Disposable DVDs Not Selling

from the no-surprise-there dept

Back in May when Disney announced their pointless plan to sell "disposable DVDs", we wondered just how short-term their memory was. There have been numerous attempts at offering disposable DVDs in the past, and each one has failed (often miserably). There was nothing in Disney's plan that suggested their idea would work any better. Plus, on top of it being pretty clear that the market wasn't particularly concerned with the "benefit" of not having to return a DVD, plenty of folks were very concerned about the environmental impact of these disposable DVDs. Well, worry no longer. The DVDs have been on the shelves a month, and they've pretty much been staying on the shelves. Stores that are selling them say that they're not selling very many of them. Of course, part of the reason they're doing so terribly is that Disney seems to have no concept of how to price things. They're selling these DVDs - which only work for 2 days after you open the package for $7. Considering that you can rent a DVD for half that, and keep it for a week, most people don't really see the point. Even worse, most customers are apparently mocking the concept. The idea that they have a ticking time bomb on their DVD before it simply stops working has a mental cost that most people don't want to deal with. It adds unnecessary "pressure" to the movie watching experience.
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  1. identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, 28 Oct 2003 @ 7:44am

    Can I be the first

    Can I be the first to say, well... duh...

    Why would I pay double for something that lasts half as long AND adds to the ever-growing pile of trash my family creates?

    It's sad to think that somewhere there is a college professor shaking his head and thinking "why didn't he pay attention in class, why?" in reference to the idiot(s) at Disney that came up with this plan.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    thecaptain, 28 Oct 2003 @ 8:07am

    pricing

    While I would never buy disposible DVDs ever....

    It shocked me to see that Disney is pricing this crap at SEVEN BUCKS???

    In many many stores you can get REAL DVDs for the same price (older movies) or new ones for sometimes less than double that. I mean geezz...

    I don't generally rent movies but when I do, it's certainly not worth it to pay double just so I don't have to drop it off after.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 28 Oct 2003 @ 10:11am

    Re: pricing

    I think the right price point for this Divx wannabe is at about 1-5 bux. obviously they weren't thinking when they priced the thing.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Beck, 28 Oct 2003 @ 10:33am

    Decay

    I'm sure it doesn't work this way, but the vision I have in my mind is that as I am watching a movie the picture quality degrades and this decaying resin is making a mess of my DVD player. That would keep me from buying it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Beck, 28 Oct 2003 @ 10:37am

    Press Release

    We can probably write the press release that will come out at the end of the marketing trial:

    "Demand for this new product was incredibly poor. We blame this on the rampant illegal file sharing of movies."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Murrel, 28 Oct 2003 @ 11:00am

    Re: Decay

    Actually it just changes color until your DVD player can't read it. Its a cute idea but hasn't been well thought out. They have set up recycling agreements so that they don't just add to the liter - but if you hafta take it to a recycler why wouldn't you just as easily take it back to the video store where you could even rent another movie?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    kai, 28 Oct 2003 @ 12:23pm

    No Subject Given

    What I want is disposable tapes like those from mission impossible, where right after you play them they start smoking and burn up. I would pay $7 (well once or twice) if the disposable DVD became a self-igniting sparkler after it was viewed twice.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, 29 Oct 2003 @ 6:17am

    Re: No Subject Given

    Kai - just stick it in the microwave when you're done viewing it, you'll get teh same effect.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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