The One-Use, Self-Destructing DVD Returns 561
BonrHanzon writes "Looks like DivX (the stupid one, not the codec) has been resurrected in the form of Flexplay. Staples will be selling these movie disks for 5 bucks a pop at the checkout counter. The disks can be played in any DVD player, but a special adhesive will render the disk unplayable 48 hours after the package has been opened. As if our landfills weren't already overflowing with enough crap." The blog post notes that Flexplay has actually been around for 5 years; the Staples distribution deal is what's new.
Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:5, Insightful)
2. Rip it to harddrive.
3. Dispose of movie.
4. ???????
5. PROFIT!
Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
$5 disks? (Score:5, Insightful)
I saw the first full page ad for Blu-Ray disks in a supermarket catalogue today. If the shops keep pushing those, DVDs are only going to get cheaper and cheaper.
A diskful of masochistic goodness (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Landfill fodder (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:5, Insightful)
2. Keep movie forever
3. There is no step three.
Re:They Are Recyclable (Score:5, Insightful)
Read: technically, we could recycle them, but this has not been important enough for use to develop. We have not come beyond some pilot programs that could have been tested by consumers if we bothered to actually implement them. We will keep telling you the discs are recyclable till people notice we're not actually recycling them.
This is going to work... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:They Are Recyclable (Score:5, Insightful)
To add to your point, just because something is recyclable does not mean there are no energy costs to recycle.
Re:How's that different from... (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Rent movie.
2. Rip it to harddrive.
3. Return it.
4. ???????
5. PROFIT!
Rental $2.50
Longbox $.50
Photo paper $.25
Ink - $.75
To copy a rental could easily cost you $4. For an extra $1 I presume you get the case and cover. That's not so bad.
Ah, good old NewSpeak (Score:5, Insightful)
No flexibility, and after 48 hours no play!
I don't understand all the eco-fuss... (Score:4, Insightful)
This is a drop in the ocean compared to that. Heck, the snack foods consumed while watching the movie will probably create more garbage than the DVD.
Re:This is going to work... (Score:5, Insightful)
So you're saying that having a less-than-brilliant business model should be illegal? As in, Congress or state legislature should pass a law banning bad business ideas? If so you're just as screwed up as this FlexPlay crap.
Re:Of all the reasons this is dumb... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Advantages over rental (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I don't understand all the eco-fuss... (Score:2, Insightful)
Perhaps, but I think the core of your argument mostly relates on energy usage in the context of manufacturing.
Plastic cups, hell, plastic anything is nasty, all the way from getting the oil out of the ground to the disposed of product living out its days in our environment. There's next to nothing you can do to change any of that, save for what are, at best, superficial feel-good mitigation schemes (use less, recycle to the limited extent it can be recycled, mix with other less nasty materials, try to keep it out storm drains to avoid danger to wildlife, etc.).
By contrast, the issues associated with a ceramic cup (from birth to death), can be mitigated, or eliminated altogether in some cases. The fact that you can bury the thing in your garden and have life go on just fine shouldn't go unnoticed, or that the regular use of a ceramic cup encourages the exact opposite of everything a disposable culture encourages, awareness, re-usability and thrift, among them.
Personally, I think we should all refrain from offering any arguments in favor of plastic. That may sound absurd, but the effect of all the "plastic cups don't require soap and water" type of arguments is that people invariably take them as license to stop feeling guilty and continue doing what they were already doing. Which is what got us into the mess where we are now.
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:2, Insightful)
It may be a while before the average person has that setup, but... just imagine people never dreamed we'd have televisions and computers in every room. I prefer to watch movies on my home theater system. It's a lot cheaper for 5-10 of my friends to chip in for a rental DVD than for each of us to pay for movie tickets these days.
I'd argue that no one forced you to download illegal content, but why bother. Just FYI, Hulu.com and others offer movies online for free with limited commercial interruptions and decent quality. I'm hoping that trend continues.
Re:They Are Recyclable (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:5, Insightful)
It may be a while before the average person has that setup [...]
I'd be inclined to say the average person will never have that setup, if for no other reason than the space constraints - most people don't live in houses big enough to dedicate a whole room just to watching movies (to say nothing of those living in apartments).
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:5, Insightful)
$5 for a movie that last only 48 hours (Score:3, Insightful)
what a tremendous waste of hazardous materials! (Score:4, Insightful)
and yes, discs are made with toxic chemicals.
This is just a horrible waste of resources. Especially when the content could be distributed in harmless electron format.
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:5, Insightful)
you fail at English.
The English language has no central authority to decide what is and is not correct, all it takes is for me to tell enough students one thing, and it will catch on and become part of the language!
HA!
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:2, Insightful)
You buy something, it's yours. Under fair use, you can even back up the things you own once for archival purposes.
Besides, I'm sure we can find uses for these new 'disposable' discs before too long. How about a meccano robot made primarily of these useless DVDs?
This message will self-destruct.
$5 (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:2, Insightful)
Granted, there is a lot of other content you could be watching. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:3, Insightful)
Certainly, many people will never have or want a room where the primary purpose is to display a large screen and 6 channel surround sound. But, as history has shown, designers adapt to the wishes of home buyers by tailoring room designs to contemporary needs. By and large, homes built in the last five to ten years now have larger rooms than homes built in the 70s and 80s and even early 90s.
At some point in the future, all 4:3 televisions will be gone and the flat screen will be as standard as the 4:3 tv has been. It may take 15 to 20 years or more, and even longer before the housing stock has accommodates the larger flat screens, but it will happen.
Every home had a fireplace at one time, but with the development of central heat, the fireplace has become an accessory rather than a necessity.
Re:$5 (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Cheap Hack Workaround (Score:2, Insightful)
Companies should be forced to pay for waste (Score:2, Insightful)
There seems to be a large hole in this concept? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:4, Insightful)
Last Friday I sat in 95+ heat and 90%+ humidity to watch the Florida State Seminoles in their first game of the College Baseball Regionals.
Sure, it would have been much better to watch it on TV with a cold beer in my hand, but there is just something to be said of going out to the actual event and seeing it live.
I dunno, call me crazy, but life is meant to be lived, not watched on TV.
Just my 2cents.
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:3, Insightful)
7.1 Surround sound system - $5,000
Theater style seating - $10,000
Making 5-10 of your closest friends chip in on a four dollar dvd rental....Priceless!
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't forget that they also advertise it as a sale. "Own it now on DVD" are their words; I didn't put it in their mouths.
Re:Heh, pirates ahoy! (Score:2, Insightful)
When I go into the theater, my shoes stick to the floor, my seat is almost invariably worn out to the point of discomfort (and I have to try not to think about what filth might be in the cushions), and then I get to try to watch the movie while people run their mouths, talk on their cell phones, and shine laser pointers at the screens.
Thanks... but no thanks. My home set up isn't anything nearly like a home theater, and falls well short of the ideal theatergoing experience... but the ideal theatergoing experience is a myth as far as I can tell. I can actually enjoy the movie at home, and for bonus points, it's far, far cheaper. It was frustrating as hell waiting for the movies I wanted to see at first, but now that I'm months behind the curve, it's not so bad.
Re:Cheap Hack Workaround (Score:2, Insightful)
At what point do we as a people say enough? It's time for these dinosaur media conglomerates to die out already. They don't make art and music. They don't provide a useful service to society (certainly not for the outrageous profits they rake in at the expense of both consumers and artists). A long time ago when distributing film and music was a comparatively enormous and complex undertaking these businesses may have had a use. Today they merely serve to stifle creativity, exploit artists and gouge consumers. We don't need them.