are doomed to repeat it. So says the maxim.

Get ready for some more repetition.

It appears that the powers that be at Staples were asleep during the last time the idea of disposable DVDs was tried. If these people were awake, they certainly were not paying attention.

The effort failed miserably. Other than the possible ‘Mission: Impossible’ aspect of it (the original one, starring Peter Graves, not the semi-hokey films with Tom Cruise), where is the upside?

A company spends the time to manufacture a disc, using quality control measures that will assure a good viewing experience, and then, set it up to delete itself, making the whole process an almost spectacular waste of time.

This is supposed to offer convenience, for those who are too lazy to return a rented disc, whether it be in a Netflix mail envelope, a trip back to the video rental store on the corner, or that machine sitting in a corner of the supermarket. Oh, and the proposed cost is $5. And we’re in a bad economy.

(Soapbox in place) Don’t these people know that the planet is in peril, and that any waste that can be avoided should be? Do they think that the polycarbonate used to enclose the information area of the disc grows on trees? Do they remember the backlash against AOL for unleashing untold millions of useless discs on the public?

(Soapbox put away)

Clearly, no one has fully thought this one through. It is a bad idea for so many reasons. Ecological and economical are only the first two.

from Ars Technica

In the latest example of ideas that surface every few years and vanish after failing to gain market traction, the self-destructing DVD is back for another run. In theory, the technology will allow users to pay a small fee, take a DVD home for a limited time of enjoyment, and then recycle it after a chemical reaction makes it unreadable. This has been tried several times before, but those efforts have been short-lived.
Wal-Mart’s online movie failure: DRM, high prices to blame
CinemaNow, Universal sign pact on movie downloads, DVD burning
Simultaneous movie release creates headaches, but can maximize studio profits
Pentagon attack last June stole an “amazing amount” of data

The story is now widely-reported, but appears to have originated in the consumer electronics trade mag Twice, which claims that Staples will be carrying the disks in its 1,500 retail locations, where they’ll sell for $4.99.

The company behind these disks, flexplay, uses a technology that, at a general level, is indistinguishable from that used in previous tries. The disks will be sold in a sealed, airtight pouch; once that pouch is opened, oxygen will start an irreversible reaction in one of the layers of the disk. Over the course of two days, that reaction will turn the layer opaque, rendering the disk unreadable. At that point, purchasers are encouraged to recycle the disk, either in the standard plastic recycling, at the point of purchase, or via a mail-in program handled by flexplay. Chances are, however, that many of the degraded DVDs won’t be recycled, and will instead make their way to landfills around the country.

A quick analysis suggests that flexplay may run into the same sorts of problems previous attempts have, but more of them. At $5, the price for these disks remains awkwardly positioned between most rental services and a used DVD. Since the last try, cheaper time-limited viewing options have become available through video-on-demand services from most ISPs, as well as Apple and Netflix. That’s not to say that there is no market for this alternative—families on road trips or travelers heading to the airport might find the deal compelling—just that the market is small—and might not find itself in Staples.

That market will find limited pickings when it comes to film selection, as flexplay’s film library appears to contain a total of 49 movies. Some of these drew critical praise, including Dreamgirls and The Kite Runner, but others… well, let’s just say that Snakes on a Plane is one of the offerings.

The situation doesn’t look good for this latest stab at self-limiting DVDs: a small market that is unlikely to find itself in the partnered retail location and will face a limited selection when they are. There’s not much there to indicate that this new effort will escape the fate of previous attempts. But there’s some indication that flexplay may be an incarnation of the cliché that those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it; its web site proudly proclaims that it offers “the world’s first time-limited DVD.”

After careful study of the document I’m not sure if the title of this piece should have been what it is, or ‘There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute, And Two To Take Him’.

-

Quote of the day:
If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done. - Ludwig Wittgenstein

Technorati Tags: DivX DVDs - one-use DVDs - waste - ecology - green movement - bad ideas repeated - Mission: Impossible

[tags] DivX DVDs, one-use DVDs, waste, ecology, green movement, bad ideas repeated, Mission: Impossible [/tags]