Staples Stocking No-Return DVDs
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 5/29/2008
Framingham, Mass. — Staples will begin carrying Flexplay Entertainment’s self-destructingDVDmovies next month.
The discs, manufactured with Flexplay’s time-limited technology, can be viewed for only 48 hours after removal from a special sealed pouch. After two days the DVDs become unplayable and can then be discarded or recycled.
Flexplay discs can be viewed on any standard DVD player and remain viable within the package for about one year.
Staples, the office supply chain, plans to offer the DVDs for $4.99 at its 1,500 U.S. stores. Initial titles will include “Semi-Pro,” “The Kite Runner,” “There Will Be Blood” and “The Golden Compass,” among others.
Flexplay uses a proprietary, patented adhesive to glue together the plastic disc halves that form a DVD. Removing the Flexplay DVD from its sealed package exposes the disc to oxygen, triggering a controlled chemical reaction that causes the adhesive to interfere with the ability of the DVD player’s laser to read the disc.
Flexplay has partnered with environmentally friendly recyclers, plastics suppliers and selected retailers to implement several closed-loop recycling options including consumer mail-in, prepaid postage options and collection points through local environmental organizations.
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Staples does a better business because of their ads. Go into one of their stores, people are rude, plus they have a bunch of kids woking there. Staples attitude is much like Home Depots was, they thought they were unstoppable, well look again, OfficeMax and Lowes stores look much cleaner and have MUCH better service.
Mike - 2008-13-6 18:31:00 EDT -
You will be wise to notice that this "NEW" product is being offered by an Office Supply store. What, couldn't convince a MOVIE store to carry this flop to happen? How many retail organizations have stepped beyond their core businesses only to be burned? Staples, you are on the verge of pushing you main rivals Office Max and Office Depot into the retail dust bin, and you place your winnings into a product which will only sit on your shelf? How many typewriters do you have in your warehouse? Oh well, we all learned by Divx, Beta, MicroDV, and Smartmedia.
Larry Purvis - 2008-3-6 20:47:00 EDT -
If Staples opened a car dealership, they would ask Ford to go to the
added expense of making the cars self-destruct after 50,000 miles,
and persuade Ford to sell the more expensive cars to Staples cheaper
because they will make up the difference in higher volume and
destruction of the secondary market for rentals, loaners, used cars,
and prevent consumers from free-riding by keeping the car after it is
pad off.
But DVDs aren't Fords. The Copyright Act gives DVD owners the right
to transfer the discs to others, and gives no copyright owner the right
to restrict how many times you watch it. If any studio gets too excited
about eliminating rights guaranteed by the Copyright Act, it may find
itself unable to enforce its own copyrights. (Speaking of which, this
technology does nothing to protect copyrights, since illegal ripping can
be done in less than 48 hours.)
CopyOwner - 2008-2-6 14:03:00 EDT -
This is beyond stupid. Even if it was cheap, it's still one of the most wasteful ideas I have ever seen. At least the Blockbuster or Netflix discs get re-used over and over again. But what I REALLY don't understand is this: How is it possible to make a "special" self-destructing disc cheap enough to sell it for $4.99 and make a profit, yet the "real version" of the disc costs $10-20.00 and they still need to find hair-brained ideas like this one to try to make a few extra bucks.
Jason Brown - 2008-2-6 12:27:00 EDT -
...and the point of this is? Besides being completely wasteful and unnecessary, I can't understand why any reputable company would hop on this boat given all the environmental and economic issues we're currently facing.
Kat - 2008-2-6 12:14:00 EDT
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