Great idea. I'll have to start doing that.

I heard another suggestion about what to do with junk mail with "postage will be paid by addressee" envelopes included. Include all the stuff they send you (except for material with your name on it) and mail it back to 'em. They get stuck with paying postage.

Or, more logically, how about attacking *both* BVHE and AOL. Why should we 'get on the people who don't recycle' when AOL is the assclown sending out millions upon millions of the discs. I didn't ask for the freaking things. I would think that not making them in the first place would be a shitload easier than trying to get everyone to recycle them.

stupid idea

I've always been meaning to ask the Circus City people "Didn't you tell me that every movie was ONLY going to be available on DIVX?"

Since this has turned into a DIVX bash also.
I called CC the day DIVX died and brought up the news about the format being a failure. They had no clue.

I was thinking of stopping by some grocery stores in Illinois to pick up a few of these disposable dvds. I know it'll fail, and would be cool to have a few I'll prolly get Signs and the Recruit....those were decent flicks.

discostu If you do stop by would you get me a couple also?

[off topic] Another technique for dealing with junk mail that I heard of years ago is "cross-fertilization": take the contents from one junk mail envelope and put it in the postage paid return envelope of another piece of junk mail, and vice versa. By the way, AOL discs make good 100 yard rifle targets... [/off topic]

I could see this working as a convenience thing for impulse buyers at supermarkets and the like. I don't know about a $6-7 price though, that seems high.

How is this different than all those tens of thousands of AOL CDs and advertisement CDs packed into magazines?

You called Circuit City to chat? To gloat? Way to go!

That's hilarious! I need to start doing that! Thanks.

No! No! No! Cross fertilization will only cause it to reproduce! You don't want even more, do you?

Now that everyone is done complaining about this new format, has anyone actually went out and at least tried a copy of this? Does it work? Did it last the 48 hours? Did you recycle it or throw it away?

oxonce

Actually, this format has a chance to fly with the uneducated masses...

...imagine supermarkets stocking new releases on $3 disposable DVDs. Psychologically, people will see this as "buying" a disc for $3...and not as a limited time rental.

I'm against the idea, but I can see it working.

I doubt this is a case where you "can't knock it till you try it". it's a simple matter of logic, you pay a few bucks, you use, it's worthless in a matter of time. Will not appeal to collectors and renters will not like it for the lack of late fees that involved. over all a bad idea.

...If you or anyone on your team are caught or killed the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your action. This recording will self destruct in 10 seconds.

That is about the only use this format will have.

I can see it now:

Member of the uneducated mass: "Mister supermarket customer service person, I bought this DVD at your store and it just destroyed itself a few days after I opened it! I want my money back!"

Customer service person: "I'll be right with you sir, but first I need to point and laugh at you, then announce what you just said over the supermarket intercom."

One problem with your scenario is that these discs don't sell for $3, they sell for $7 (because they have the built-in late fee factor). And that psychological "buy" appeal will only work as long as most people are still unfamiliar with the format. As soon as the word gets around, that appeal will be lost.

The stupid part with this scheme is that the executives are thinking in termes of DVD (as a medium) instead of DVD (as a film). In other words, they are looking at the carrier, instead of the load. The medium is the message? Film is a form of art. It's culture. Having something like "disposable culture" is the most dangerous and irrespinsible idea one can think of. It's far worse than what Nazis and Communists were doing.

Can we PLEASE hear from somebody in one of the 6 test market cities?!?! There MUST be some number of newspaper articles on the format from those 6 cities which state how quickly they are or are NOT "flying" off the store shelves!

where are the test markets?

I believe the discs are on the shelves in Charleston right now. I live about three hours from there.

1) Austin, TX
2) Peoria & 3) Bloomington, IL
4) Charleston, SC
5) Kansas City, KS and 6) MO

found this info
[here]
click on the "Where can you find EZ-Ds"

Just thought I'd pipe in with my 2¢ worth.

1) I'm curious. Since these discs self destruct after being opened and exposed to air, would it be possible to somewhat prolong their lifespan by resealing them with one of those consumer vacuum sealing devices designed to reseal leftovers? The same type that's advertised on infomercials for storing clothing and such in large plastic bags so they take up less space when stored. Also, might not placing such resealed disposable DVDs in a frig make them last a bit longer? Cooler tempertures do slow down chemical reactions.

2) Regarding the environmental issue. Plastics may not be the trouble we've been told. I just remembered an article that appeared in the Smithsonian magazine a couple of years ago. It seems the plastics in a number of exhibits are showing signs of breakdown and deterioration. Some are understandable, such as plastics in spacesuits and other space oriented materials that were actually exposed to the rigors of space; vacuum, radiation, etc. However, numerous pieces of plastic artwork (that everyone thought would last forever) from the forties, fifties and sixties are also deteriorating for reasons unknown.

It would appear that plastics (and our DVDs) aren't going to last forever after all.