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Microsoft Invents A 'Play-Once Only' DVD

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the they-called-this-divx-didn't-they? dept.

auckland map writes "Microsoft has developed a cheap, disposable pre-recorded DVD disc that consumers can play only once." From the article: " Buying an ordinary DVD of a new film costs between £15 (E22, $26.40) and £20. Microsoft's new disc will enable the studios to release a "play-once, then throw away" copy for as little as £3, much the same as renting a video or DVD. But unlike a rented DVD, the new disc allows consumers to decide when they watch films and there is no need to return it. The new generation of DVD disc will spearhead a fresh assault by Microsoft on the home-entertainment market." Update: 10/06 03:38 GMT by J : Kinda important to read the followup story.

23 of 740 comments (clear)

  1. Here we go again... by Kelson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Haven't we gone through this already? How many times have businesses floated this concept over the last couple of years? What on earth makes them think consumers will want self-destructing DVDs this time?

    1. Re:Here we go again... by SenFo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "There's a lot of people who like to rent DVD's. Now they won't need to return them. Or watch them in time. What's not to like?"

      Please don't take offense to this, but seriosuly, what IS there to like? Netflix is already easy enough. Just drop it off in the mailbox and you're done. I seriously hope that people are not becoming so lazy that they can't even run out to the mailbox to return a movie. Heck, my mailbox is over 1/4 mile away from my house and I have no problem walking out to it.

      --
      My lame blog.
    2. Re:Here we go again... by PoprocksCk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Great! We give an undesirable product to the consumers, *and* we create more waste for our communities! Two birds with one stone! Thank you, Microsoft, once again you've come up with a practical, *innovative* solution that works well for everyone. More power to the consumer.

      By the way, I'm *being* sarcastic... (well duh!)

    3. Re:Here we go again... by Arker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My predictions:

      Average Joe types are going to hate this - they'll start it, the wife will set the kitchen on fire, they'll hit eject and run to put it out - and come back to find the disk no longer works. Or something like that.

      The only folks it will be popular with are the 'pirates' that will stick it in the drive, rip it once, and then watch it any time they feel like it, in addition to sharing it with a few thousand of their closest friends. It might be a huge hit with that crowd, however.

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      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
      Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
    4. Re:Here we go again... by IWorkForMorons · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Uh...so what happens when you want to rewatch that last part because the phone rang? Or you forgot the popcorn? Or because your roommate was talking through that last part? Or because you missed something at the beginning that was really important to the ending? Or you watched the movie but your roommate wants to watch it when they get home from work? I can do all that if I rent a movie...

    5. Re:Here we go again... by AaronCampbell · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not to mention, how many people rent a DVD, watch it, and then tell their friend "That was a GREAT movie...you HAVE to come over and watch it." They then procede to watch the DVD a second time. Something you can't do with a Self-Destructing DVD.

      And what about this. You get a call on the phone mid movie...get up and get the phone, and forget to pause the movie. Now you want to re-watch the part you missed. Can you?

      What about special features? Such as deleted scenes, gag reels, games, etc? How many times can you watch those? I know some DVDs like National Treasure have quite involved little games on them.

      What about a power outage? The power goes out 1/2 way through a movie. What happens? Is the thing dead? Does half of it still work?

      Seems to me that they still have a lot of questions to answer.

      --
      Surviving America
    6. Re:Here we go again... by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I live in a condo.
      There's a young woman who lives in a condo across the driveway and about 2 condos down from the laundry and she DRIVES to the laundry. In fact, I've only ever seen one person besides myself carry laundry to the laundry room.

      People are pretty fucking lazy.

      --
      This space available.
    7. Re:Here we go again... by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful
      No, this time it won't flop because the disks work in ordinary DVD players, so consumers aren't expected to invest in Microsoft's business model.

      What's that, you say?

      The revolutionary product could be on the market as early as next year, with the new DVD players needed to view them....
      A senior source in the company says Microsoft is in talks with the main electronics manufacturers about developing DVD players to play the new discs.
      Whoops! DivX, here we come!! (And coincidentally, what idiot wrote that article without even mentioning DivX?)
    8. Re:Here we go again... by badasscat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But netflix takes time. I sent my movies back yesterday, and I won't have my new ones until tomorrow. If you want the movie today (or don't want to subscribe to a service or sign a blockbuster rental agreement), the disposable disc is a good option.

      Gotta explain that one to me.

      First of all, how many DVD's can you watch in a day? Unless you don't work or go to school (in other words, you just sit on your ass all day), I can't see how you'd watch 3 movies in one day and then have nothing left to watch. I (like most people) am lucky if I get through 3 DVD's in a week! And I just send them back as I watch, so I always have one or two new DVD's on the pile.

      Second, the point of Netflix isn't speed, it's convenience. Sometimes people mistake one for the other, but they are not the same thing. I can put a DVD into my mailbox and magically, through the wonders of the US Postal Service, another one appears there in the same spot 2 days later. I don't need to go one inch out of my way or spend one single minute downloading or otherwise dealing with my movies. The whole point is I don't have to go out and buy or rent anything. Otherwise I'd just go to Blockbuster in the first place, so a disposable disc isn't going to help me any.

      I'll stick with netflix, but some people will be better served by this method.

      "Some" people will be served by almost anything. But what is your definition of "some"? Is three people a "some"? Is that enough to sustain a business? What about 10,000? 50,000? 100,000?

      It doesn't matter that there are "some" people out there that would like this. I think it's been proven time and time again that most people have decided that they don't, or wouldn't. There are not nearly enough people interested in this to make it viable.

      That's not even taking into account the fact that rental stores have no incentive to carry these things because they cut out a major source of revenue (even BB's "no late fees" promotion really has late fees... you pay $25 or whatever for the movie if you keep it out too long, then a restocking fee if you finally return it), and force them to continuously buy new inventory. Retailers that deal in sales only have little incentive either because the margins are so low. Would you rather sell discs that carry a profit of $5 per unit or discs that carry a profit of 50 cents per disc? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

      And of course, there's the incompatibility thing, which basically makes the whole format a non-starter to begin with.

      This is at least the third time this has been tried and both previous attempts (that I know of) failed utterly and spectactularly.

      (Any other attempts would also have been failures; I just don't know about them if they occurred.)

    9. Re:Here we go again... by el+americano · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That was my first thought before RTFA too.

      "The revolutionary product could be on the market as early as next year, with the new DVD players needed to view them."

      Sounds like your PC won't be able to play-it-once(TM). The protection is a DRM that requires a special player and probably an internet connection to their servers to get it started. So, as if this wasn't a bad enough idea, now there's the cost of a new player to offset the cheaper DVD advantage. I think MS knows that people won't be thrilled to have a DVD that isn't broken or worn out, but just crippled by our entertainment overlords. However, that shouldn't stop them from selling it to Hollywood. (Sammy baby, it'll be huge. It's the next big thing!)

      I also think they want to get there DRM solution out there as quick as possible.

      They've said, "...only Microsoft could solve [Hollywood's] piracy problem by making its DRM software a standard across every home entertainment playback and recording device."

      Sound familiar? Control the standard and you lock in the revenue. Here we go again, indeed.

      P.S. If you want a cheaper, limited-use DVD now, just buy one, watch it, and sell it on Ebay! Who needs Microsoft for that?

      --
      Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others. -Groucho Marx
  2. Another kind of assault... by soft_guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The new generation of DVD disc will spearhead a fresh assault by Microsoft on the home-entertainment market.

    Not to mention the fresh assault on our landfills that this disc format will make!

    --
    Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
    1. Re:Another kind of assault... by Sri+Ramkrishna · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We should make companies who make disposable products to pay a tax for clean up. Encouraging customers to throw shit away into land fill is irresponsible. One day we will pay for it.

      sri

  3. wait.... by DanGroom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    consumer: "hey, so you can make DVDs for £3. Why are the rest £15?"

    1. Re:wait.... by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      consumer: "hey, so you can make DVDs for £3. Why are the rest £15?"

      media cartel: "hey, people buy DVDs for £15. Why would we want to sell them for £3?"

  4. Play once ? by koh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Play once == Read once
    Read once == Rip once
    Rip once == Play forever

    --
    Karma cannot be described by words alone.
  5. Freedom to Innovate! by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Insightful
    > Microsoft has developed a cheap, disposable pre-recorded DVD disc that consumers can play only once.

    No, much like everything else out of Redmond, Microsoft has merely copied an innovation developed someone else, and called it their own innovation.

    They started out copying somewhat useful things, such as CP/M, a BASIC interpreter, on-the-fly disk compression, and web browsers.

    Now they're copying DIVX discs. Look on the bright side -- it's proof that they've run out of good ideas to copy.

  6. Re:"Revolutionary" by SydShamino · · Score: 5, Insightful

    *Watching start of movie*

    *Kid screams out in pain downstairs, having tripped and fell, or been punched by brother, etc.*

    *Run downstairs and deal with them for 30 minutes*

    *Return to view movie again, to find it unable to play again*

    Doh

    --
    It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  7. That'll be good for the environment by abysmilliard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Way to go, Microsoft. Didn't they learn from AOL?

    I know they're not giving it away, but all its going to take is a year of these things being popular and the amount of landfill junk would be astounding.

    That, right there, will alienate loads of people. Fair use and content control issues aside, this is a stupid, stupid idea from an environmental perspective and a PR perspective.

    And I'm sure it wouldn't be cost-effective for them to include a recycling program for it, either.

    Microsoft: Buy our Garbage!

  8. Anyone know how this works? by pjrc · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The article makes mulitple mentions of how these single-play discs will need new players?

    It seems pretty unlikely the media self destructs. Maybe, but I doubt it. Why would a new player be needed if it were in the media itself?

    Perhaps it's really a dvd+rw type media, where the player uses a higher power laser to erase the disc during or after playback?

    Or maybe they're going to try Circuit City's DIVX approach (nothing to do with the mpeg4 coded, for those who don't remember those days), where the player will phone home.

    Or maybe it's something else? Any ideas?

    Maybe Microsoft's research teams have turned out something truely revolutionary? Or maybe just another lame idea, as usual?

    Unless it really is media that degrades, or even if it really is in the media, if it's not compatible with existing players, then people are going to have to "upgrade" their players... for no real benefit other than being able to get a play-once disc for about the same or slightly more than simply renting a regular disc. So the players won't sell well, so they won't get the ecomony of scale that makes for a sub-$100 dvd player. It's quite an uphill battle. Witness Circuit City's failure... and that was in the early days of DVD when a few studios were releasing some movies in their lame format but not on DVD. This thing probably going to die before it even gets started.

    But even in a world of perfect DRM, where movies are only distributed on these play-once discs, and no ordinary DVDs are made anymore, and movies aren't ever distributed in any other digital form.... it's still only going to take one pirate with special equipment to capture a pretty good quality "rip", and then upload to a circle of friends, who give to others, until someone makes it available on a file sharing network.

    --
    PJRC: Electronic Projects, 8051 Microcontroller Tools
  9. Why? by t_allardyce · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That second trip to the rental shop to return your DVD is very important for their business. They want you to come back and see something else you want to rent, so why exactly would any rental shop support a product that not only removes that extra trip but also must be replaced all the time, for every bloody title that the shop carries, every time someone rents it. This could only be useful for postal DVD rental which is going to be dead soon. I won't even get started on one-play = one-rip.

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    This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
  10. Been tried in standard players too by cgenman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Previously you had the "time expired" DVD's that ran in a standard DVD player. They self-destructed 24 hours after coming into contact with air (I.E. they were unwrapped).

    Nobody bought them anyway.

    There is just that feeling of having your toys taken away. With a rental car, you rent the thing and have to give it back because the next person needs it. Same with video. But if you buy a disk, and it is set to explode after a few plays, you're buying something that is crippled. You don't have to give it back because somebody else needs it, they're taking it away purely to try and get more money from you. Microsoft is used to kicking it's customers in the teeth, but maybe that's why it is stuck in Operating Systems and Corporate Lock-in land.

    Even without the player dongle this would probably be doomed. But with it, the system might as well run Microsoft Bob.

    --
    The ______ Agenda
  11. Re:We buy disposable cars, why not DVDs? by droptone · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I'm sure the RIAA would love to have the same thing for CDs.
    When the RIAA begins to distribute disposable CD's, you can be sure any artist with half a brain will quickly flee from anything remotely associated with the RIAA. The reason for this is that the artist(s) would want people to listen to CD's multiple times. Hell, they want you to become so hooked to the music you will shell out money to see the artist(s) live and buy merchandise (so the artist(s) can really get paid). I may be presuming entirely too much rationality on the RIAA's part, but surely they aren't THAT dumb. I do agree that the consumer needs to be wary of what these industry interest-groups are planning, but your claim there doesn't seem to make much sense.
    --
    Every post I make begins with the assumption P=~P.
  12. One-Time Viewing by Finsterwald+P+Ogleth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh, yeah, I'm really looking forward to that.

    Me, who sometimes falls asleep watching one..."You mean I have to buy ANOTHER disc?????"

    Ah, and the wonderful coordinating of family viewing times, especially if both you and your spouse want to see it, but can't quite get your schedules worked out. Oh, and one or both falling asleep right about 2/3 through it.

    Oh, yeah this technology will just fly off the shelves. I can't wait...