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Microsoft Invents A 'Play-Once Only' DVD
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.
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?
Already got this - it's called Netflix. You just throw it away in any mailbox.
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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!
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consumer: "hey, so you can make DVDs for £3. Why are the rest £15?"
Play once == Read once
Read once == Rip once
Rip once == Play forever
Karma cannot be described by words alone.
So how environmentally friendly are these? If MS is going to be trying to put rental places out of business, do they have a plan for millions of now-useless single-play-DVDs and the associated packaging?
Let's say I had to stop/pause early to do something urgent. Would that count as one usage?
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Watching this movie I just payed $4 to rent, power goes out (brown/blackout, or whatever). When the power comes back on... I can't play the movie anymore!
Or I'm part way through the movie that I just rented, and I have to leave the house for whatever reason, come back later to find out someone took the dvd I was watching out of the player because they wanted to watch something else. Now it won't play again.
I just see this being another headache for customers and customer support.
Its not what it is, its something else.
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.
*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.
how can they get away with calling it a DVD?
They didn't mention in the article how this would be done... some sort of DRM (new format) or is the disc itself made out of some material that will corrupt the data shortly after being read by the laser?
From the article: "Showing a video of himself dressed in a sailor suit pretending to audition for the blockbuster Titanic, Gates pitched Hollywood with the proposition that only Microsoft could solve its piracy problem"
Is there a pirated video of this available anywhere?
Office Space trivia game - play it now douche hole.
Two scientists in lab coats. One is holding up a test-tube. He says:
Finally! Success! A moth that eats synthetic fibers!
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!
Netflix, by contrast, was a low-tech approach (except that DVDs were still early-adopter back then) that absolutely rocked, because it matched what most customers generally wanted to do most of the time.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Microsoft Invents A 'Rip-Once Only' DVD
Microsoft developed a "view once" neural movie format that will erase the corresponding contents of your memory after you play a video. This way you won't be able to remember what you saw and copy it to the unprotected and forbidden physical media.
Microsoft expects to ship its "Amnesia(TM)" DRM technology by the next year. However, the first people who tested it complained that their enjoyment experience was erased too. Microsoft is currently working on a bugfix.
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
If I go to Blockbuster or my local video rental store, the movie I'm renting eventually goes back to the store, where they can rent it to the next guy for another few bucks. They stop renting that particular disc when it gets scratched or broken, but otherwise, it's a continuous revenue stream.
If video stores started sending home these self-destructing discs, they could only rent them once. Then they'd have to buy new copies from the manufacturer. Why would they choose to do this? The answer is, simply, they wouldn't.
Microsoft Denies Single-Play DVD Plan
On Tuesday, Microsoft refuted earlier reports that it plans to introduce single-play DVDs aimed at curbing music piracy. A Microsoft representative told me there is no single play DVD initiative at the company, denying a report that first appeared in "The Business."
"It appears there is considerable confusion coming from [the] article in The Business about features within Windows Media DRM that allow for single-play of promotional digital materials," a Microsoft spokesperson told me. "This has been an option for content owners to use for some time with the Windows Media format--but not for the MPEG2 format found on DVDs. Windows Media DRM technology allows for a wide range of business models and scenarios, but it's important to realize that this is at the discretion of the content owner to implement and that the market will dictate whether or not these features are compelling enough for consumers to make a purchase."
"Sufferin' succotash."
Surprise, surprise. Sure would be if fact-checking was a requirement of being an editor around here.
Microsoft Denies Single-Play DVD Plan
On Tuesday, Microsoft refuted earlier reports that it plans to introduce single-play DVDs aimed at curbing music piracy. A Microsoft representative told me there is no single play DVD initiative at the company, denying a report that first appeared in "The Business."
"It appears there is considerable confusion coming from [the] article in The Business about features within Windows Media DRM that allow for single-play of promotional digital materials," a Microsoft spokesperson told me. "This has been an option for content owners to use for some time with the Windows Media format--but not for the MPEG2 format found on DVDs. Windows Media DRM technology allows for a wide range of business models and scenarios, but it's important to realize that this is at the discretion of the content owner to implement and that the market will dictate whether or not these features are compelling enough for consumers to make a purchase."
"Sufferin' succotash."
Generally the scream is almost accurate. When you find out said kid yelled because he couldn't find his favorite toy, his 10 second demise forecast turns out to have been only off by 30 seconds.
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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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
Basically, DivX the codec was named to make fun of Circuit City's DIgital Video eXpress. From http://www.divx.com/support/what.php:
When we say "DivX," we are not referring to the Digital Video Express
(DIVX/DVE) service previously marketed by Circuit City. If you need
information about Circuit City's DIVX, you might try the DIVX Owners'
Association.
Every post I make begins with the assumption P=~P.
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...