i can see people buying & then dupliating right away.

that's what i'd do anyway to show i didn't like it (if, for some wierd reason i bought one!) :)

Heres what I dont understand about "self destructing" DVDs. These discs typically cost more than it doesto rent a DVD at the video store. And what does it provide to the customer? Nothing other than that the customer doesnt have to return the rental to this store. Is it worth the extra $2 cost?

Also consider the enviornment? Once the disc is dead, it becomes landfill.

As the poster said above, this is wrong on so many different levels.

Hence the reason they haven't caught on I would gather.

Mario

No one ever said the entertainment industry was smart.

Greedy, yes. Smart, no.

See my post on "Point and Click Music Royalty Payments." This is an industry run by people who are clueless.

I do not believe it is an entirely dumb idea. Obviously the environmental and copyright problems are the big gotcha in it's current form, but having a time restricted dvd has a quite a few benefits.

As pointed out already, a customer does not have to return it to a rental store. It can be distributed by vending machines, hotels, gas stations or even with new dvd players with ease. It is affordable compared to new discs, but comparing to rental prices is silly because u don't have the problems with scratches and marks associated with rental discs.

The issue of the environment with further development could mean that the discs could be used as blanks after the the original pressing deteriorates, or simply recycled as many other plastics are. And if in it;s current form cannot be recycled using normal procedures, What do people do anyways with burnt discs that they don't need anymore because they have new backups or new versions of software?

In respect to copyright, rental movies are copied anyways. A self distructing disc means the time is limited for people to copy them. they do not have the luxury of just returning them late so they can burn it.

Such technology could allow for more advertising options such as time based discount periods, new products and seasonal advertising.

Now i'm just posting this to counter some unjustified comments. I personally would not use these discs in its current form, BUT i do beleive there is SOME merit in the technology and could be developed further.

Imagine a vending machine that just burns movies onto disposable blanks- that means that it could have a truckload of movies and there need isn't there for them to work out what movies are best to have in stock. If the movie industry does not move towards the convenience that exists with copies that pirated users have in a profitable way, it will follow the path of the music industry and cripple it. It is efforts in technology like this and in pay-per-view streaming media that will work towards a smarter future for the movie industry.

my 3 cents.

"Imagine a vending machine that just burns movies onto disposable blanks"

Gee, I recall that exact thing in record stores about 15 years ago. There was a kiosk that let you make your own mixes on the recently developed CD-R.

The record industry quickly moved in to stop that silly idea.

Whether it's ones that self destructs or not, I oftenly think about the sheer volume of these shinny disks being churned put, how long before the planet is ankle deep in the things?
Someone I heard about is selling DVDs, yes with a movie on it, at $1 wholesale and he reckons he's still making money on it? Good library cases cost me close to that.

on the topic of cheap discs, anyone is AUS and is near a JB hifi, they have 50pk of 4x dvd-r tdk printable discs for $34 AU... 68c ea! not bad..

And then they brought it out again because the music industry got raped by burning technologies and peer to peer software. If only the record industry back then realised people will always find ways to copy music to have their favourite songs on one cd or tape because it is most convenient and enjoyable. They should have looked at ways to make new technologies profitable and not just try and move in and stop it. Has the hault on napster in it's previous form made any difference to people downloading music? By stopping napster they have inspired new software and methods, one's which propose a truck load more problems and not just to the music industry and will prove to be much harder to stop. Apple is a typical example of someone who has understood current trends and worked out compromises that do work with both the industry and users.

http://www.immediatek.com/nbstation.cfm

Extremely well said, chienworks, agree 110% :-)

ken

Some technologies win. Some lose. Iomega looked really smart with the 100MB Zip drive....

As for the disposable DVD, NetFlix has already eliminated the late fees (as has InDemand). Piraters are gonna go with the "cheaper" rentals that give them five (or more) days. I just don't see this taking off. I pay $20 to keep it, or I can pay $4 to bring it back in a few days. I pay $6 to throw it away? What??

I probably own close to 300 movies on DVD. All legit. People who steal are lazy. And cheap. They aren't going to pay MORE for soemthing that is going to last LESS time. NONE of us like to throw discs in the garbage. Maybe I'm alone here, but it bugs me that there is no more use for that disc that could be holding so much...

The REALLY funny thing is, all these write ups keep mentioning the TNT showing on thanksgiving weekend. Now, not only do I want to see NOEL, I know when it's gonna be on...I'm gonna use my perfectly legal DVR box to record it...and I'm gonna watch it whenever I want...as many times as I want...and my trash is gonna be lighter at the end of the week...

There are other uses for the technology as well. Somewhere, back about 8 months ago, we discussed this in depth.
Maybe you have a monthly magazine that you don't want folks to have around?
discshredders are starting to sell like hotcakes, I thought those were dumb a while back. I was wrong. I bought one. So, if shredders and security are popular....
For home viewing, I agree, these are silly. But for the film fests, etc, or timely information...they make a lot of sense. Plus, you can see when the disc has "expired" because of it's color.

Now, my thoughts won be very popular. But if the adult industry isnt using it, you can guarrantee it wont work. Ever since the computer boom, the adult industry has embraced and carried forward many technologies.

Take MS' DRM for example. Websites are using this technology to keep their product from being distributed on P2P. Furthermore, they can force their viewers/customers to remain paying members or lose the license to view the videos. Pretty smart if you ask me. (please note this is NO endorsement for that type of work .. yuck!)

But looking over the DVD destructible market, it would seem that would be the only market that would benefit from it would be the adult market. I am positive that it wont be long until the music industry tries using destructible CDs as well.

Whats more frustrating is that most consumers arent smart enough to realize they are getting less for their money. With any significant amount of sales, my fear is that more titles will be released only on these type of discs. This is what Hollywood wants...TOTAL CONTROL of when, where, and for what cost you can view a product.

With any decent amount of success, the days of viewing when and how many times you wish might be over. Naturally, that will drive the pirate market even higher.

I can see it now. You pay $8 in the theatres for a first run. 6 months later, another $6 to view it in a 24 hour period, and then another $20 when its released on DVD.

The only way I could see this working is if both the destructible discs and the first run were released at the same time, giving those viewers who have other plans or couldnt make it to the theatre during the run. Dont see that happening either. Doesnt make sense to offer a lower cost for a destructible while they lose $2 by viewers not being in the theatres. Naturally theatres will scream and yell because they will lose concession money. Perhaps they cost the same for a simultaneous release but then the pirate segment will jump on a pristine copy from day one.

I still think the solution is online digital delivery. Bandwidth is getting bigger all the time. They could still protect it with some sort of digital certificate in order to playback. It would save on replication costs which translates into profits. Not to mention, they only have to transcode once andthey would have a digital archive and no longer would the customer be deprived by "outof print" materials.

Theres a reason the adult industry accounts for $9 billion a year. They may be disgusting but they sure dont have problems turning a profit.

I think adult material should self-destruct before you open the shrinkwrap.

But that aside see this for the MS DRM
http://pied.nu/banned/MS-DRM/657/README

Nickle.

MS was aware of that bypass long ago and it fixed it. To my knowledge, WM9 has not been cracked as of yet. That link shows that program only worked for WM7 and it was for audio files. The only way to crack WM9 is by someone that has access to license seed (license clearinghouse) but once that happens, MS can revoke that clearinghouse's license.

Personally, I wish all adult producers would use some sort of DRM so we can keep the offensive material out of the hands of the children. I could care less about their sales/profits, I am just sick of kids getting ahold of obscene material and having it ruin their minds and their lives.

My only problem with DRM protected material is what happens when I want to view a movie and the server is down that grants me the license?

Not to keep dragging this topic on: but Circuit City had this same idea about 5 or 6 years ago. I used to work at a CC back in the day and they (along with RCA I think) came out with a competitor to DVD called DIVX (not the same as DiVX that we have today). In a nutshell, instead of the DVD self-destructing, the DIVX disc would only play for 48 hours in the special DIVX player, after that it was ready to throw away. The best thing they had was: the player was connected to the customer's phone line and DIVX discs could be unlocked for a fee of $12 (or so) and upgraded so they could be played all the time.

Here is why this concept won't work and why DIVX didn't work: the average consumer doesn't really understand that they are spending money for the right to watch the movie, not really for the DVD disc itself. So the idea of buying a disc, that ultimately STOPS playing, makes no sense in the average person's mind.

I'm sure I didn't say that correctly, but I think you know what I mean. It was a rotten idea 6 years ago, and it's a rotten idea now.

It makes perfect sense. The ordinary consumer thinks that once they buy a cd/dvd, that they actually own the movie. They dont realize they only purchased a license for the product. Just like software.

Once the public does get educated, thats when the labels will really start to see major losses.

The consumer sees it like this: they spend money on something, they have ownership. When they finally do realize that all of the money they spend only means they have a license, then the backlash begins.

I just heard about MS DRM from this post. A 15 second google search found the above link that I posted. Granted it is a crack from 2001 but the text of the file shows the attitude of the cracker. He appeals to the artist to buypass the big companies and exclude the middle man.

He also appeals to the big companies to change their methods (and prices).
In other words, this is a revolution. That is why the silly methods are happening in such haphazard ways, because the big guys are resisting the changes that the majority are demanding.

Pay tv has been out for years. You don't have to leave your house at all to view any number of movies and sports events.

The music channels have more than enough music to record and watch.

Much of the music that gets downloaded is music that can't be bought in the stores anymore. All the oldies.

People have been recording music from the radio for 40 years.

For me, none of this has any influence because I watch movies on tv and most of them I lose interest in halfway through.
I listen to "talk radio" in the car and if I want to hear music I'll play my Dire Straits or Graceland albums and that will do me for the day. Or I'll turn on the radio.

If someone wants a certain song in a wedding dvd they should have it. The artist should be honored that his/her music is wanted for such an occasion. The videographer is making money on the video. It isn't like the song makes any difference in the value of the video. Nobody is buying the video to hear the song.

I don't profit in any way from music or movies, nor do I download it or copy tapes.
If I wanted to, I could go to the library and get hundreds of cds to copy and have lots of time to do it for free.

Whenever big business or government tries to bully the little guy, there will be a revolt.
We are in the middle of that revolution and the little guy will win.

I have to disagree with you, Patrick. It doesn't make perfect sense. It's not unlike buying a book. I buy a book to read and re-read if I want to, as many times as I want. The same is true with a DVD.

No, we do not own the content--book, DVD, CD, etc.--but we do own the right to read, watch, listen as many times as we want!

Jay

Jay, sorry. I was agreeing with jkrepner in that it makes perfect sense that it is going to fail.

I agree whole heartedly with you that as purchaser of a license, we should have the right to listen/read/view as much as we want. Sadly enough, once the labels figure out a way to make us pay for each experience, they will not hesitate.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, Patrick!

Jay

"Sadly enough, once the labels figure out a way to make us pay for each experience, they will not hesitate."

You ain't seen nothin yet.

Just wait until all broadcast and cable goes digital....