By John DeFore

Call it a solution to a problem that has ceased to exist: Now that Netflix whisks DVDs to your mailbox and downloadable movies threaten to make all physical home video media obsolete, a company called Flexplay wants to sell movie lovers discs they throw away after a single viewing.

Flexplay presents itself as an alternative to renting. Positioning themselves in places (like Staples stores) that don’t typically sell or rent movies, they hope to sell single-use discs that needn’t be returned because they self-destruct 48 hours after opening. A special adhesive inside the disc reacts when exposed to oxygen, slowly making the disc unplayable. No need to drive back to your friendly video store — get it? And at a price of between $4 and $6, you’re only paying a couple of bucks per movie more for that privilege than you would have paid for a rental that, depending what you’re watching, probably wouldn’t have been due for three to five days.

If Flexplay’s innovation is jarringly out of sync with the green zeitgeist, the company’s marketers are eager to spin things the other way: Their web site boasts that “all Flexplay discs are recyclable and no different in their environmental impact than regular DVDs” — an iffy statement in two respects: regular DVDs sit on a shelf for future re-use instead of requiring disposal; and most recycling programs only accept items marked with an SPI number stamp, and even then often only take bottle-shaped plastics.

Flexplay customers who find themselves in locales that don’t recycle DVDs can go online, fill out a form, and wait for the company to send a pre-paid mailer they can use to send their worthless disc to a recycling facility. Outsiders may forgive customers for failing to view this as more convenient than returning a rental.

We contacted Flexplay five days ago to ask about these issues and their bold assertions that their products were actually “good for the environment.” As of this posting, we haven’t heard back.

Meanwhile, an article in Video Business suggests that even a mouse can sniff out the flaws in this business plan: Disney, which participated in Flexplay test marketing in 2003, “is noticeably absent this go-round.”

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media