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Disney's Disposable DVDs Deemed Duds
An anonymous reader writes "It looks like disposable DVD's are headed the way of the dodo bird. Consumers (ahem, customers) in several markets are rejecting the $7 self destructing flexplay discs. Some stores have decided to stop selling. According to the stores, 'Customers aren't interested in paying more than $6 for a limited-play DVD when they can pay $2 at the video store. Even with a $2 late fee, it's cheaper than buying a disposable DVD.' and 'he hasn't seen one customer purchase an EZ-D, though some of them have been shoplifted out of the store.'"
After the DivX fiasco (the DVD-esque player, not the codec) and now this, maybe they'll start to listen. Customers want to buy and own their products, not rent or license them.
That's an easy one for any marketing genius. Just raise (ahem adjust) the prices for rental videos and people will be happy to buy those.
d'oh!
The cause of death on this idea seems rather simple to find... going rate for a movie that you get to watch once/twice then give back is $3-$4, and this came in at more than $6. Between this project and MovieBeam, Disney seems to be testing out every form of rental content distribution possible, but it seems like there's no such thing as one that works any better than the models that already exist. The Circuit City-backed Divx project should have been the first clue...
I feel sorry for the shoplifters, they probably thought they were proper DVDs not coffee mats!
flexpay ;-)
I'm glad. This kind of product simply shows a lack of respect for the consumer. Large corporations should all be putting the money into gaining consumer trust, rather than limiting consumer freedom.
If the MPAA were to combat shoplifting in the same way they combat file-trading, they would demand that consumers (ahem, customers) be made to wear lead helmets that would prevent them from being able to watch or listen to a movie unless they first invoked a key obtained when purchasing one of their products. Only then would you be able to remove this helmet, and then only for as long as they were watching that movie.
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
It was a horrible idea from the beginning. If they were a buck then it might work but as long as titans like Wal-Mart keep DVDs cheap to buy, and Blockbuster keeps them cheap to rent they won't sell. Even my kiddos questions why we would want to buy something that we would just have to throw away! In our (U.S.) society of lazyness I am glad to see the environment won a round even though it was through a left hook (ie price NOT recyclability).
"If you are on fire you can just stop, drop, and roll. If you fall into Lava you are just dead." - my 5yr old daughter
Excellent news. This was just another attempt at impulse marketing by a faceless megacorp. "Hmm.. 'National Enquirer'.. 'Weekly World News'.. oh, 'Peter Pan!'" Now somewhere at Disney someone is getting thumbscrewed over "bad market studies" that suggested this would work.
You can only package shit so many ways before people smarten up and quit buying it.
Trolling is a art,
Yeah this does seem pointless. What's so hard about returning a movie to the rental place? And with things like netflix, you don't even need to go to a physical store. Just mail it.
[SIG] It's like putting a moose in the blender -- a recipe for disaster!
Taken from the "Sucker the Shoplifters" booth.
duh!
i thought self-destructing discs were supposed to be cheaper than normal rentals because you wouldn't need the return/inventory system. were they more expensive to make, or were they just out of their minds?
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
Does anyone here have a clue on how this stuff works? If its really TIME based - and not usage based -- is it then an 02 sensitive material that just turns black as it oxidizes? I am wondering if these things couldnt just be "dipped" in some sort of really clear sealant that would inhibit the oxidation process.
then again, instead of going through all if this trouble -- I could just BUY THE REAL DVD for 3x the cost and have it forever.
I am not sure what the eco nuts were so upset about. There is a recycling plan (according to the article) and even gave people a free disk if they sent in 6 disks. Though, I understand why stores are not selling very many...while the story is an exageration (what rental places rents for 2 bucks a DVD), these disks are a lot more expensive than renting.
Disney: Hey i have a great idea. Let's develop a dvd that costs more than average, and then make it self-destruct so their unusable after a certain time period!! I think it will really catch on!
Those who trade in their freedom for security, deserve neither.
They shouldn't be more than 50% above regular rentals if even that much. So, if normal rentals are $2, they should be at most $3. Anyway, most people that want late fees will probably just use a service like Netflix.
1st Pixar kicks Diney's butt, now this...
It reminds me of that show..oh yes:
Disney, you're the weakest link, goodbye...
how long until
which video store rents dvds for $2? hollywood and blockbuster both charge more than 4.
Why would users want to pay more than three times as much for something with no actual increase in quality?
Hell, I was initially thinking that I could just copy these things with my DVDR before they turn black, but I can do that with rentals as well! There are some ideas I will never understand.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
One more "It's our property, and we don't trust you, the consumer, with it." from the big organizations has met consumers who are dissatisfied with their garbage and unwilling to pay for it.
Great!
And I hope the next time they try this it fails just as hard as this venture did. And eventually some executive will say, "Hey, wait a minute. Maybe it's not worth alienating all our customers to squeeze an extra million out of our already 100 billion dollar profits."
Of course that executive will be ignored, and possibly fired for lack of vision. But it's a start.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
First off, what video store costs only $2?! Its more like $4-5 here in Boston.
And second, I don't see how any of these models (rental, disposable for $6, etc) can compete with Netflix, other than if you happen to need the movie right away (and how often is that the case?) Right now I average about 12 movies per month on Netflix, all for $20! And the foreign and independent selections is *far* better than at local video stores.
Ok, I'm a fanboy...
my religion lies somewhere between buddhism and super monkey ball - pamphlet?
Disposable DVD: $7 Matinee with Friends: $5.25 Renting the Same Movie: $2 Realizing your stock will soon be valued below the cost of one of your disposable DVD's: Priceless.
The "disposable DVD" just suffers from a
lack of imagination. I'd buy one if, after
the allotted number of uses, it self-destructed
with a flourish like the smoking tape on
Mission: Impossible. (Yea, okay, I'd probably
even buy something I don't want to watch just to
see that...)
Now if we could just convince AOL to stop producing those throw-away CD's. There must be a large landfill somewhere with stacks and stacks of AOL (1000 hours of free access) CD's laying around. I'd rather pay a few bucks for some kind of video on demand service over the internet or cable. I'm not sure why anyone would want to buy a disposable movie.
-
Tech News, Reviews and Tutorials
A stupid idea that didn't fly. Who would have thought?
Picture the people who thought this up and the went to market with this idiocy. Do you think they can even clothe themselves, or do they have handlers to help them with such things? One can only wonder...
Considering that the local Blockbuster charges a whopping $5.99 for a dvd rental, I hardly rent movies anymore.
Funny thing is, the Blockbuster near my girlfriend's house (10 minutes away, same type of neighborhood, economically), is $2.00 cheaper!
Insane!
100% Insightful
Let's see. I can rent a disc for $X, or I can watch a disc once for $X+C. HMMM.... What business genius decided that this was a good plan? It's cool that they can make destructible DVD's for us Mission Impossible types, but that's about the only legitimate application.
stuff |
Just waiting for the day when people smarten up about our little wannabe emperor and his band of neoconners
"Don't step in the leadership"
"Get your limited copy of Beauty and the Beast now! And we do mean limited! This film will expire in two weeks and after that you will have to wait until we rehash this film and sell it again in another two months! Don't even think of renting a copy from Blockbuster, because we own them, too! This film will only last in your memories!"
Seriously, though, here's the amazing truth: people like buying crap that doesn't break. Imagine if your copy of Detective Comics #27 spontaneously combusted after 60 years of age. Who would want to collect and read that?
--Chag
While I disapprove for environmental reasons, I think the basic concept seems like a good idea.
However easy you make it to return a disc, it will always be a lot easier if you can throw it away even if you live next door to the video store. It was better than Divx; which was broken from the start because you had to essentially ask permission to play a DVD you'd just bought.
The problems seems to be that because they sold using a rental model, consumers couldn't quite understand whether they were buying or renting, and that the extra convenience wasn't worth the extra cost.
I am glad that I am able to get movies over Kazaa legally. It is nice to have a film industry which respects me!
don't give 'em any ideas!
I use the local video store. They have a larger selection than Blockbuster and have much more independent selections. The rentals are $2 for 5 days, including new releases.
I thought they were a little over priced, but did buy one in october right before heading to the airport to fly back to chicago. I bought Frida and it was a great movie to watch on the plane and when I got home gave it to a neighbor to watch before it died. I wasn't going to return it.
they should sell these things in airports and the $7 wouldn't seem like a big deal at all. I also like some of the test marketing things they were doing down there that allowed pizza and other delivery services provide a dvd with your delivered meal- no worry about a return and it comes to you on demand. I didn't really appreciate the idea of the extra waste factor, but face it- we live in an extremely disposable world and I doubt one product would make a difference.
overall, I like the convenience the one time I tried it and found it to useful and assumed that once they were mass marketed the prices would become more reasonable.
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
If these self-destructing DVD's were priced at, say, $3.00 or so, I'd do it just because I am lazy and I wouldn't have to drive back to the store to return the DVD(s). I often get them on Saturday and have to return them on Monday. Since I am not picking up additional DVD's on Monday, I wouldn't mind avoiding the trip. Is it possible that the cost of creating and distributing these DVD's are too high to price them low enough to compete with rental prices? Happy Trails, Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
It's a good thing this died in infancy before these damn things filled up the land fills and leached toxic chemicals into the water supply..
Good ridance to a totally crap idea..
I love it when stupid crap like this fails in such a humiliatingly fatalistic fashion. It makes me think maybe we aren't turning into a nation of sissies after all. Since when did renting a movie and returning it to the video store become such a traumatic experience?
They'd probably do well if they were 99 cents instead of $7.
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
Wasn't it just a few years ago some cleaning product advertised "Just use and throw away." And got roasted over the poor attitude concerning the environment?
The "use and throw away" campaign is flawed. I don't think people want the so called convenience of disposeability. They just want convenience.
Its totally opposite the way of most major industries today. Which is only that way because of the pressure of customers.
A company in norway called film24.no is renting out unlimited (I think) movies (DVDs) on a per monthly basis. You can rent as many as you want from their listings; and you get them mailed.
When you return them, all you have to do is put them in an envelope that follows them (the shipping is free) -- and post them
Seems like a better idea than these "This DVD, will self-destruct in one play"-kind of package. All you have to do is to click the movies you want to play the following days, and wait for them at your postbox.
The price is 179 NKR (about 25$) a month.
This business idea is made possible by the fact that a DVD is very light, and fits a envelope.
"Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions." -- G. K. Chesterton
It honestly wouldn't surprise me if they started lawsuits over this and tried to blame it on "pirating".
Yeahh... that seems to be the new fad. When an idea fails horribly, ignore the fact that it was a dumb idea and aim for the P2P networks!!!
We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
Funny thing is, the Blockbuster near my girlfriend's house (10 minutes away, same type of neighborhood, economically), is $2.00 cheaper!
Is it not the practice of large chain merchants to lower their prices in stores which are in the vicinity of local competition, thereby operating at a loss? The other (farther) store must be operating in the competition area of a small establishment in an attempt to push it out of Blockbuster's market, no?
Whoever led this experiment and set a price of $7 ought to get sacked. Children love to watch Disney films over and over again, and Disney should know that. This whole fiasco suggests they didn't.
The only disposable things that would work for Disney are nappies (diapers).
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
Manny who bitch-gripe about the cost of a CD or renting a DVD are the same people who don't think twice about plunking down $2.50 - $3.50 for a cup of fancy coffee.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Quite a few good comments about this in them previous posts, so I won't bother bashing the hair-brained idea of disposable discs anymore. Instead, I'll get right to the heart of the matter: wanna bet Conan O'Brien will make another crack at Gigli in relation to this?
There's 2 kinds of people, those who care and, well, who cares?
Sigs for Nerds. Sigs that Matter.
Today, the Association of American Publishers announced a revolution in book publishing. A spokeman said "The book sector has been suffering for years from consumers abusing our products. Some of them read their books more than once. Many lend out books indiscriminately, sell them or even give them away for free to charity. This type of criminal behaviour must be stopped."
"Fortunately, we have come up with a solution. Our publishers will start to offer books which have been written in special ink sealed and are sold in vaccuum packs. Upon exposure to air, the ink gradually fades over the period of one week. We envisage law abiding consumers will love this new format, especially when they realise it is no more expensive than the old, inferior format."
The fact that the disposable DVD was priced higher than conventional rental makes it a tough sell. Once again, the theory that consumers will pay a steep premium for minor convenience is proven wrong. Besides, I suspect the lack of a return means less foot traffic in the video store, and probably lower sales overall.
I wonder if it might have worked in a mail-order scenario. Getting rid of the turn process would be a big plus for companies like NetFlix. Any increase in the cost of media would be offset by a 50% reduction in the cost of postage.
That's because you go to Hollywood and Blockbuster.
Go to a mom and pop next time.
They need your rental love more than Blockbuster's "popular titles only" does.
Disney ought to realize that you don't ever really rent their movies - you usually end up BUYING them because the kids want to watch them 5 zillion times...
It used to be a great racket when they were on VHS - the tapes wore out, and Disney got yet another sale... or maybe some smart parents kept the original VHS and just dup'd it. Then they watched the dups until they turned to dust, and re-duped the master until the master became crap. At which point, the kids probably moved out... Or maybe they bought another copy for their grandkids, or whatever.
Now though, people just buy one DVD and short of it getting scratched to shit, that's all they're buying. Maybe the geeky parents run it thru deCSS and burn whatever # of copies they want... But it's pretty much 1 copy...
So why not play off those "no more late fee" fears and create something that you just don't have to deal with. DivX locked disks require encoding, and a bunch of shit in the hardware of the player that'll probably be hacked and it's been proven to be pretty useless... Besides, negotiating with all the hardware vendors is a pain in the ass...
So why not just make the DVD "fade away"... sure some geeky types might hack it by making a real copy first, but the majority of the morons buying it will watch it once, let it sit, and then it's useless... If they want to watch it again, they'll have to buy another copy - PURE GENIUS! We'll charge as much as a ticket to a real movie, but it's still cheaper (no theater popcorn/soda) and easier than dumping the kids into the car, etc...
And even better - some of these fools will buy the thing, open it, get distracted, leave it sit for 3 days and it'll be useless! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa.... free money! woooo hooo!
Pffffett! *snap back to real world* People usually keep a bunch of these DVDs around so they can shove one in the DVD player/babysitter and park the screaming yellow zonker in front of the TV for a few hours...
I don't even have any kids and I own most of the Disney classics on DVD. They're great for when my friends or clients drag a kid with them to my house and I get sick of listening to the kid bullshit... They'll also be great when I have kids someday... And ya wanna know the crazy part? I wasn't even going out with anyone when I bought the things 2 or 3 years ago - Amazon had them for something like $10 each on some special and I bought a bunch figuring I'd need them someday...
The problem with these "entertainment" companies is that they are busy wasting time and energy on milking old dried up cows for every last drop of milk rather than CREATING new content. Disney, MPAA, whoever - wake up and FOCUS people... stop with the BOHICA acts, and copyright extensions, and all the other bullshit - just create stuff, offer it at a FAIR price, and we'll buy most of it.... Some of it will be shit and we won't - but dem's the risks of business... Fuck us over, and we'll return the favor...
I thought these things were supposed to let you play a DVD a couple times then die. I guess that was just the hype because they figured you would watch it a few times before the time period elapsed. Also, what happens when you buy one and your kid opens it on the way home?
"But I'm still right here, giving blood and keeping faith. And I'm still right here."
I think this has to do with the fact that the product is physical. I can see that it would be repulsive to support such a wasteful technology where the products is deliberately crippled, and turns to dust. Especially a physical product that you can touch or feel.
If it was more of an abstraction that lapsed I don't think it would "seem" so wasteful. For example, people are willing to pay for a pay-per-view movie/show, and people are also willing to pay $4-6 for a 6-12 hr block of playboy channel that does lapse after that time period. But because nothing just turns to dust in your hand, it does not feel so bad. Adult fare seems more succesful with this concept.
Unluckily for Disney, they don't do that kind of adult stuff, and in addition, rather than a privilege to watch just lapsing, you have a physical dud in your hand that reminds you - what a darn waste ... and worse it reminds you of the crippled CD's that "scum-of-the-earth" RIAA and its associates are trying to peddle. And that defintely deserves a "NO, thank you very much."
To see a world in a grain of sand, and then to step back and see the beach where the sand lies
Anyone know of a way to defeat the limited play system?
IIRC, there was a system devised that when the laser struck the disc, it would start a chemical reaction. That chemical reaction would take 48-72 hours to render the disc useless. Some bored college figured out that a little bit of dishwashing detergent would take care of it, and he was able to keep playing the disc. That system is no longer in use, but I'm curious if these discs are circumventable in the same fashion.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
I remember when I was a kid, and I saw packaged goods in shrinkwrap...
I'd poke holes in the shrinkwrap for fun (I was a very boring child...). Now it'd be akin to destruction of property.
Before you only mod me funny (or worse), consider the importance of this issue as regards the new DRM protected CD's that have you register your disc in order to play it a limited number of times. Since there is no indicator on the CD itself showing how many plays it has accumulated, it this becomes common it will do much to destroy the secondhand/used CD market.
Not that the record companies will mind.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
that the MPAA gets their cut from shoplifted merchandise so they don't really care.
It's not the people getting what they didn't pay for, but the perception of diminishing margins that twists their panties.
They should all die horrible screaming deaths. Children die everyday all over the world, and yet studio executives and lawyers just seem to live on. I say we let the kids pick which movies get made (it could hardly be more random), and feed the self-styled 'filmmakers' to Sally Struthers.
I think this is a positive outcome for the environment. When I first heard about disposable DVDs I didn't like the thought of billions(?) more plastic discs working their way into landfills. I'm sure a lot of CDs already make it to landfills, but they weren't specifically designed to turn into trash.
I think the mentioned recycle options are a stretch, and not many people would spend the time to recycle them.
Anyways, the marketing push was based on the ease of throw-away technology, and not having to "take the disc back", which is pretty much what you have to do if you want to recycle them.
Now if you could chuck 'em in the recycle bin, and you could purchase them for less than a standard rental, that might be cool.
Having a bookmark to Google does not make you an expert on everything.
The problem with this system is that not only is it more expensive than rental, it isn't even that much more convenient.
For me, the hassle of renting a DVD isn't taking it back as I can do that on the way to work.
Actually driving to blockbuster is a pain in the arse though.
Pay per view is much more convenient.
In the UK PPV is under $5, and I don't even have to get of the sofa. Now that's convenience.
has anyone tried putting them into the microwave yet to see if it does anything different than regular dvd's?
i always thought it was neat how different burnable media would make different patterns.
The next Hollywood playa to repeat the disposable disc fiasco should have to eat the acrylic refuse from DDVD and DivX that's stockpiled in landfills across the country. The rest of us are paying, in taxes and poisoned environment, for their costly mistakes. The next test for this kind of scheme must include a realistic recycling program, to ensure the acrylic makes it back into the petrochemical foodchain within the year, not in the next geological age.
--
make install -not war
We'll have DVDs with a little hole for coins in the side and it'll cost you 1 per play. Or not...
Maybe they should just include a share of Disney stock in with each DVD. With the way Disney is going, not only will they be able to make money on it soon, but it will also dilute voting strength and serve to protect Michael Eisner's tenure at the top. Can it get any better than that?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
the way to defeat it, which was pointed on /. when this was first brought up, is to rip it (copy it, not play it) the first time you take it out of its package. voila.
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
Customers aren't interested in paying more than $6 for a limited-play DVD when they can pay $2 at the video store.
$2 to rent a DVD at a video store?! In what country?! I live in the Northwest and our videos are DVDs are $4.00 and up to rent.
Where's my time-limited money?
It doesn't "Play In Peoria". This city is almost the test market to many many products for the last 40+ years.
$2! In my market, on average the newest releases on DVD are $4. In some Blockbusters in my market (Chicagoland), I've seen it as high as $6.25.
"Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely."
So that when the next virus (or the windows self destruct feature) hits your machine you can't just reload, you have to go and buy a new copy. Just think of the $$$s M$ can make from that one!
they probably got their info from some marketing guy who figured that there was a huge untapped market for people who drive Hummers. If they never had to make the trip back to the rental store, they would save $4 in gas for the roundtrip, so they'd come out ahead!!
yea that worked out well didn't it.
To me this has always seemed like the biggest slap in the consumers face. I am glad to see that they are abandoning the technology (for now).
spend money here
I personaly prefer the other options...my methods are as follows:
1) Wait a 6-12 months...buy it for $10 on discount DVD and own it forever
2) Wait 18 months and buy it for $5.50 on Wal-Marts elcheapo DVD wall...and own it forever
3) If you REALLY must see it right away and dont want to own it for some silly reason just get it on pay-per-view ($4 here)...then you can usualy see it before it even hits DVD!
Seriously, as long as media companies, and I'm including music, try to avoid seeing their product as a commodity, they're going to keep coming up with brain dead ideas like this one. MS is barely getting away with it, what chance did Disney think they had?
If you jack people around on any commodity long enough and boost the price on them, they'll find ways to get by without your product and someone else will offer them better terms and eat into your market share. Movies, music and, increasingly, software are like gasoline, sugar and coffee. Inconvenient to live without, but consumers will adjust their consumption if you dick them enough.
Another classic case of the problem trying to dictate the solution.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
(but on /.) No one Notices Now, Normal
I think that what people here are forgetting is that Disney was betting on the convenience factor. With new rentals at Blockbuster, you can end up paying $8 or more if you are late in returning the movie. With the self-destruct DVD's, you don't have to remember to return it, hence no late fee. However, $7 is still too steep for this type of product. If they had priced self-destruct DVD's closer to $4-$5 more consumers might have bought in.
IANAL... But I play one on
(pardon the Boston-specific nature of this post)
If you're anywhere near Cambridge or Somerville, try Hollywood Express. Their 20-rental coupon book costs $55, they have many two for 1 deals, including any movie on Tuesday, so that brings the average rental down to $1.40. And their selection is much better than Blockbuster if you're taste is anything other than standard fare. If I watched more movies per month, I'd go with Netflix, but I'd still always keep my Hollywood Express coupons handy in case there's something Netflix doesn't have, esp. something only on VHS.
Not with my positive-nitrogen-pressure DVD player! Although piping the vent outside so I didn't suffocate was a pain. And it's a bit of a hassle lugging around all those nitrogen gas containers. Ah, I guess there's no free lunch.
If this were cheaper, it would be a good idea, or if the right business model were used (leaving aside environmentment questions). There are a lot of things that people are willing to pay a premium for convenience on (e.g. prepared food) but clearly this is not one of them. I wonder if the price point reflected their costs of production or their assumption on how much trouble dropping by the video store is. If it is their price, there is a problem, if is their calculation as to the premium on dropping it off, they have miscalculated (or don't they realize that video stores tended to located in convenient locations). I wonder if the logistics of this technology would reduce the costs of running a video rental operation - if so, then the the costs savings should have been passed on to the consumer. They might have adopted the innovation were it cheaper than the alternative. I wonder too, if in besides companies like NetFlix, if this could be used in vending machines and thereby reduce the overhead of running a store. Sure you would only have a limited number of titles, but the big new releases would probably do well.
I've finally got around to changing my sig
...all are astounded at ambitious alliterations.
If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
I honestly didn't even know that these things had come to market. Last I'd heard, they were an idea being kicked around that might have just been greenlighted. I've never seen them for sale anywhere near where I live (and I live in the largest city in Kentucky).
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
Excellent! High five!
...to the first person to create a DVD-shuffling robot out of legos that can exist in that argon-filled box. Never touch a DVD again! Although, argon leakage might be a concern over time...
Blar.
"The movie you're about to watch hasn't been pirated, illegally copied, or otherwise acquired in an illegal manner. However, a crime has been committed. You'll notice that your wallet is now approximately $5 lighter than it should be, due to the criminal pricing scheme of the distributor of this movie.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to squash this worthless distribution scheme, primarily by ignoring it.
This video will self-destruct in approximately 48 hours (that is, if you don't destroy the disk in frustration sooner)."
Tim
I can't believe that Disney of all companies backed this. I mean, I don't know any household with kids that doesn't have at least a few Disney movies, and they're watched over and over and over again. Nobody in their right mind is going to buy a copy of "The Little Mermaid" and then try to explain to a sobbing five-year-old that they can't watch their movie anymore.
Just junk food for thought...
I wouldn't buy a 'disposable' DVD because it's disposable. We don't need millions of disposable DVDs ending up in landfills like so many AOL promo CDs. It wouldnt matter if they were recyclable, cause nobody bothers, and they definately aren't compostable. (everthing is biodegradable, given the correct environment. even plastic.) Corporations don't make good citezens.
TallGreen CMS hosting
well, duh
You left one word out of your original subject line.
One thing that a lot of people may not realize is how these were set up in the test markets. In Austin, they were in the supermarket, right next to the candy and magazines in the check-out line. When you rent from Blockbuster, netflix, etc., you say "I want to rent a movie, what should I get?" The retailers of the EZ-D were counting on the blind impulsiveness of the american consumer, who says - "ooh, shiny! Whats anther $7 on top of my $200 of corn dogs?" Fortunately, we weren't that stupid.
"What the masochist doesn't know can't hurt him."
It's not just that they priced them way too high, but the movies they chose were neither good nor new. Let me get a decent new release for $5 and I may be interested in your "rental" system.
or at least that is what I call it.
Much like Slashdot and many other forums and groups, public and private, I think the higher-ups in these corporations suffer intellectual inbreeding, cluelessness and arrogance.
Very few people in the world can walk in the shoes of other people and don't stop to think that other people's decisions may not be their own because they surround themselves with people most like themselves.
These people don't understand the factors in why people chose things, etc. For all I know, maybe these people really do live in areas that have $8 rentals or only buy DVDs from mall stores that only charge SRP, etc.
It doesn't help that there are rampant suspicions that the Ivy league entrances and diplomas are possibly bought rather than earned, so being from Harvard or Yale doesn't mean what it used to (or has at least gotten worse), so the executives making these decisions may not be as sharp stuff as other people might think they are.
The fact that through executive firings, some have a tendency to surround themselves with yes-men and women that waste time justifying their bosses' decisions rather than those that apply critical reasoning to fix them.
I was actually rooting for this tech.
However, current pricing is definitely the greatest barrier.
But what I was hoping to see was a DVD vending machine offering DVD's for $2.00 or $3.00 a piece. If they could deliver the tech for a low price, it would definitely be a netflix killer. Why wait 1 day for the dvd to arrive via snail-mail when you could get a movie at your works breakroom, cornerstore etc and no worries about late fees or scratched discs?
Really, this is a superior solution but is being killed by it's very non-competitive cost... can we say Beta-Max anyone?
GOOD
mod parent up
The new anti-piracy measure on TTT extra features disks render them unreadable in some players. My parents have a player that refuses to play them. They will have to buy a new player to watch them or spend even more to have their old player "fixed".
Lasers Controlled Games!
Unfortunently the number of ways that it's packagable grows exponentially.
Hmmm, does this mean windows will now expire after 3 uses! Maybe they could include some sort of USB credit card swipe.
if I were an exec, it seems fairly reasonable what to do...
1) Don't screw your customers. Yes, everyone wants something for nothing, but not very many of them will take it unless you manage to anger them. How do you ager them? Jacking product prices up for worse product is a prety good stsrt. Trying to take their copyright protections (fair use, etc.) without compensation and advertising the crippled products as containing extra "features" is another. People have told the companies that do this that they don't want it (copy-"protected" CDs, DivX, etc.) - if you ignore it, they will get angry, and won't be your customers anymore.
2) Given that you haven't angered your customers, give them enough to be happy. Returnable rentals, nonreturnable rentals for a little bit more, or purchasable DVDs with as little restriction as possible are probably good (since they seem to be what your customers want).
Trust isn't an issue here unless you anger your customers or try to screw them, at which point they will return the favor. Trust becomes an issue for content providers only when they've screwed their customers - once they've done that, the customers don't feel any need to behave as if they were trusted (because they know they're not) and behave accordingly. There are always people who will take you product by physically stealing it or by copying it, and this segment won't go away - but it requires effort and overcoming conscience and so most people don't do it. Once you anger your customers, anything goes, and for many, anger provides enough motivation to take the time to screw you.
Nonreturnable rental is a choice for customers, but it restricts users activity significantly AND costs significantly more than rental. It isn't real suprising, then, that this is an unpopular choice. Combined with previous attempts to sell a "licensed" product where the user pays full price to buy the product but loses control over its use, it's understandable why people mistrust this method of sale.
What? I live in Kansas City! I've had my eye out for disposable DVDs for months, even since hearing about them on Slashdot, and I haven't seen a single one. Can't find them anywhere. Now I find out that I'm in one of the test markets.
I'm thinking that what we may have here is a truly *spectacular* failure in marketing, rather than a failure of the product.
I have to admit, I never looked for disposable DVDs in a Walgreens pharmacy. On the other hand, I never looked for them in freaking Petsmart, either. Walgreens?!?! What the hell? Who goes to Walgreens looking for DVDs? Who goes to Walgreens at all, other than senior citizens?
DVD rentals are huge - people don't mind renting them. The problem is control. People want the option of keeping a movie, even if it means late fees. People want to be able to charge the disc to their credit card if it turns out they want to buy it. And plus, nobody trusts shit like self-destructing discs and DVD players that phone home - for good reason. People just want a solid disc that they understand, and have control over. Not something that turns itself into a coaster after a couple days.
The last thing we need is another 'disposable' product. What 'disposable' actually means is planned obselesence which chokes land fills and the tax payer foots the bill, a hidden subsidy to the companies making disposable items.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
This is one of the funniest things I have read in a LONG time.
After all, all you have to do is rip it on its first play.
I could also see the new prank to be to go into a store and poke holes in all the cases.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
To make the mental process going on here more obvious, imagine a world in which it were economic and possible to make rental cars that, when the rental period was up, gently kicked the passenger out and burnt itself to a cinder. People would likely feel cheated, rightly noting that the costs to the rental company of extending the use of the car for a longer time is zero. Contrast that to a real-world where people must return cars, and it makes intuitive sense that when they have the car, other's can't, so there is a cost associated to the company.
This is a situation where providing additional benefits to an existing situation feels worse, because the innovation that allows the benefit to be provided also makes obvious the fact that additional benefits could be extended, and are intentionally being witheld in order to maximize profit.
I forget what 8 was for.
>'he hasn't seen one customer purchase an EZ-D, though some of them have been shoplifted out of the store
Sort of like brick and mortar P2P file sharing, only less efficient than electronic file sharing, as the original gets deleted after download.
What about using this as a security tool? Kind of like a 'this message will self distruct in...' kind of thing.
If you could burn and package your own. It would be a cool way for sneaker-net to hid any evidence of data transfer...
-t
http://unmoldable.com W:"No one of consequence" I:"I must know" W:"Get used to disappointment"
Makes me wonder what 15 cents worth of a good clear sealer would do to help preserve my investment.
Better than a dark marker around the edge I imagine.
Open source development is my way of competing with the low-cost programmers in India...
It's not only about price (although $6 is ridiculous). When you rent a DVD, you can always keep it an extra day and pay the late fee. With this one, you're out in the cold.
At $4 they'd still be more expensive than renting from Blockbuster, but in-line with what people are willing to pay for the no-late-fees-ever rental experience through PPV. They'd have had a shot.
at more than double the 'renting from a store' rate they were guaranteeing failure.
It isn't hindsight whatsoever, it's price-sight. If they'd said '$7' when they were talking about the tech everyone would've told them it would bomb. But they kept saying 'for a little more than the price to rent a movie from blockbuster'. which made everyone assume $3-4.
$7 is certainly not 'a little more' than $3.
Perhaps the rental chains squeezed them to stratify the pricing intentionally, i don't know (Blockbuster may have appreciable pressure now that Disney isn't the only kids-content creator in the game).
I just know that at $7, they shouldn't have even bothered.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
... Just so I can watch them disintegrate.
$7 to watch "The Hulk" erode and fade away sounds worthwile to me.
One way to make this work would be to charge 2 dollars for the movie, but charge a $5 deposit on the plastic casing and media.
That way, they send you 5 dollars back in the mail, and recycle the plastic. It seems like the only way to implement this idea and not have it fail.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
I didn't really appreciate the idea of the extra waste factor, but face it- we live in an extremely disposable world and I doubt one product would make a difference.
overall, I like the convenience the one time I tried it and found it to useful and assumed that once they were mass marketed the prices would become more reasonable.
That's what's wrong with the Americal psyche. Maybe 1 product doesn't make a difference. But what about this one product plus the AOL CDs plus the various other pieces of junk companies give out times the number of people who find no use for said junk. It adds up. Where does it go? Well invariably, you're not going to want it in your back yard. But it's got to go somewhere.
In any event, solutions don't come by people saying, "Oh the problem's too big. So we shouldn't fix it, but we should just add more fuel to the fire."
Why dosen't some Pizza chain offer to sell single use DVD's along with Pizza delivery?? The driver is already making the trip, the guy ordering the Pizza isn't in the mood to drive to Blockbuster, etc. I could see Dominio's offering 4-6 of the latest release for that weekend on this format.
And for the environmental concerns, a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew has the same, if not more plastic than the single use DVD.
Tom cruise has been saw coming out of a store, after spending 2 millions on that stuff ... :^P
may be for the next Imposible Mission?
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
This'll teach those damn criminals.
Karma? Karma? I don't need no stinkin' karma.
I think his point was if he'd bought it new it'd be $18. the "$18 my ass" would imply "i'm not paying $18 for 45 minutes of music"
My friend bitches about paying $1 per song on iTunes but spends $1.50 for a stupid ringtone for her phone...and she buys a lot of ringtones...
stores have limited inventory space. they can keep dvds for SALE because the demand for dvds that people wish to personally own is something they can anticipate fairly well.
.. if places like walmart REALLY wanted to horn in on the rental business, it would make the most sense to *GASP* rent the dvds to people cheaper than blockbuster could do it.
with EZ-D, or flexplay, or WHATEVER you want to call it, they have to carve out TONS more space.
look at how big a blockbuster store is, and consider how much inventory space they have. now factor in that blockbuster is able to RERENT the same movies, over and over.
the costs for operating a video rental store are relatively fixed and upfront. they buy their stock and then they rent it. once a dvd has made up its cost in rentals, everything after that point is profit.
in the case of flexplay though, stores have to estimate ahead of time how much demand there will be and purchase one copy for each sale they think they'll make. their profit is per sale, and WILL NEVER BE as high as if they rented it.
sooooo .
just my thoughts on the matter.
** Chigusaaa!!! You're the coolest girl in the WORLD!!! **
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Disney has become a disposable dud.
Do not spread "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" over the internet, thank you.
How do you know?
Are you keeping statistics or something?
Or may it be your are pulling out this one out of thin air?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
There's probably some catch I'm missing, but if you purchased one of these disks, then immediately copied it, as long as you retained your original (now unreadable) disk wouldn't your copy be legal? It was always my understanding that it was legal to make a backup copy of DVD's (hence products like DVDXCopy) provided you owned the originals. Since you own the original and it's no longer readable, your backup would be legal, right?
Disposable thing are the dullest, wimpest, evilest and stupidest thing ever made by human beeing !!!
"Insanity in individuals is something rare, but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule." - Nietzsche
Buy blank DVD+/-R media: $1
Rent DVD: $1
Copy DVD using 321's DVD XCopy: free
My kid gets sick of it? Big fucking deal. It cost me $2.
> Manny who bitch-gripe about the cost of a CD or renting a DVD are the same people who don't think twice about plunking down $2.50 - $3.50 for a cup of fancy coffee.
That's not relevant, because it's not the cost, it's the cost-to-value, which is very different. In the case of Flexplay, you could get the same value (a movie that you could only watch for a short time) for less money elsewhere, and the "don't have to return it" value wasn't worth the exstra cost to most people, so it died from the competition.
Virg
Can I go around with a small pin, ruining a whole lot of them by letting in the air then? This just sounds like too much fun.
-Christopher Wu
http://www.christopherwu.net/
I believe it.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Andy: You'll like that one Heywood, it's about a prison break.
Red: Jailbreak? Maybe we ought a file that one under "Educational" too.
The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
reading books?
Kids in the Hall, anyone?
Please stop stalking me, bro.
This is a win for consumers, but what would be even better is if Disney investors woke up and recognized how capital was thrown away on this experiment.
Anyone in the movie industry who doesn't recall the dismall failure of the DIVX idiocy should not be in a position to make such a wasteful decision to attempt a similar scam.
Investors should be looking for heads.
burnin
...Duh ;)
Actually, you may jest but this whole DVD thing was preceeded by the publishing industry 200 years ago. When paperback books were first published, they were controversial. I beleive the autors didnt like them becasue they were cheap and would not make as much money. So, you actually had to promise to throw the paperback book away once you read it. If you wanted a permanent copy you were expected to buy the (expensive) herdbound book. I think this is also where the phrase "pulp fiction" comes from, since the paperbacks were printed on the cheapest, crappyest pulp paper available.
I'd disagree with your psychological theory (at least for Americans). We buy disposable items that have a permanent alternative all the time. Some examples that come to mind are cameras, silverware, mops (swiffer), batteries, pens, lighters - you get the idea. I haven't heard any complaints of being "ripped-off."
I think this failed because of price. Americans base everything on price and perceived value. We value disposable merchandise because of the convenience.
n/t
Not that it really matters, but Circuit City's stupid DVD system was call Divx. DivX is the codec. The name was choosen to mock Divx.
Personally, I'm done renting DVDs.
I've rented about a dozen DVDs in the past year. In more than half those cases, I've gotten halfway through the movie only to find the DVD was scratched -- either I can't watch a given chapter of the film, or I can't finish watching the movie altogether. In one case, I exchanged the defective copy for a replacement, only to find the replacement was scratched, as well.
VHS cassettes had one big advantage over DVDs: protective casings. Sure, people dropped and mishandled VHS tapes, but you could still watch them afterward. DVDs are more easily damaged, which makes rentals a far less reliable market.
Consequently, I've given up renting movies. Between Amazon and Newbury Comics (a retail chain here in Boston), I rarely pay more than $15 for a DVD. That's about ten bucks more than I'd pay to rent. For my extra money, I get: (1) to own the DVD; (2) to watch the DVD as many times as I like; (3) no worry about deadlines and late fees; and (4) a guarantee that no backwoods, toothless hick family spilled macaroni and cheese on the DVD the night before.
And for those movies I'm curious about but hesitant to buy, I've got Comcast digital cable with On-Demand service. Sure, new releases don't show up until a few weeks after they're available on DVD; but I control the start time, pause and rewind -- and again, no late fees or defect concerns. As an added bonus, On-Demand costs a dollar or two less than Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. In other words, it rocks.
My two cents.
crib
Please don't read my journal
And #^% Michael Eisner in his grave while your at it too, Disney! We are getting sick of the bunch of you greedheads always making to get us buying your latest rip-off!"
[Now, I'm off to lift my le... Um, visit... at another place.]
Yes, but those mostly get dirty or naturally run out of whatever they're full of, and then the consumer chooses to discard them. In the eyes of a consumer, that's very from a perfectly good durable item like a video disc being deliberately sabotaged.
When will companies stop trying to keep people from getting the data that the companies give (or sell) them?
-------- In Soviet Russia, "Soviet Russia" sigs hate Slashdot.
You have to understand that these disposable DVDs are the last thing that Blockbuster wants to see accepted. They make a large portion of their revenue (I've read 40%) from late fees. Eliminate the need to return the DVD, and eliminate the late fee, and nearly half of the money they make. Don't look for Blockbuster to do anything to help this format survive.
What do you think Palladium/DRM are all about? Yeah, MS is going to do other things with it, but software which will only install once is one of the big ones.
When will companies realize people don't want to LICENSE or RENT something like movies/music from them. They want to OWN.
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
alliteration Batman!
If I can borrow DVDs for free from the library, rent them for $2-4, or buy them in a supermarket/discount store for $10, why on earth would I want to shell out $7 for a self-destructing DVD? Someone didn't do their market research...
...you can never overestimate the stupidity of the buying public, but obviously you can.
First DIVX, now this. Just two incredibly stupid ways to deliver content that we'll all be streaming over broadband in a couple years, legally or not... if the media companies persist in their short-sightedness, stupidity, and pig-headed determination to cling to a 19th century distribution model then it will happen anyway... if the media execs can pull their heads out of their... out of the sand, then people will pay them a modest price for the privilege. I don't know about you, but modest beats nothing every day. Maybe some of the people will be forced to work for a living, instead of growing fat extorting artists and customers.
It also amazes me how innovative companies are in creating products that increase, not decrease waste. Given that we, as a society are more environmentally-conscious than ever, I bet typical product packaging generates more waste than it ever did (except for soda pop cans). Marketing these days seems to consist of coming up with ways to increase packaging while decreasing product. Look at "GoGurt" which comes in the absurdly small 4oz size, or "Lunchables" which manages to cram a ridiculously small about of food with astronomical amounts of sodium in bulky packaging and people pay something like $10 a pound for the privilege of buying it. Or look at just about any dry food... the packaging is usually half empty (sold by weight not volume, so if we make the box twice as big, it'll look like a better deal). At least, they've finally stopped selling detergent with 90% filler.
Oh well, I've ranted enough.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
If this blackening chemical on the disc is only applied to the surface as a film, you would be able to resurface the disc, removing the coating. Such a deal!
and having to throw it in the trash bin just feels wrong
Yeah... Me too, I wish the condoms were washable.
Couldn't you use one of those food saver vacumn pumps to save it? Say the movie is 2 hours, you put it in the bag right after you watch, and the lifetime of the disc exposed to oxygen is several days. Shouldn't that significantly increase its lifespan?
Duh!
What in the hell were these people thinking? Hey why don't I go out and pay $6 dollars + tax for a DVD that lasts a week when I can rent the same thing for $3 at a rental store.
It's both, depending on the type of stuff. Disposable diapers=good. Disposable income=good. Disposable girlfriend=could be good or whack. Disposable liver=whack. Disposable DVD=whack. Disposable troll account=good.
I can't justify copying someone else's material, whether by P2P or by other means (because I haven't been given the right to do so), but I have quibbles.
1) Would digital song sales have come about independent of P2P network copying of music? People have been unhappy with the increasing price/good song ratio of albums for sometime (e.g., why buy the 1st big Lit album at $15 for "My Own Worst Enemy"?), yet until Napster and ilk came along, digital music distribution (particularly per song distribution methods) were almost nonexistent. (Virgin was supposed to allow users to go to its stores and put 10 songs on a CD for the cost of an album, which is close, but I never saw it happen.) Without the pressure of illegal copying, I don't think the record companies would have wanted to give up (in part) the lucrative album scheme, particularly for albums by 1st time artists with bad contracts that have one popular song.
2) I don't know if it played a major factor in inciting copying of music, but for me copy protection, "trusted computing"/Palladium, DRM, etc., is the infuriating development. In these cases rights given by copyright law and subsequent court decisions ("fair use", etc.) are taken not by the gov't (who has the authority to do so) but by the content providers who do not. Copy protection doesn't thwart either profit-making copiers nor even most standard copiers - thus one has to question its point. I suspect that copy protection (as also cited in a Mac article about DRM) is designed to increase the cost of CD by taking fair use rights (particularly device shifting) from the customer and selling (some of) them back at an increased cost to the user. Some of the rights the RIAA's component labels are trying to maintain via DRM, etc.,are rights they do not legally have; I doubt that this helped incite copying, but it didn't (and doesn't help) their cause. If they want me to respect copyrights (as the MPAA tells me), they could start by respecting mine.
I don't think copying someone's music without paying for it helps many of the problems it claims to be addressing - it is a product of people's desire to have something for nothing (and seeing that lots of others already have gotten that - just ask Gil Amelio) and of frustration with the music industry coupled with its collusion negating many legitimate methods of response. The music industry screwed its customers - now it's their turn. "When you have a tiger by the tail, don't let go." The music industry lost hold of the tail (through P2P) and the tiger doesn't care about right or wrong.
What are you, some sort of robot?!!!
I'd disagree with your psychological theory (at least for Americans). We buy disposable items that have a permanent alternative all the time. Some examples that come to mind are cameras, silverware, mops (swiffer), batteries, pens, lighters - you get the idea. I haven't heard any complaints of being "ripped-off."
On all of the items you mentioned the consumer is in control of the rate at which it is used. For example, if I buy a disposable camera, batteries, etc, I can control (for the most part) how long that item will last. If I don't use my swiffer, it will be there for the next time; same with pens/batteries. In any of the cases, I can choose to extend the life of my product after I opened it by not using it. With these DVDs, once the item is opened, you are restricted by an arbitrary time frame set by the manufacturer. This is the same reason licensed MP3s failed and iTunes succeeded; with iTMS, customers own the music they purchased. With the alternatives, customers needed to continue paying fees, or they could no longer use them.
I also fail to see why Disney, of all companies, would push for this type of product. My little brother, like many young children, watch(es) childrens movies over and over again. I can remember one point where he would watch 101 Dalmations at least twice a day for 3 weeks straight until we decided to restrict TV usage. For an extra $3-5, why not purchase something without time restrictions and OWN the product. More adult films, however, have a certain sense of 'unique adverture' we can usually only capture once. After we watch the movie, we understand the plot and future watchings only lead us to bordem; childrens movies for some reason do not follow this pattern, as we can watch them repeatidly and still be entertained.
I still see this technology applicable in government/security situations. If the government wants to have sensitive data that will self-destruct after X days, this technology can guarantee its destruction at a set time. The problem of copying the data on the DVD still remains, and I do not know if it is possible to recover the data through other means after the disc has expired.
What a great idea! Not the condoms bit, but poking holes in the packaging of the discs. Just imagine the calls to customer service... This is entirely on topic.
Actually, there is a Disney Vault. Every film goes on sale for a few months, and then goes into the vault for several years (8, I think). At the end of that time, the movie is available again and the cycle repeats. Disney owns enough films that they can keep one or two of them out of the vault at all times. This is Disney's way of preventing their films from becoming a commodity, and they have been doing it for years. They never say that movies will stay in the vault forever. Whether you agree with this policy or not, you can't argue with its success.
It's well-documented. Frequent renters get throttled back when selecting rarer ("more expensive") discs. Google is your friend.
Da Blog
It sounds like they have more value while still in the cellophane... even if they *weren't* being discontinued. ;)
Obviously, Blockbuster had a booming business when they rented VHS tapes, as most people didn't own movies (since the studios had placed very high purchase prices on the tapes).
Now that DVDs are easily gotten for $10 or so, a lot of people have turned to buying movies instead of renting them. The concept is that while it is slightly more expensive to buy than rent - by just a few dollars - they now have a movie they can watch whenever or as often as they'd like.
Has anyone else noticed if Blockbuster's rental business has dropped as more and more people get DVD players in their houses? If this trend keeps up, I wouldn't be surprised if Blockbuster ends up filing for bankruptcy eventually. (People don't even buy their movies at Blockbuster, since their prices are usually higher than the big box retailers.)
How does Blockbuster need to change to still stay in competitive?
Why did this get modded offtopic? It followed on straight from the parent post. If posts aren't to be allowed to veer at all from the strictest interpretation of the original news article to follow interesting little diversions then slashdot is crapper than I thought.
--
Posted anonymously so as not to lose any more karma to idiot goatfucking moderators.
Okay, this is the third attempt at a pay-per-play scheme specifically with the DVD format. STOP! God! Consumers don't want anything more than cheap rentals. They don't even like in on cable television, preferring instead to rent at dirt-cheap prices. /me beats MPAA/Disney execs with rolled-up newspaper
Bad! Bad!
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
I think I'll have to concede the point.
I've racked my brain for the last 5 minutes (yeah so that's not a lot of time but you get what you get) and can't think of any other disposable items that the consumer does not control the rate of consumption.
The closest I could come was phone cards and gift cards that self expire but even those last so long they usually only expire because they get lost/forgotten. I also thought about pay per view movies but I was trying to use example that didn't have anything to do with movies.
As far as government is concerned, the self destruct method of these disks would not be sufficient if they stored classified information (yes I am a USG employee in a security related field). Just as an example, the only method approved for destroying floppy disks is incineration. You'd think that sticking the Mylar into one of our high security cross cut shredders would be sufficient but it's not. Hard disks are also destroyed (not overwritten) but I'm not sure how. We just send them back to HQ.
I work for a Papa John's in Austin (on Brodie). We're currently selling EZ-Ds and have had quite a success with them.
With the "pizza and a movie" offers, we've been able to sell probably around 15 movies a day on average.
We sell the movies for a dollar less than everyone else and expired movies can be returned to us for a dollar off an order. We then recycle them
The problem I see with flexplay disks is that they're not being actively marketed. The deal with Papa John's is all marketing. I had to get used to saying "Thank you for choosing Papa John's on Brodie, this is )myname(, would you like a pizza and a movie tonight?"
Most of the time, people will say "No thanks" but sometimes they say yes.
Leaving EZ-Ds on shelves won't sell them. It's hard enough trying to sell them when asking on the phone with a customer. But it pays off.
I THINK (I'm not quite sure) that our store has sold more EZ-Ds than all the other stores out there combined. (Don't quote me on that, but it seems pretty realistic).
EZ-Ds CAN succeed... I don't think they're quite dead yet.
And yes, someone actually has tried to run off with a movie (it was Sweet Home Alabama IIRC)
This film will only last in your memories!
Sorry, but the DMCA requires that you have the written consent of Disney to remember the film without physically owning a copy. If you attempt to recall watching the film without owning a copy, Pinkerton thugs will bring you to a memory right-sizing service center (mental hospital) where we will delete the film (lobotomize).
He probably just drives a Canyonero...
Some are born to move the world, to live their fantasies... Neil Peart
I also fail to see why Disney, of all companies, would push for this type of product. My little brother, like many young children, watch(es) childrens movies over and over again. I can remember one point where he would watch 101 Dalmations at least twice a day for 3 weeks straight until we decided to restrict TV usage.
This is why Disney wants a format that you don't own. Why should they let you watch a movie 100 times for $20, when you can pay $3 every time you see it?
Not that I agree with that stratagey, but that's what the suits are thinking.
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
I live in one of the cities where these EZ-Ds were tested and it was obvious from the beginning they were to fail. Not only were the prices on the discs extremely foolish, but the company claimed they would be near the rental price. The prices weren't the only disadvantage to renting. EZ-Ds have all extras stripped. Nothing but the movie is on the disc, not even the menu, not even alternate audio tracks like french or director's commentary.
Where do you rent your new releases?
On the tutorial video they say "Your Flexplay DVD plays in any standard DVD drive..." The 3D clipart shown is a console DVD player, a Gateway 2000 Pentium-150-ish PC (you can tell by the case), and an original Sony Playstation.
one, two, one two like a duck
You go out and buy a brand new DVD for say $20. You then go and sell it on ebay used for $10. You can own this DVD for quite some time, and as long as you take decent care of it, it costs you only $10 over it's lifetime. This, as opposed to $7 for something that will become worthless in a short period.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
Actually, the publishing industry has been quite reasonable about this sort of thing. Case in point: The Baen Free Library. You can download whole, unrestricted Ebooks for free! Also, Baen has started putting coverdiscs in some of their new hardbacks, which contain even more free books. I just bought There will be Dragons by John Ringo; that coverdisk had over 40 novels in it! The best part was that they included the entire book, unabridged, in .mp3 format. Perfect for loading to my iPod :)
Last week, I burned several copies of the coverdisk and distributed them to many of the geeks in my school.
I can never find what I want at Hollywood or Ballbuster, so I go to my library for DVD's. They have about 1000 titles, free for one week. I like classics, foreign and indie films, but honestly, I hate going to Blockbuster in search of an indie film that they have one copy of, and seeing 320 copies of the latest Rob Schneider, Julia Robberts or Will Smith dreckfest available, plus having a person behind the counter that thinks Truffant means some flick called "True Foe" and tries to look that up.
they should sell these things in airports and the $7 wouldn't seem like a big deal at all.
That's the entire problem. At the airport, where people can expect to be gouged for basically everything, $7 for a disposable movie sounds about right. But these discs weren't an airport-only thing, so the majority of consumers that came across them did so in places they werent expecting to be gouged so badly (grocery stores, video stores, etc). In essence, if these discs are going for $7 at the airport, they should be going for $4 (maaaaybe $5 tops) everywhere else or people will just turn their noses up at them.
Perl - $Just @when->$you ${thought} s/yn/tax/ &couldn\'t %get $worse;
Gigli might be good, although nobody has even shoplifted a copy from my store.
Just what we would have needed, more small round disks to put in our landfills.
Could you imagine the impact if this had really taken off? It would make the waste that AOL generates (Free AOL CDs) seem like nothing. I already throw out about 2 AOL disks a week. Imagine if the entire US was renting these DVDs instead of the reusable ones.
>The closest I could come was phone cards and gift cards that self
>expire but even those last so long they usually only expire because
>they get lost/forgotten.
you will find that most people feel ripped-off when these expire as well, (I know I felt cheated when I was told my movie theatre gift certificates had expired because I hadn't used them soon enough) hence lending more credibility to the idea that people want to control the rate at which the item they pay for is used.
I don't care if the thing disintigrates in my machine...
I sure as hell am not going to pay seven dollars for even a permanent copy of most Hollywood films out there.
Look, Ashton Kutcher has a new movie coming out every freaking week, and yet, no one sees them. I just think that they should be focusing their time on making movies we want to see.... instead of making crap movies and worrying about the technology.
Anyway, these days I'm buying, not renting DVDs, as Virgin and others keep putting classics on sale for $10 per. So to accept some bizarre disposable DVD to save a few bucks just makes no sense.
sulli
RTFJ.
I think unless they price them the same as a daily newspaper, going to this format will destroy the used market because there will be no new cd's to become used for the used market. After all, are these selling new?
The truth shall set you free!
No-one in their right mind drives 5 miles to collect & return a rental. In reality the trips are either far far shorter, or are trips that will be made anyway.
I would go so far as to suggest that the vast majority of rentals go to people living within a block or four of the rental store.
kartune85 : Incapable of reason, observation or learning. A kind of dim, drab, flightless parrot.