FlexPlay: No-return DVD rental

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Looneybomber
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http://www.flexplay.com/how_it_works/

We just had one of these disks show up here at work.

Have you guys heard of this? Apparently you buy the disk and once you open it, the glue inside reacts with oxygen and begins breaking down. After 2 days the disk becomes unplayable.

I could rant on the economics, waste of resources, high price of existing DVD's, ect... but I'll just summarize my feelings with one word; Stupid.


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MinisterofDOOM
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$5 per movie...OUCH.

I agree, though, it's tremendously wasteful and stupid.

It does have one very nice bonus for the customer, though: there's no risk of getting a DVD that's been mishandled by 50 people before you. I swear...I'm the only person on earth who takes care of my discs. The few I got through Netlflix before I cancelled my trial account were trashed on, but still managed to play.

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TurboSauce
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I hope that was sarcasm....5$ is how much we pay for the bootlegged movies.

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MinisterofDOOM
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No...not sarcasm. $5 is almost as much as you pay at a brick and mortar store! Netflix starts at $8 A MONTH, unlimited movies in a row.And both of those alternatives let you keep the video longer than 2 days. A lot longer.

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marlin29311
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MinisterofDOOM wrote:$5 per movie...OUCH.

I agree, though, it's tremendously wasteful and stupid.

It does have one very nice bonus for the customer, though: there's no risk of getting a DVD that's been mishandled by 50 people before you. I swear...I'm the only person on earth who takes care of my discs. The few I got through Netlflix before I cancelled my trial account were trashed on, but still managed to play.
Wasteful, probably. But in the long run, I can see this as being cheaper for the company. Instead of wasting the XXX on postage back and forth, they probably have rights to just burn the DVD's onto blank ones which cost next to nothing...

I can see it being a viable idea, just not so ecofriendly...

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Looneybomber
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marlin29311 wrote:Wasteful, probably. But in the long run, I can see this as being cheaper for the company. Instead of wasting the XXX on postage back and forth, they probably have rights to just burn the DVD's onto blank ones which cost next to nothing...

I can see it being a viable idea, just not so ecofriendly...
The cost to produce a DVD is very cheap (around 10-12 cents from what I've seen) because they're produced on such a huge scale. The rest of the 15 or 20 dollars goes to taxes, actors, movie studio's, ect...

This "temporary" DVD will be more expensive to produce since it'll be produced on a much smaller scale. Plus the R&D costs of developing this new proprietary glue and the marketing costs to try and sell this new technology in addition to marketing their company.

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saywuh
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get one.burn it out.lol...

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bredtime
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Looneybomber wrote:http://www.flexplay.com/how_it_works/

We just had one of these disks show up here at work.

Have you guys heard of this? Apparently you buy the disk and once you open it, the glue inside reacts with oxygen and begins breaking down. After 2 days the disk becomes unplayable.

I could rant on the economics, waste of resources, high price of existing DVD's, ect... but I'll just summarize my feelings with one word; Stupid.
Crappy company and idea, but hot woman in the video!

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Rex
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I've seen these in a lot of truck stop/interstate gas stations. I think their target is the DVD equipped minivan/SUV driver on a road trip who wants a new movie, without having to worry about returning it. Pay for convenience, they do it all the time.


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