Self-destruct DVDs-- any updates on how the test markets are going?
12-01-03 | 07:28 PM
#4
DVD Talk Limited Edition
My local news station did a cover story on this crap about several weeks ago. The story was a basic ploy to inform J6P that Disposable DVD was everyone's answer to rental store late fees.
bah!!!
bah!!!
12-01-03 | 09:25 PM
#8
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From: Formerly known as Darrin Garrison
Hm. Here's a pretty good article-- not too heavy on the details of the actual numbers, but then again the company probably doesn't want anyone to see them anyway.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb...ST49/311210571
Article published Nov 21, 2003
This DVD, if you choose to accept it, will self-destruct
Remember Divx, that high- concept invention in which consumers take home a movie for a few bucks, only to have to rent it again with each viewing, thanks to a dial-up server connection that restricted the disc exclusively to your DVD player?
Neither does anyone else.
The uber-elaborate "rental store in your living room" bombed with audiences several years ago.
That didn't stop the Mouse House from pitching an even-goofier scheme. Early this fall, distributor Buena Vista Home Entertainment and dubiously titled manufacturer Flexplay debuted the EZ-D, a "self-destructing" disc produced under the guise of convenience.
The gimmick is this: Pay 7 bucks for the offshoot of the already-cheap DVD, view it as many times as you like for 48 hours, and then toss the thing in the trash.
That's right. Two days after the package is opened, a bonding resin on the disc reacts to oxygen, rendering the once-red disc black -- and unreadable. It's a chemical process that is likened to how Polaroid film works, and it's about as sticky a scenario as that instant photograph developing goop, despite the claims of Flexplay President Art LeBlanc.
What's so flexible, let alone "EZ" about the thing anyway?
According to LeBlanc, "This is intended to address people who find renting inconvenient," apparently referring to movie-watching slackers who can't get to their very own cable TV remote for an on-demand rental or the home computer, through which online club Netflix offers free shipping and no due dates. Never mind the corner Blockbuster. This vacuum-sealed viewing is 100 percent disposable -- and completely non-biodegradable.
LeBlanc insists the EZ-D, which theoretically discourages piracy while doing away with late fees and visits to the video store, is an environmentally safe product.
"This first thing we had to do was make sure that the technology is not harmful if it ends up in a landfill, and we've achieved those goals, he said, adding that the plastic discs can be recycled via mail-in companies or at proposed collection locations.
But LeBlanc's eco-friendly assurances contradict his product's fundamental purpose.
Mark Murray, executive director of nonprofit group Californians Against Waste, hit the EZ-D load of bovine excrement on the head: "The notion that they are going to simultaneously encourage people to recycle is in conflict with their business model," he said. "It would complicate the purchase."
Do Flexplay and financial backer Disney really expect us to believe that folks who find it too much of a hassle to return items will make the effort to drop off the high-tech garbage or put it in the mail? That glaring fact doesn't even take into consideration the cost to send the things back, a fee incurred on top of the comparatively steep $7 rental. And the figure seems all the more unreasonable when discounters such as Wal-Mart sell titles for as little as $6.
When even Blockbuster peddles used titles (now that's recycling), the EZ-D represents another attempt by studios to boost their revenues and limit income reaped by video stores from late charges. But even reigning rodent Michael Eisner isn't buying it.
Prior to the test market, The Motley Fool (www.fool.com) reported that the CEO said of the idea, "I think (it) probably won't work." Must be nice to be able to throw millions of dollars away.
Thankfully, consumers appear to agree. Since its September launch in outlets in Texas, Illinois, South Carolina and Missouri, participating chains like Toys R Us, Phillips 66, Circle K, CVS and Walgreens have experienced minimal reaction to offered titles -- a foolishly selected handful of dated DVD releases that includes "Signs," "The Recruit," and "Sweet Home Alabama."
Looks like this limited-lifespan product has just that.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb...ST49/311210571
Article published Nov 21, 2003
This DVD, if you choose to accept it, will self-destruct
Remember Divx, that high- concept invention in which consumers take home a movie for a few bucks, only to have to rent it again with each viewing, thanks to a dial-up server connection that restricted the disc exclusively to your DVD player?
Neither does anyone else.
The uber-elaborate "rental store in your living room" bombed with audiences several years ago.
That didn't stop the Mouse House from pitching an even-goofier scheme. Early this fall, distributor Buena Vista Home Entertainment and dubiously titled manufacturer Flexplay debuted the EZ-D, a "self-destructing" disc produced under the guise of convenience.
The gimmick is this: Pay 7 bucks for the offshoot of the already-cheap DVD, view it as many times as you like for 48 hours, and then toss the thing in the trash.
That's right. Two days after the package is opened, a bonding resin on the disc reacts to oxygen, rendering the once-red disc black -- and unreadable. It's a chemical process that is likened to how Polaroid film works, and it's about as sticky a scenario as that instant photograph developing goop, despite the claims of Flexplay President Art LeBlanc.
What's so flexible, let alone "EZ" about the thing anyway?
According to LeBlanc, "This is intended to address people who find renting inconvenient," apparently referring to movie-watching slackers who can't get to their very own cable TV remote for an on-demand rental or the home computer, through which online club Netflix offers free shipping and no due dates. Never mind the corner Blockbuster. This vacuum-sealed viewing is 100 percent disposable -- and completely non-biodegradable.
LeBlanc insists the EZ-D, which theoretically discourages piracy while doing away with late fees and visits to the video store, is an environmentally safe product.
"This first thing we had to do was make sure that the technology is not harmful if it ends up in a landfill, and we've achieved those goals, he said, adding that the plastic discs can be recycled via mail-in companies or at proposed collection locations.
But LeBlanc's eco-friendly assurances contradict his product's fundamental purpose.
Mark Murray, executive director of nonprofit group Californians Against Waste, hit the EZ-D load of bovine excrement on the head: "The notion that they are going to simultaneously encourage people to recycle is in conflict with their business model," he said. "It would complicate the purchase."
Do Flexplay and financial backer Disney really expect us to believe that folks who find it too much of a hassle to return items will make the effort to drop off the high-tech garbage or put it in the mail? That glaring fact doesn't even take into consideration the cost to send the things back, a fee incurred on top of the comparatively steep $7 rental. And the figure seems all the more unreasonable when discounters such as Wal-Mart sell titles for as little as $6.
When even Blockbuster peddles used titles (now that's recycling), the EZ-D represents another attempt by studios to boost their revenues and limit income reaped by video stores from late charges. But even reigning rodent Michael Eisner isn't buying it.
Prior to the test market, The Motley Fool (www.fool.com) reported that the CEO said of the idea, "I think (it) probably won't work." Must be nice to be able to throw millions of dollars away.
Thankfully, consumers appear to agree. Since its September launch in outlets in Texas, Illinois, South Carolina and Missouri, participating chains like Toys R Us, Phillips 66, Circle K, CVS and Walgreens have experienced minimal reaction to offered titles -- a foolishly selected handful of dated DVD releases that includes "Signs," "The Recruit," and "Sweet Home Alabama."
Looks like this limited-lifespan product has just that.
I saw this promoed on the Fox channel in Houston as well. There's a reason I don't watch TV news.
12-02-03 | 08:24 AM
#11
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
I also haven't seen anything about how well it's doing, but I did read an article about them and other 'disposable' disc users like AOL switching from plastic to a plastic like material made from corn that will biodegrade instead of sitting in a landfill until the end of time.
