a reusable disc?

Given all this, I can’t imagine these digital copies lasting much longer. Ten years from now they’ll be remembered as part of the birth pangs of portable media.