Digibook Resources

What are Blu-ray Digibooks?

Blu-ray Digibooks are quite simply just that. They are a blu-ray that has a book inside, the digi is just a short abbreviation for digital since the main focus of a digibook is more often the actual contents of the digital media housed within. (ie. The blu-ray disc) Of course that can differ amongst collectors and the actual contents of the book/pages within. Some books are more picture based where others are more content driven. I haven’t had the chance to read through all of mine yet but the few that I actually did start reading intrigued me very much so that I continued reading much longer than I ever thought I would.

Blu-ray digibooks first surfaced in the USA via Warner Bros. They are not made of plastic except for the disc tray that is glued inside that holds the disc. (though some are even trying to steer away from the plastic tray.) Oddly enough, many of the classics that get released on blu-ray seem to get digibook editions. I guess the marketing teams think these appeal only to the older generation. (Not true.) I do like that digibook releases in the USA are typically always of great quality in regards to the movie. Everyone I have bought and watched has been top notch in the audio and video quality departments. As for the packaging, many other countries seem to get much cooler and better quality digibooks. (at the time of this writing.)

Blu-ray digibooks are made of like a hard like paper that you would find on many books. They usually contain anywhere from 20-32 pages of content/pictures that are bound into the packaging.

What are Blu-ray MediaBooks?

Blu-ray MediaBooks are not very different from blu-ray digibooks. The main difference between the two is really just the terminology. Germany, Austria, and I figure some surrounding countries tend to call what North America deems a digibook actually a mediabook. One might argue that there is a difference in the packaging and thus that is the difference. So far, blu-ray mediabooks mostly have consisted of packages that look excactly like blu-ray digibooks but instead they are DVD sized and contain both the DVD and Blu-ray. However, I don’t feel that the dvd sized mediabooks are distinguished as solely that. I believe in the future they will get some packages closer like ours and quite possibly dawn the term digibook or still refer to those at mediabooks too.

Recently released are the Warner Bros. Blu-ray Premium Collection in Germany. These titles are blu-ray sized and they don’t dawn either the digibook or mediabook name, but they are definitely digibooks, or mediabooks if you prefer calling them that. The hardest part of collecting digibooks is really all the different names they go by and what classifies it as a digibook or just a blu-ray with a book. I’ll break down the true reasoning behind this 2 sections down.

What are Blu-ray Books?

Again, another terminology issue. Blu-ray Books are the excact same as blu-ray digibooks. The blu-ray book term is most often seen on US retailer/etailer sites. (ie. Amazon.com) Sometimes you can pull up more results when searching blu-ray book as opposed to blu-ray digibook. This site http://www.blu-raydigibooks.com is being made to educate what blu-ray digibooks are and to help spread a collective term “blu-ray digibook” globally to make searching and purchasing of blu-ray digibooks easier for consumers and collectors.

How come there is so many different variations?

Primarily it’s due to copyrights, patents etc. If you look on the back of a US WB Blu-ray digibook you will most commonly find this in small print. Package design and supplementary material compilation © | Because of this you usually tend to see new additions of digibooks from other studios change it up a bit to avoid legal issues and tap into this new growing collector market. Though it is kind of surprising how similar the Sony Pictures versions are compared to the WB ones in the states. (I think the main difference there is the type of material used for the outer packaging) However, the recent editions of the Fox Limited Cineditions (Germany) have really stepped it up a notch including a lenticular front.

Ok, so what is NOT a blu-ray digibook?

A plastic case that has a mini-booklet inside is not a blu-ray digibook. A blu-ray digibook usually consists of a line of blu-rays that follow the same suit per the studio releasing them. Some examples are the WB USA releases and the Sony Pictures USA releases that art put into book form. The Studio Canal Collection is a good example of something widely debated to be considered a blu-ray digibook. Why? Because it is made out of hard paper/cardboard like material like a book and has a book inside. However, we dispell these as blu-ray digibooks as they actually more closely resemble a digipak because the pages inside are that of a booklet and not bound.

Blu-ray Digibooks consist of books inside the package, and the pages are bound. They can be of ANY size so long as they have a blu-ray disc inside.

The following pictures are samples of some nice collectible items, but are not to be confused with blu-ray digibooks.

What are different terms for Blu-ray Digibooks when searching for them?

If you are searching through retailer/etailer websites then these are the following terms that yield you the most results. If you know of any others then please contact us on the contact page so we can update and share the information accordingly.

Remember sometimes just one letter character difference can pull up more results, all results or no results.

Digibooks – digibook
Blu-ray digibooks – blu-ray digibook
Blu-ray mediabooks – blu-ray mediabook – blu-ray media book
Blu-ray books – blu-ray book
Blu-ray libro – blu-ray libros (use these on Spanish sites.)