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In Stores Soon: Perishable DVDs

Posted by michael on from the CONSUME dept.

Makarand writes "Technology that renders optical media useless after a short lifespan will soon find its way into stores in the form of perishable DVDs. Retailers in the Southern United States will soon start giving a sample DVD to buyers of a CD (by Nappy Roots, a hip-hop group). This promotional DVD from Atlantic Records will work for only 8 hours. This promotion is aimed at finding if music fans would be interested in buying a package with both audio and video instead of just plain audio. A special dye sandwiched between the layers of the DVD will interact with air making it opaque and unreadable later. If this media catches on you may not have to return your DVD rentals in the future." We noted this 2.5 years ago.

12 of 586 comments (clear)

  1. So copy it the first time you watch. by BoomerSooner · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pathetic attempt at locking out consumers once again.

    1. Re:So copy it the first time you watch. by ninthwave · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well the comment on rental movies using this just made me think. Doesn't this sound very wasteful. From a plastic production and disposale sense. It is bad enough we have millions of AOl cds that you have to find something to do with but now you will have dvd coasters with them. There are only so many coasters one household needs before this just becomes more filler in the tip (dump for the Americas)

      --
      I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said: "I drank what?" - Chris Knight (Val Kilmer)- Real Genius
  2. Oh they think they're so clever then.. by Scooter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Notice on the disk will read "You have 8 hours to listen to this music"

    Geek reads "You have 8 hours to rip this data to your RAID 5 dedicated music storage facility".

    hehe.

  3. Summary... by MosesJones · · Score: 5, Insightful


    You buy something that breaks after a few hours, its then just plain trash.

    So apart from being bad from an environmental, consumer and most other perspectives this is a good thing because it helps push up the pollution rates even further.

    --
    An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
  4. I'm curious by iceT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is the entertainment industry so hell-bent on NOT giving us entertainment?

    You'd think that will the failure of DivX (the Circuit City one), they they would realize that when someone buys something, they expect to keep it...

    Even for Video rentals, I wonder if we're SUCH a disposable society that creating this much waste is worth it.

    --
    -- You can't idiot-proof anything, because they're always coming out with better idiots.
  5. Re:This is great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Walk a mile. Human beings walk for short distances. That's what the things dangling down from your chair to the floor are. Try it some time!

  6. Again I post my same little thought... by Eric_Cartman_South_P · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ...that when they do things like this, it proved that THEY HAVE LOST.

    Stand back for a minute and look at the big picture. Take a breath, take a minute, and think about it. They encrypt their content and then store it on self destructing disks. HA! It's so pathetic it's funny. If there was ever an example of the dead horse (Rosen?) getting another whack (DMCA?) this is IT. They lost.

    Imagine the munks, years ago, using disapearing ink in their scrolls so you didn't have time to read it long enough to place letters on a plate at a printing press! Same shit. Different day. "DISTRIBUTION" is dead. If any 5 year old can publish themselves WORLD WIDE 24/7, then the business of distrobution (of "information") is dead. Ever see a little kid make a homepage on AOL? They do... it ain't XHTML but it's there for the world to see 24/7. Tell me again why I need YOU to publish my info for ungodly sums of money? Tell me again why I should listen to one artist for one hour at a time on obsolete media?

  7. Re:More Trash by jeremyacole · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You have a good point. Their model is based on you not returning the videos on time so they collect late fees. But, if you think about it, it's also based on you actually *returning* the movies, as well. You're probably something like 50% more likely to rent *more* movies if you already have to go back to the store to return the old ones. I know I am.

    In any case, I really don't think Blockbuster and Hollywood Video are going to warm up to the idea...

  8. How long... by Nomad7674 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ...until someone gets sued for allowing the packaging of such discs to be punctured, thus prematurely invalidating the promotional DVD value. I can see the advertiser being FURIOUS if they paid a few million dollars to imprint, say, the newest BMW ad on the James Bond soundtrack, only to find that no consumers can view it because the plastic shrinkwrap failed to keep out enough air.

    Seems like a disaster waiting to happen. No to mention that it will drive MORE people to rip this video in order to be able to rewatch it - exactly what the RIAA and MPAA do NOT want.

  9. Bad Precedent -- dont accept it by nurb432 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The goal will be to make **ALL** media time sensitive, so you cant actually retain anything and must continue to pay for listening/viewing/reading time.

    Would be applicable in the software market too, forced upgrades since your original cant be used after the next release is out. ( using estimated time of next releases )

    Or in the case of E-books, ' sorry that document is no longer acceptable speech, that isn't available for lease any longer'

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  10. Re:This is great! by kubrick · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So: One acre hole in Nevada, or 1 million tons of pollution. Your choice.

    How are you going to move all of these discs to that hole? Magic? I'd say some fuel might be expended in the effort... how much does pollution is produced by all the garbage trucks in the US for a year? What's, say, 0.5% of that?

    --
    deus does not exist but if he does
  11. Returns? by zardor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This won't catch on. Rental companies have a significant revenue stream from people returning stuff late. (Blockbuster - 15-20%) If the stuff is disposable, then they can't charge you for not returning it. They mightn't care about the enviornment, but they do care about their shareholders.

    --
    -- We don't understand software, and sometimes we don't understand hardware, but we can *see* the blinking lights