Disposable DVDs, or “EZ-Ds,” don’t seem to be catching on. Test marketing of the concept — DVDs that, once opened, deteriorate to unusability in 2 days — in several states has led to very slow sales.
One problem may be the offered price. At $7, the cost is around that of a movie ticket, and a lost higher than a movie rental.
Another problem seems to be consumer mistrust of the product. How well, they wonder, will it play, if it deteriorates in two days?
Drop the price to $3, offer a free sampler, and provide a decent selection of discs, and the things will fly off the shelves.
Which, actually, brings up one of the more amusing bits from the article.
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.
$3.00 is a much more realistic price, but I’m still not sure they will sell, given their short “shelf life” when you’ve got them.
Ticket prices are a hoot. Babysitting troubles aside (as in getting someone reliable), we more often buy a DVD than go to the movies these days. Given an average price of (more or less) $23.00, that more than equals the hassle of driving, waiting in lines, watching a movie in a theatre full of people who think they are in their living room. Not to mention the price of the ticket plus “snacks”.
Another interesting price comparision. I read an article (blog entry?) that compared the price of the CD soundtrack to “Chicago” to the DVD version. The DVD was cheaper than the CD, had multiple disks, and a ton of extras.
You may have read that here.
There are certain things that the theater is good for. But it’s a rare movie we go to see on the big screen, babysitting hassles aside.