Why Won't You Take My Money?

Please, Disney, take my money.  I want to give it to you.

I love The Muppets.  It's smart and funny and genuinely the most fun I've had in a movie theater since I was a kid.  I doubt I've anticipated a movie more since The Power Rangers Movie.  My daughter had her first extended stay without Mom and Dad so we could go to the theater on opening day.  Afterward, I sang the songs for days and changed my watch face to Animal.  So, needless to say, when it was released on DVD/Blu Ray/Digitial I was very excited to buy.

Now, my situation is likely different than many, but I can't imagine that I'm alone in my predicament.  I'm trying to get away from physical media.  Digital makes more sense with young children, as there are fewer discs to scratch or pages to rip.  My primary device for consuming media is an Android tablet, so I naturally turn to the Google Play marketplace.  They have the movie, but only for rent, not to purchase.  Amazon will let me buy the movie, but I can't store it on my device unless my device happens to be a Kindle Fire.  I could buy it with iTunes, but I don't have a device that this makes sense on.  I could buy the disc and rip it, but then I'm back to having a disc.

I have been given several options that don't really make sense for my situation.  I am very willing to give my money for content that I want.  I don't, however, think that it's unreasonable to want to be able to watch my content that was legally purchased on devices that fit within my life.  Because the formats are so incompatible, piracy begins to look like the only way to get the thing I want in the way I want.

This is a problem.  When piracy is the easiest way, it will be the way people choose.  If Google Play had been available, I would have done that.  If Amazon had been compatible, I would have done that (and, in fact, I did end up doing that so I could at least have it via Roku).  If iTunes we compatible, I would have done that.  I even checked places like Ultraviolet and Vudu to see if there was any way they would be compatible.  Sadly, no.

Disney, please take my money.  And in return, give me a product that is useful and not so restricted that it takes a flowchart to determine what I can and can't watch it on.