Disney's Disposable DVDs Deemed Duds 527
An anonymous reader writes "It looks like disposable DVD's are headed the way of the dodo bird. Consumers (ahem, customers) in several markets are rejecting the $7 self destructing flexplay discs. Some stores have decided to stop selling. According to the stores, 'Customers aren't interested in paying more than $6 for a limited-play DVD when they can pay $2 at the video store. Even with a $2 late fee, it's cheaper than buying a disposable DVD.' and 'he hasn't seen one customer purchase an EZ-D, though some of them have been shoplifted out of the store.'"
Good. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Good. (Score:5, Insightful)
When you push for $7.00, and there is a cheaper alternative (i.e. renting as above), it shouldn't be any wonder that the product failed. Of course, I'm saying this in hindsight, but, had I know the price they were asking, I'd have predicted its failure anyways (BTW, I'm just a student, not a professional, I'm speaking as a consumer).
As an enviromentalist, I'm pleased.
Price was the death knell (Score:5, Insightful)
at more than double the 'renting from a store' rate they were guaranteeing failure.
It isn't hindsight whatsoever, it's price-sight. If they'd said '$7' when they were talking about the tech everyone would've told them it would bomb. But they kept saying 'for a little more than the price to rent a movie from blockbuster'. which made everyone assume $3-4.
$7 is certainly not 'a little more' than $3.
Perhaps the rental chains squeezed them to stratify the pricing intentionally, i don't know (Blockbuster may have appreciable pressure now that Disney isn't the only kids-content creator in the game).
I just know that at $7, they shouldn't have even bothered.
Re:Price was the death knell (Score:3, Insightful)
Consumers know when they rent something that it has to go back - they don't own it. They're accustomed to this paradigm.
When they buy something, they own it. They get to use it however they like, and they're not looking to get something that breaks after 2 days.
They're also accustomed to this paradigm.
So when you suggest that they could pay for something that self-destructs in 2 days (or 10, fer
Re:Good. (Score:5, Informative)
Overcaffeinated (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Overcaffeinated (Score:5, Funny)
No, it costs $7. And it's probably just a pathetic rehashing of an earlier lunch, with worse songs.
Re:Good. (Score:3)
Re:Good. (Score:4, Interesting)
There's nothing stopping you from ripping it and burning it to DVD-R. Even a dual-layer DVD can be copied if you're willing to accept some (usually negligible) quality loss. (I've heard occasional references to a dual-layer DVD-R being in the works...that would allow a 1:1 copy of any DVD. Here's info [afterdawn.com] on a demo Pioneer did at this year's CES with a DVR-A06 and some tweaked firmware.)
Re:Good. (Score:5, Informative)
Now that all being said, I think that the EZ-D format had it's place. It allowed places like the gas station to sell disks. HOWEVER, they were on the pricy side. Make them $5, and then you might have something. I think it was not a horrible idea, just one that was not quite done right.
Re:Good. (Score:3, Insightful)
I applaud your environmental conciousness, but the disposable nature of the DVD may not be as bad as you think. I spend a lot of my time creating Sustainable Development programs, and I have learned that one needs to look at many factors in order to determine true environmental impact.
For example, how much does one
Re:Good. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Good. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think that there's also a big psychological element to the issue. If someone's going to rent something at home, it needs to be totally intangible, like a pay-per-view movie on cable or a rented tape. It comes and goes, and leaves nothing behind.
If you "rent" them something -- even at the exact same price -- and it involves a physical object that "self destructs", people are going to feel ripped off. No matter what, part of you feels that you paid for the physical medium, not just the content, and having to throw it in the trash bin just feels wrong.
It doesn't matter that returning a movie might add significant cost to a movie rental in terms of time and vehicle costs, or that throwing away a thin plastic disc is probably less wasteful than burning an extra half gallon of gas driving to return a rental. Right or wrong, people just don't think like that.
Re:Good. (Score:3, Insightful)
If this is true, then the logical conclusion to your argument is that people would willingly pay a premium to return a DVD (rather than throwing it away).
I agree with the grandparent, although like both of you I offer no evidence whatsoever.
I think that most people don't really grasp intellectual property. (I believe)They're think they're paying for the DVD, a physical object. The rental model backs up the pricing scheme for DVD's. They understand it. I can pay $X for something, or I can pay $X/Y
Re:Good. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Good. (Score:2, Informative)
Agreed, DIVX [the-doa.com], Circuit City's ill conceived, crappy limited-play DVD format - that offered inexpensive DVDs that could be watched for 48 hours from the initial viewing. There after you could pay to watch it again, or buy lifetime on the disk. However, even it you had lifetime on your disk it was tied to your player, so a friend with a DIVX player would have to pay to watch your disk.
What I really hate about Disney DVD's is how they force sub-titles on so you have to read the crappy songs, well that and th
Re:Good. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Good. (Score:3, Interesting)
If I knew which companies were guilty, I would go out of my way NOT to buy any of those movies.
Re:Good. (Score:3, Informative)
Software players are the best at skipping non-skippable content. In Windows I use PowerDVD and it will skip over the FBI warnings, Previews, and damn near anything except menus.
In Linux I use Xine, and it will skip over EVERYTHING. I can fastforward through animated menus if I want to.
Re:Good. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Good. (Score:5, Insightful)
When I first moved here the nearest Blockbuster was right down the street (less than 2 miles). DVDs were 3.99 to rent. Long lines on Friday/Saturdays (20 minute wait was my longest) and the prices were crazy. I didn't really have a choice as it seemed that everything in the immediate area was Blockbuster.
Along comes Hollywood Video. 2.99 rentals with $1.00 back if you return it by midnight the next night (being that it is right across from BB they also dropped to 2.99 but no cash back).
I have absolutely no need for long rental times so this $1.00 is a gift from god. Not all their movies are set up this way (obviously) but I have always found 1 or 2 that I wanted to watch from this group.
I do want to rent. I certainly don't need an extensive DVD movie collection that I have to store, sort, and maintain. Paying $1.99 is fine for me for most movies. I'll wait till they come out at Target for $10 if they are really worth purchasing.
Re:Good. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Good. (Score:3, Interesting)
If you have Movie Gallery stores in your area, they let you rent overnight on Wednesdays for a buck. This counts as a "normal" rental, so it still gives you points toward free rental coupons. Their normal bulk renting deals apply as well, so you can literally rent five non-new releases for three bucks on Wednesdays, and each month (I think it takes 12 points...), you get a coupon for a freebie.
If you have Blockbusters (who doesn't?), and still use a land-lin
Re:Good. (Score:5, Funny)
You also need to worry about grooming, etc. Thankfully my neighborhood has a do-it-yourself DVD grooming parlor where they provide all the tools.
Re:Rentals vs. On-Demand (Score:3, Funny)
You must have excellent taste in movies.
Re:Good. (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course, that's only if titles are only released in such a format: if there's a choice, consumers will just ignore the self-destructing option.
New Line got it right with the Special Edition LoTR DVDs. They're lovely products, well packaged with high quality extras (and don't self-destruct
People will happily pay for something like that: they will be far less happy at movie companies that treat them like scum who can't be trusted with the content they're so graciously permitted to view.
They didn't get it quite right (Score:3, Interesting)
ObShawshank (Score:3, Funny)
Andy: You'll like that one Heywood, it's about a prison break.
Red: Jailbreak? Maybe we ought a file that one under "Educational" too.
Re:Good. (Score:5, Funny)
duh (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:duh (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:duh (Score:3, Interesting)
What this is a case of is Disney saying "hey, we're making enormous amounts of profits on rentals, I bet we can figure out how to make more!"
As a side, for what it's worth, I do rent at Blockbuster (there's no Hollywood Video within 5 miles or more, and Blockbuster is right next to the supermarket I shop at). But on average
Re:duh (Score:5, Insightful)
1) There is still a "digital divide". Not everyone has or wants a computer with web access at home; unfortunately this is usually for financial reasons. Netflix is not a viable option for them.
2) People want to be able to pick up a movie on the way home from work on Friday night. They don't want to have to plan spontaneous movie night a week in advance (to account for shipping time).
3) New releases can be had the day of release at Blockbuster. With Netflix, you're lucky to get it a week later. Not a big deal for the patient, but some people want it ASAP.
4) Not everyone rents enough movies every month to make the $20 worthwhile.
I'm sure there are other reasons.
Re:duh (Score:3, Informative)
This is true, but the numbers you'd be talking about are exceedingly small and getting smaller all the time. Everybody has access to a computer somewhere, even if it's at their local library (even that's extreme, though; most people have PC's at work, at least). And Netflix is very low-maintenance once you've use
Who didn't see this coming? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Who didn't see this coming? (Score:2)
if you rent a three day movie and never get around to seeing it, you can either a) return it or b) voluntarily eat the late fee and watch it.
with disposable dvd's you don't get this option....
Re:Who didn't see this coming? (Score:5, Funny)
The solution is simple... get yourself an old (but still functional) lab quarantine box, put the DVD player in there with the unopened disc, fill with argon (available at any welding supply shop) and watch forever. Just be sure to seal the disc in an argon filled zip-top bag before opening the box to change discs. (Oxygen is what destroys the disc.)
Personally, I give it a few weeks in hacker hands before someone figures out how to kill the reaction.
Re:Who didn't see this coming? (Score:3, Insightful)
Step 1.) Open DVDDecrypter, rip to
Step 2.) Mount as virual generic DVD-Rom with DaemonTools
Step 3.) Open InstantCopy, transcode DVD, burn to disc.
Yep.
Re:Who didn't see this coming? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you've PURCHASED the DVD, you've purchased the right to view, and making backups is fully supported by laws (it's bypassing security that isn't).
It's not the same when you rent, you borrow the real owners right to view while you're in possesion of the disc... having the original disc is the key part, IMO... if you're viewing a "backup", and someone accuses you of copyright infringement, you can produce
poor shoplifters (Score:5, Funny)
Re:poor shoplifters (Score:2)
In the US(Georgia at least). Blockbuster is $4.25/night. The disposable DVD's would probably be 12 AUD.
Re:poor shoplifters (Score:2)
Next Codec name prediction... (Score:5, Funny)
Lack of respect (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Lack of respect (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Lack of respect (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't understand how making DVDs which deliberately fail is "limiting their freedom" any more than normal. Under the normal rental system you borrow a DVD for a day or two, and can watch it as many times as you want. At the end of this time you have to return it to the store. Surely this places a greater l
Re:Lack of respect (Score:3, Insightful)
My one problem with DVDs is that when you rent them, they're usually scratched, because other customers are stupid, or let their kids chew on them, or something. Twice I've had to take them back and get the VHS version so I
MPAA vs. shoplifting (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:MPAA vs. shoplifting (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not going to get into the whole "is it stealing if you don't have a physical copy" bullshit argument, because it can't be one. The plain and simple fact is that in both cases, someone is not getting paid for their work.
It's really the case of a society dealing with the
Re:MPAA vs. shoplifting (Score:5, Insightful)
You've bit the classic argument hook, line, and sinker. Unfortunately you're wrong. Yes, the picture does get muddled when digital data is in the equation. However, most of the value of the CD lies in the music that is on it, not the CD itself. That same value lies in the download, but in most cases the person who created the value sees no return. This is wrong.
Not that it matters for the sake of the arguement, but shoplifting is quite common.
Come on, realise the comparison. I know shoplifting happens, I'm not denying that. However, how many people do you know who shoplift routinely? Probably 1 or 2, if any at all. How many people do you know who download music off P2P sites routinely? I'd bet a good percentage of all the people you know.
The number of shoplifters are dwarfed, to the point of humiliation, by the number of people you download off P2P networks.
Actually, customers started downloading music because they wanted their music digitally and there was no legal alternative.
Excellent point, and the RIAA made a bad business decision when they ignored the demand. However, if you want change, you need to talk with your money in not spending it. As soon as you infringe upon the RIAAs distribution rights, you give up any voice you could have had. To make change, you need to stay on this side of the law and refuse to buy new music until its available as you want it.
And that's not even getting into how the the RIAA treats the artists, or that many people who use P2P are downloading songs they already have, will buy, or things that are not copyrighted or are not for sale.
Again, all valid points. There are very good uses for P2P networks and the RIAA is not always justified in its actions. But, they do hold the rights they are attempting to maintain.
Re:MPAA vs. shoplifting (Score:3, Funny)
The person who thought of this should be fired (Score:5, Insightful)
Good (Score:2, Insightful)
Excellent news. This was just another attempt at impulse marketing by a faceless megacorp. "Hmm.. 'National Enquirer'.. 'Weekly World News'.. oh, 'Peter Pan!'" Now somewhere at Disney someone is getting thumbscrewed over "bad market studies" that suggested this would work.
You can only package shit so many ways before people smarten up and quit buying it.
$7? were they out of their minds? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:$7? were they out of their minds? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:$7? were they out of their minds? (Score:5, Insightful)
Good old corporate greed. I just buy previewed DVDs from the local video store for $5-$10. They look just as good as the new ones unless someone scratched it in which case the store will take it back and replace it with another if they have one. I've bought 50 new and used DVDs over the past couple of years compared to 1 used CD I bought because I was on vacation and had nothing to listen to in a rental car. Take that RIAA. $18 for 45 minutes of music my ass..
Re:$7? were they out of their minds? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:$7? were they out of their minds? - maybe not! (Score:4, Funny)
yea that worked out well didn't it.
Re:$7? were they out of their minds? (Score:3, Insightful)
First it was that CDs were so expensive because there were only a couple of places pressing them. Once they got into full swing, the price would actually be lower.
Then the prices of LPs started rising... "well," they said, "we're not producing as many so it's costing more per unit."
Then both steadily increased until the basically stopped making vinyl altogether and CD prices never came down.
strange environmentalists (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:strange environmentalists (Score:2)
$7 is far too expensive (Score:2, Insightful)
Useless (Score:3, Insightful)
Hell, I was initially thinking that I could just copy these things with my DVDR before they turn black, but I can do that with rentals as well! There are some ideas I will never understand.
No Crap (Score:5, Insightful)
Great!
And I hope the next time they try this it fails just as hard as this venture did. And eventually some executive will say, "Hey, wait a minute. Maybe it's not worth alienating all our customers to squeeze an extra million out of our already 100 billion dollar profits."
Of course that executive will be ignored, and possibly fired for lack of vision. But it's a start.
Re:No Crap (Score:3, Insightful)
Sometimes I wonder if some of the posters here really believe what they are saying, or if people just know that if you type "customer freedom" mods will give you karma. This is not about the big bad company limiting your freedom. They are giving y
it's a bad choice.... (Score:4, Interesting)
1) Don't screw your customers. Yes, everyone wants something for nothing, but not very many of them will take it unless you manage to anger them. How do you ager them? Jacking product prices up for worse product is a prety good stsrt. Trying to take their copyright protections (fair use, etc.) without compensation and advertising the crippled products as containing extra "features" is another. People have told the companies that do this that they don't want it (copy-"protected" CDs, DivX, etc.) - if you ignore it, they will get angry, and won't be your customers anymore.
2) Given that you haven't angered your customers, give them enough to be happy. Returnable rentals, nonreturnable rentals for a little bit more, or purchasable DVDs with as little restriction as possible are probably good (since they seem to be what your customers want).
Trust isn't an issue here unless you anger your customers or try to screw them, at which point they will return the favor. Trust becomes an issue for content providers only when they've screwed their customers - once they've done that, the customers don't feel any need to behave as if they were trusted (because they know they're not) and behave accordingly. There are always people who will take you product by physically stealing it or by copying it, and this segment won't go away - but it requires effort and overcoming conscience and so most people don't do it. Once you anger your customers, anything goes, and for many, anger provides enough motivation to take the time to screw you.
Nonreturnable rental is a choice for customers, but it restricts users activity significantly AND costs significantly more than rental. It isn't real suprising, then, that this is an unpopular choice. Combined with previous attempts to sell a "licensed" product where the user pays full price to buy the product but loses control over its use, it's understandable why people mistrust this method of sale.
Re:No Crap (Score:4, Funny)
Imagine the customer : "Damn! I can't save, I burned the menu the last time I used it !"
But seriously, I'd really not be surprise if Bill G. was thinking about using this technique. Software that only install once, after the CD is worthless.
Netflix (Score:5, Informative)
And second, I don't see how any of these models (rental, disposable for $6, etc) can compete with Netflix, other than if you happen to need the movie right away (and how often is that the case?) Right now I average about 12 movies per month on Netflix, all for $20! And the foreign and independent selections is *far* better than at local video stores.
Ok, I'm a fanboy...
Re:Netflix (Score:4, Informative)
Local video stores. I live in Boston, and at my local video store, I pay $2 each for 5-day rentals if I rent on M-Th. And they have a huge selection, too - I often end up going there because Blockbuster doesn't have what I want.
Re:Netflix (Score:5, Informative)
It's awesome. We live in small rural town, and though I like to support local businesses, the 2 local video rental places suck. The first, a grocery store, has decent prices ($1 for old flicks, $2.50 for new releases, for 2 days), but nearly all of their movies are full-screen (eeewwww!), and their selection is pretty limited. The other store, charges $2-to-$4 for one day (!!!), though their selection is fairly eclectic.
Netflix beats them, hands down. The turn-around is pretty quick, so I can get movies in 2-to-3 days delivered, plus another 2-to-3 days to return. In batch mode, I can cycle through about 4 lots of 8 DVDs in a month ($42/32=$1.31 -- not bad per rental, eh?). Sending movies back at the rate I can watch them is roughly 1 movie per day, about the same prie per disc. When we get into "marathon mode" we can crank up the rate even more.
I always have a few TV series DVDs on-hand and a few movies for both my wife and and the kids. Right now we're cycling through the X-Files (just finished Season 2, DVD 7) and Battlestar Galactica (my kids -- 5 & 8 -- love this show).
The mix of available movies and genres is awesome. The kids enjoy anime (they have Castle in the Sky, right now), and my wife and I have gone on a foreign film binge: watched Open Your Eyes (the Spanish original to the US's Vanilla Sky) 2 days ago, watched the German film The Winter Sleepers last night, and will watch the French film Venus Beauty Institue tonight.
My only gripe is the sometimes-long wait for certain movies. I've been waiting for Disc 4 of the Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 series for months, and it looks like it's a long wait for the first season of Sex In the City and the new DVD release of Underworld. Also, the rate of shipping slowed down between Thanksgiving and New Year's, I assume due to the backlog of the US Postal service dealing with gifts and holiday deliveries.
But overall, the experience has been very worth-while. I encourage anyone to check it out.
Netflix's Disc Delay Algorithm Reverse Engineered (Score:3, Informative)
It's well-documented [slashdot.org]. Frequent renters get throttled back when selecting rarer ("more expensive") discs. Google is your friend [google.com]. [dreamhost.com]
Re:Netflix (Score:3, Insightful)
Now I just put movies on the Netflix queue whenever I see a decent preview. My queue is huge, and I'm constantly surprised by the DVD's in the mail. "Oh yeah...I wanted to see that."
It's fun.
Disposable Ideas.... (Score:3, Funny)
Landfills of plastic (Score:5, Insightful)
-
Rental Fee's (Score:2)
Funny thing is, the Blockbuster near my girlfriend's house (10 minutes away, same type of neighborhood, economically), is $2.00 cheaper!
Insane!
Of course rentals were going to kill these... (Score:2)
Commercials (Score:5, Interesting)
"Get your limited copy of Beauty and the Beast now! And we do mean limited! This film will expire in two weeks and after that you will have to wait until we rehash this film and sell it again in another two months! Don't even think of renting a copy from Blockbuster, because we own them, too! This film will only last in your memories!"
Seriously, though, here's the amazing truth: people like buying crap that doesn't break. Imagine if your copy of Detective Comics #27 spontaneously combusted after 60 years of age. Who would want to collect and read that?
I don't think their that bad (Score:5, Interesting)
they should sell these things in airports and the $7 wouldn't seem like a big deal at all. I also like some of the test marketing things they were doing down there that allowed pizza and other delivery services provide a dvd with your delivered meal- no worry about a return and it comes to you on demand. I didn't really appreciate the idea of the extra waste factor, but face it- we live in an extremely disposable world and I doubt one product would make a difference.
overall, I like the convenience the one time I tried it and found it to useful and assumed that once they were mass marketed the prices would become more reasonable.
Renting movies is a HASSLE?! (Score:4, Informative)
I love it when stupid crap like this fails in such a humiliatingly fatalistic fashion. It makes me think maybe we aren't turning into a nation of sissies after all. Since when did renting a movie and returning it to the video store become such a traumatic experience?
They'd probably do well if they were 99 cents instead of $7.
Flies in the face of recycleability (Score:3, Insightful)
The "use and throw away" campaign is flawed. I don't think people want the so called convenience of disposeability. They just want convenience.
Its totally opposite the way of most major industries today. Which is only that way because of the pressure of customers.
We said it wouldn't work (Score:3, Insightful)
Whoever led this experiment and set a price of $7 ought to get sacked. Children love to watch Disney films over and over again, and Disney should know that. This whole fiasco suggests they didn't.
The only disposable things that would work for Disney are nappies (diapers).
What's the problem with price? (Score:4, Insightful)
This just in... (Score:5, Funny)
"Fortunately, we have come up with a solution. Our publishers will start to offer books which have been written in special ink sealed and are sold in vaccuum packs. Upon exposure to air, the ink gradually fades over the period of one week. We envisage law abiding consumers will love this new format, especially when they realise it is no more expensive than the old, inferior format."
If this idea was any good, it would be cheaper (Score:3, Insightful)
I wonder if it might have worked in a mail-order scenario. Getting rid of the turn process would be a big plus for companies like NetFlix. Any increase in the cost of media would be offset by a 50% reduction in the cost of postage.
eBay (Score:4, Insightful)
Before you only mod me funny (or worse), consider the importance of this issue as regards the new DRM protected CD's that have you register your disc in order to play it a limited number of times. Since there is no indicator on the CD itself showing how many plays it has accumulated, it this becomes common it will do much to destroy the secondhand/used CD market.
Not that the record companies will mind.
acrylic graveyards (Score:3, Interesting)
Other options (Score:3, Interesting)
1) Wait a 6-12 months...buy it for $10 on discount DVD and own it forever
2) Wait 18 months and buy it for $5.50 on Wal-Marts elcheapo DVD wall...and own it forever
3) If you REALLY must see it right away and dont want to own it for some silly reason just get it on pay-per-view ($4 here)...then you can usualy see it before it even hits DVD!
Flexplay DOA (Score:4, Interesting)
Seriously, as long as media companies, and I'm including music, try to avoid seeing their product as a commodity, they're going to keep coming up with brain dead ideas like this one. MS is barely getting away with it, what chance did Disney think they had?
If you jack people around on any commodity long enough and boost the price on them, they'll find ways to get by without your product and someone else will offer them better terms and eat into your market share. Movies, music and, increasingly, software are like gasoline, sugar and coffee. Inconvenient to live without, but consumers will adjust their consumption if you dick them enough.
Another classic case of the problem trying to dictate the solution.
Missing the point (Score:3, Interesting)
"Good evening, Mr. Phelps..." (Score:3, Funny)
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to squash this worthless distribution scheme, primarily by ignoring it.
This video will self-destruct in approximately 48 hours (that is, if you don't destroy the disk in frustration sooner)."
Tim
Disney? (Score:3, Interesting)
Price smice (Score:3, Informative)
chosen movies (Score:3, Insightful)
Unfortunate, but acceptable (Score:5, Interesting)
However, current pricing is definitely the greatest barrier.
But what I was hoping to see was a DVD vending machine offering DVD's for $2.00 or $3.00 a piece. If they could deliver the tech for a low price, it would definitely be a netflix killer. Why wait 1 day for the dvd to arrive via snail-mail when you could get a movie at your works breakroom, cornerstore etc and no worries about late fees or scratched discs?
Really, this is a superior solution but is being killed by it's very non-competitive cost... can we say Beta-Max anyone?
Good Riddance (Score:4, Insightful)
Pizza! Pizza!! Pizza!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
And for the environmental concerns, a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew has the same, if not more plastic than the single use DVD.
Would it be legal to copy (backup) these? (Score:3, Insightful)
Thank God - Score 1 for the Environment (Score:4, Insightful)
Could you imagine the impact if this had really taken off? It would make the waste that AOL generates (Free AOL CDs) seem like nothing. I already throw out about 2 AOL disks a week. Imagine if the entire US was renting these DVDs instead of the reusable ones.
Re:Counter? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:ok... (Score:2)
The Disney CEO Eisner just got a huge Bonus [newsday.com]