That is the warning The Walt Disney Co. will issue this August when it begins to "rent" DVDs that after two days become unplayable and do not have to be returned.
Disney home video unit Buena Vista Home Entertainment will launch a pilot movie "rental" program in August that uses the self-destruction technology, the company said on Friday.
How it works
The discs stop working after a change in color renders them unreadable. They start off red, but when they are taken out of the package, exposure to oxygen turns the coating black and makes it impenetrable by a DVD laser.
Buena Vista hopes the technology will let it crack a wider rental market, since it can sell the DVDs in stores or almost anywhere without setting up a system to get the discs back.
The discs work perfectly for the two-day viewing window, said Flexplay Technologies, Inc., the private company which developed the technology using material from General Electric Co.
In talks with other companies
Chief Executive Alan Blaustein said he was also in conversations with other companies to use the self-destructing discs.
The technology cannot be hacked by programmers who would want to view the disc longer because the mechanism which closes the viewing window is chemical and has nothing to do with computer technology.
However, the disc can be copied within 48 hours, since it works like any other DVD during that window.
Buena Vista did not disclose pricing plans but said the discs, dubbed EZ-D, would be available in August in select markets with recent releases including "The Recruit," "The Hot Chick," and "Signs."
This has been a developing story since May of 2003!
I think the technology sounds really neat, but I believe it is a bad idea for the following three reasons:
1) "just toss it in the trash" mentality really does not appeal to me as I think our waste management problems are bad enough as they are
2) I think content ownership & copyright system is a pile of crap in need of serious reform as with the patent system; copyright enforcement/anti-piracy is exactly what this type of DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology is designed to address
3) Video on demand will be coming online and become broadly available in the quite near future making such technology very quickly and very highly obsolete.
Sean Kelly said this in post #2 : This has been a developing story since May of 2003!
I think the technology sounds really neat, but I believe it is a bad idea for the following three reasons:
1) "just toss it in the trash" mentality really does not appeal to me as I think our waste management problems are bad enough as they are
2) I think content ownership & copyright system is a pile of crap in need of serious reform as with the patent system; copyright enforcement/anti-piracy is exactly what this type of DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology is designed to address
3) Video on demand will be coming online and become broadly available in the quite near future making such technology very quickly and very highly obsolete.
But that's just me
I totally agree with sean kelly. My first thought while reading about these new DVDs was waste management, the second was the fact that there are probably many simpler and easier options then making self-destructing disks.
Totally missed this thread the first time around, thanks for bumping it.
I do agree with all of that... too much trash, copyright management is crap, and we've got video on demand now... I mean, seriously, within a few years all video rental shops will be closed down and we'll just be watching TV through our digital cable, on a pay-per-view kind of deal.
"I'm for it so we can put Nuclear power plants up there, and then beam the power back to earth on a laser beam." ~ Whidden
"Man is a marvelous curiosity ... he thinks he is the Creator's pet ... he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to him and thinks He listens. Isn't it a quaint idea." Mark Twain
05-19-2003 07:43 PM
