The dying days of UMD movies are upon us...

It looks like one of the multimedia feathers may be falling out of the cap. In one of the biggest hits to the faltering UMD format, Target has stopped carrying the movie discs in favor of DVDs from the Independent Film Channel. As a tech geek, some part of me should be saddened by seeing American Pie Presents Band Camp's UMD being shuffled off in favor of Me and You and Everyone We Know, but for some reason, the tears aren't coming.

As if it weren't enough that most major studios and retailers and the general consumer public have turned their back on the format, even Sony may be taking the hint, as the company seems to be exploring new avenues of distributing media on the PSP. Starting next month, special versions of the company's 1GB and 2GB memory cards will come with a special DVD that allows the user to download a full-length movie onto the PSP. The cards will retail for $60 and $100, respectively, and the first four movies available will be Hitch, S.W.A.T., The Grudge and xXx: State of the Union. Gosh, with a lineup like that, how could it not take off?

Sources: Kotaku (Target) and The Digital Bits (memory cards)