Disposable DVDs have been on store shelves for a little over a month and, for the most part, they seem to be staying there.

Four states are serving as test markets for the 48-hour DVDs, called EZ-Ds. The product is vacuum-packed; once opened, the disc will play for two days before a resin on the DVD reacts with the atmosphere, rendering it unplayable.

Flex Industries, which manufactures the EZ-D, touts the product as the "no return, no late fee movie rental" on its website. The company markets the EZ-D to movie enthusiasts who want to avoid rushing back to the video store to meet a deadline. Instead, customers can choose to throw the disc away or recycle it.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, a division of Disney, is testing the market for the format in Illinois, Texas, South Carolina and Kansas at grocery and convenience stores and electronics retailers.

A Buena Vista official had no comment on sales of EZ-Ds, but a survey of stores that sell the new product reveals that the EZ-Ds are not appealing to many customers.

"They haven't sold very well yet," said Tom Mullen, the store manager for Cub Foods in Peoria, Illinois. "We've got them up front in a prime location right by the check-out lanes."

In more than one month's time, the store has sold around 15 to 20 of the EZ-Ds, he said.

"I think the biggest reason is the price. It's a tad bit too high," he said.

Cub Foods sells the EZ-Ds for $7 and offers about 10 titles, including Sweet Home Alabama, The Hot Chick and Shanghai Knights.

"Too expensive," said Tom Tow, who manages the Cub Foods 40 miles away in Bloomington. "That's the most echoed comment I've heard."

Customers aren't interested in paying more than $6 for a limited-play DVD when they can pay $2 at the video store. Even with a $2 late fee, it's cheaper than buying a disposable DVD, Tow said.

"I don't think they like the idea that it self-destructs in 48 hours," he said. "I think a lot of them are worried about the quality of the DVD for that price. Seeing as how it self-destructs, can it really be that good?"

Tow said the cardboard display is still full of EZ-Ds, and that less than an eighth of the movies in stock have been sold.

In Charleston, South Carolina, one Winn-Dixie store has also had trouble getting customers to buy the disposable movies.

"They think it's ridiculous," said Joseph Pellegrino Jr., manager of the Rivers Avenue store in Charleston. "They won't pay that type of money for something that's going to vaporize."

Pellegrino said the company made a mistake when it chose to sell EZ-Ds at his store because it's located in a low-income, inner-city area, and his customers are very price-conscious.

"Probably in a yuppie market it would do excellent," he said.

Pellegrino said he hasn't seen one customer purchase an EZ-D, though some of them have been shoplifted out of the store.

"The good thing is that they tear them out of the packages and they don't realize that they've started (the EZ-D's) disintegration," he said.
Susan Ghertner, environmental manager of H-E-B, a grocery chain in Texas, said that response to the EZ-Ds is mixed: Some stores report the product is selling "fairly well," and in others, the EZ-D is "not selling so well."

"That could be the product or it could be because there's not that much of a selection," she said.

An October article in Video Business surveyed several retailers in Austin and found that customers gave the EZ-D movies a look but were hesitant to plunk down their money.

One Kansas electronics store reported that the titles are selling steadily and a handful of customers asked about the limited-play DVDs even before they had arrived in the store.

"People are grasping the concept and think it's a good idea," said Shane Pohlman, manager of media at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Kansas City. "It's convenient for the customer."

Convenient perhaps, but environmentalists are angry that the product even exists, as DVDs can be re-used multiple times anyway. They see this limited-play DVD as a sure-fire way to create more junk for landfills.

Environmental groups have vigorously protested the EZ-D since it was first introduced. In August, volunteers staged a phone protest and dialed Disney CEO Michael Eisner to complain about the product. The Texas Campaign for the Environment has also mailed over 1,000 postcards to Eisner and local retailers to urge them to stop selling the EZ-D.

"We want to send a clear message from our organization to the community that this is a product that is wasteful and we don't want it in our community," said Eleanor Whitmore, a spokeswoman for the Texas Campaign for the Environment.

The EZ-D website lists four options for recycling the old EZ-Ds: bring the used DVD to a local collection point, request a postage-paid mailer or print a prepaid postage label to send the EZ-Ds to a recycler, or participate in an incentive program. The incentive program awards a free EZ-D to those who mail back six expired EZ-Ds.

GreenDisk is handling the recycling for Flexplay. GreenDisk founder David Beschen would not reveal how many EZ-Ds have been mailed back.

Instructions to mail back the EZ-D are included on the package. However, several of the retailers selling the EZ-Ds did not know the name of a local collection point for the obsolete EZ-Ds.

"If they included an envelope, and you could drop it in the mail when you get done, that would definitely be an improvement for the environment, anyway," said Cub Foods' Mullen. "If you don't make it easy for (the customer), they won't do it."

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

Why would I pay, what was it, 9 bucks for a DVD that only has 2 days to live?

What if I want to watch it in 3 days?

I don't understand this at all. I must be reading it wrong. Why would people buy DVDs that didn't work after 2 days?

Why would you buy something that limited how many times you wanted to see it?

I couldn't find a job over the summer, and neither could a lot of other college and high school kids, why should I spend 9 bucks, that I don't have, on something that won't even fcuking work 2 days after it's opened??????????????????????

This is such a dumb fcuking idea, I swear

The thought process on this is similar to online music stores - way over priced. I can "rent" a disposable DVD for 7 bucks, or rent a non-disposable one for 3 bucks, hmm, I wonder which one I will choose!

It would be better if they self-destructed while they were still at the factory.

I agree with George. I've seen these two day wonders at the convenience store. They are far overpriced (I think around 7 bucks) compared to what you can rent the same DVD at Blockbuster,
and, if it's an older title (not brand new), you get to watch it for much longer.

This is the kind of crap that ruins our environment. Just idiotic, idiocy chasing a profit, plain and simple.

totally rediculous. I can't believe in a million years that I'm saying this but I actually agree with the radical envrionmentalists. though not for the same reasons. The only reason I can see for someone to want to buy these things is to take them home and rip them onto the computer.

I already have many AOL CD's I use for coasters for drinks. I'm sure the Disney DVD's would be just as effective. However the AOL CD's are free and the Disney EZD's are not.

Is making a back up copy of an EZD considered fair use?

what do you think Brandon? yes it is, but not if you ask a RIAA or MPAA official, then its stealing.

When are they gonna learn people are wiseing up to their tatics of trying to ripp off consumers! DUMB BUTTS!

once opened, the disc will play for two days before a resin on the DVD reacts with the atmosphere, rendering it unplayable.

Is there anyway to wash off the resin or is it mixed in with the actual stuff the dvd is spun with?

I heard that you could carefully scrape away the resin after it darkened... I think I might have read that on this site. I don't know though, and I'm not going to go buy one to find out.

I'm on board the its too expensive AND wasteful. I don't like the idea of tossing away mass amounts of stuff that will never dissabpear. And 7$ !!??!!? What were they smoking there. DVDs cost 10-20$ why buy something that could be bought for a few dollars more? 15-20$ I own it forever. For that price it I want to own it or perhaps just have it for a month. For something longer term its not a bad idea. If you know you will get all your use out of it after a month then half price isn't so bad. Just 2 days though. Piff. So do they instantly go bad after 48 hours. Doubt it. They probably gradualy degrade from moment 1 and go down hill undill they become useless. Like right during watching it. And what do you want to bet that 2 days varies a bit with the qulity of your DVD player?

No, you cant scrape the resin off without scratching the DVD beyond useability. After two days, give or take a few hours, the disc is unuseable. Unless you have a cheap DVD player, in which case it only lasts one day

Of course, you could just buy the disc and then put it in your computer with a DVD-ripper. Better yet, just download the film.

You could store the disc in an oxygen-free enviroment, that would make it last. Perhaps if you stacked all your flexplay discs in a bowl of boiled-and-oiled water it would work I dont see why not.

The studios wern't pleased with the first rental systems, thinking that plain retail videos could never compete. They only allow it because the rental tapes are very expensive. Now rental is essentially retail

Wow, isn't this like the DivX (not the codec) thing that failed miserably a while back? When will they learn their lesson?

i saw these things on tech tv awhile back...they have a red tint to them when first opened which slowly turnes black. also, when the story ran i belive they were talking about pricing them around 3 bucks...i don't think that the idea is inherently bad. i agree with mullen though, "If you don't make it easy for (the customer), they won't do it." (recycling)
but 7 bucks IS outragious.
peace...
~iscariot

At first I thought: Way cool! I can buy the DVD and just rip it and burn it. But then I thought: I can just rent it and do the same thing from BBV or any other video store. Cheaper!

Which 20 morons bought these things? I bet you 90% of them couldn't or didn't read the sign and thought they were "permanent" DVDs.

Another Vagrant Adventure brought to you by uncle Walt.

I can buy DVDs that stay good at Wal-Mart for $6, why would I want a DVD that expires.

I bet those dudes that stole them DID realize they expire. Thought they are not worth buying so stole them instead. Took them home and made copies.

Not that I advocate that but they are just begging to be ripped.