Disposable DVDs coming

[Glenn Gipson]

I think this is a great idea, just as long as any other company can have access to the EZ-D technology.

http://money.cnn.com/2003/09/09/tech...ex.htm?cnn=yes

What do you all think?

[John Locke]

Great theoretically, at first glance, but how much you wanna bet that bootleggers will come out with copycat disposables for $3, and that people who buy the legit or the illegit types won't bother to recycle them or turn them in for recycling...and so all we'll wind up with is lots of plastic in landfills and another DVD fiasco.

[Glenn Gipson]

Bootleg DVDs are almost always inferior to legiet DVDs because they typically lack the extra DVD features on legit DVDs (ie, extra scenes, commentary, etc.) I think this will be a blow to piracy, actually. And it may actually spawn a small recycling market for the EZ-DVDs as well. The article already said that a consumer can get a brand new EZ-DVD for six used ones.

[John Locke]

You can get money for aluminum cans and bottles still...how many of those have you cashed in lately?

No disrespect meant, Glenn...it's just that we should be doing everything possible to reduce waste and filling up our landfills. Seems everyone thinks "No one else is doing anything about it. Why should I?" And besides, did region coding stop piracy? Nope. Think this move will?

[Michael Wisniewski]

... it may find a niche market for all those Mission Impossible agents who want to strike out on their own ...

But, I think the correct move is to just sell the LEGAL DVDs for the same low price. It makes everything SO simple ...

- no need to re-cycle
- no need to return the disc
- no need to buy boot-leg copies
- no need to invest in self-destructing DVDs and equipment (oh that joke is going to get a lot of mileage)

[Glenn Gipson]

>>And besides, did region coding stop piracy? Nope. Think this move will?<<

I'm not saying this will end piracy, it will just blunt piracy's edge. Regardless, the main advantage to this approach is a wider distribution outlet for the DVD producer, and that's always good. This could potentially mean the break up of the Block Buster Video monopoly. As for the environment, I really doubt these EZ-DVDs will bring humanity closer to its doom.

[Rob Lohman]

These discs are not being introduced to combat piracy. So no real
need to discuss that. The discs are introduced to make renting
easier (ie, to not have to return the disc).

1. price - seems to be higher then normal rental

2. making people understand it only lastst 48 hours after opening (hey open that disc and play it to see whats on there and then wait a couple of days before actually viewing the movie)

3. more importantly - our environment we live in. Everybody starts to use more discs which either need to be recycled or tossed out (bad!)

I personally would keep the system a bit longer as it is. It is
running just fine and you can even rent discs over the internet
and send them back when your done. Then in a couple of years
we all have optic fibres to our homes or something and we can
just digitally rent (ie, stream) a movie we want to see (yes I
know such systems already exist, now everyone must have
access to it).

Looks far better to me.

[Brian Huey]

This sounds like it's in line with the pay per viewing DVDs they had years back, and I suspect it tanks the same way.

It's more expensive then renting and you can't watch it as long. I've almost given up on renting from stores because of the $4 price. Time to start my Netflix account back up (they are awesome by the way) or just start buying the movies.

Cheers,
Huey

[Gints Klimanis]

>It's more expensive then renting and you can't watch it as long.

There are other costs associated with renting or buying these disposable DVDs: your driving costs. US government figures are $0.35/mile or so. For disposable DVDs, you can at least ignore the return trip.

[Brian Huey]

True, that's another reason why Netflix is so great. You just have to walk to your mailbox. And the turn around time for sending and recieving back a DVD was about two, occasionally three, days.

Cheers,
Huey

[Michael Wisniewski]

Hey you guys should ask your local Blockbuster if they are doing the "Netflix" pricing option.

I signed up last Christmas here in the East Village (New York), it's almost the same deal - $24.99/month for unlimited rentals - you can check out 3 DVDs at the same time, no late fees etc.

I dropped Netflix after using it for 2 years because I'd already rented all the esoteric hard to find stuff. Now I just browse the Blockbuster store for the newest stuff. It's like having a library card because I can go get a DVD whenever I want.

The only catch is that it applies to only ONE store - the one you sign up in, aside from that I like it better than Netflix because I like browsing the aisles and accidentally finding stuff I'd forgotten about or didn't know about.