This disc will self-destruct in 48 hours.

[Tim May]

On Friday, May 16, 2003, at 02:30  PM, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
>
> Buena Vista did not disclose pricing plans but said the discs, dubbed
> EZ-D, would be available in August in select markets with recent
> releases including "The Recruit," "The Hot Chick," and "Signs."
>
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030516/tc_nm/ 
> media_disney_dvds_dc_1
>

You left out the rest of the article:

"Disney says that their market research shows that films they are  
planning to introduce with EZ-D are films no one in their right mind  
would _want_ to watch a second time, let alone keep. "We found that 85%  
of our test subjects stopped watching "The Hot Chick" less than 30  
minutes into the playing, and that 97% of those who finished watching  
"Signs" turned to their friends and family and said "That was really,  
really lame.""


I would not want to be the reliability engineer on this product. What  
happens when a batch goes bad before the official 48-hour expiration?  
And since oxidation (rust) is an Arrhenius process (activation energy,  
the usual rate proportional to exp (- activation energy/kT)), storing  
the disks in a hot car or even just a non-air-conditioned house could  
cause it to oxidize many times faster than when storing it in a cool  
place. Or, as others have noted, in a  freezer.

Seems to me it could be fun to rent some of these Disney turkeys, force  
them to wear out (rust) much faster than normal, then go to the rental  
place with a wild, crazed look and tell the manager: "THESE WON'T  
FUCKING PLAY, ASSHOLE. YOU HAVE RIPPED ME OFF. GIVE ME ALL OF MY MONEY  
BACK OR YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS BURNS TO THE GROUND. GOT IT, ASSHOLE?"

I would not personally do this. However, if I rented one of these  
things and for any reason it stopped playing properly before the  
official, contractual time, I would consider burning down the rental  
place to be morally justified. I just wouldn't threaten to do it!

The more I think about this, the more I am looking for an April 1st  
date in the whole thing.

--Tim May


"We are at war with Oceania. We have always been at war with Oceania."
"We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia."
"We are at war with Iraq. We have always been at war with Iraq.
"We are at war with France. We have always been at war with France."