feeling listless

Film Granted there isn't anything worse than actually having to take your DVDs and videos back to the rental shop after they've been watched, but often it's because you want to keep the thing around. Now Disney are licensing a technology which means that a film with self-destruct after two days.

"The discs stop working when a process similar to rusting makes them unreadable. The discs start off red, but when they are taken out of the package, exposure to oxygen eventually turns the coating black and makes it impenetrable by a DVD laser. Buena Vista hopes the technology will let it crack a wider rental market, since it can sell the DVDs in stores, or almost anywhere, without setting up a system to get the discs back."

How much will it cost? The whole reason rentals are a few pounds is that the shop recoups their costs after ten or so rentals and goes into profit. Each disc will have to be manufactured and packaged, so it's difficult to see how this could be much cheaper than an actual sell-thru disc. Also there is a concern about wastage -- are they going to be biodegradable? Will they damage my DVD player?