Stupid movie studios: DVD replacements and fair use

Replacement policies should be mandatory for all DVD makers

from JoeUser Forums

Borrowing my own words from another site where I recently was participating in a discussion about being able to replace damaged DVDs that individuals may own.  For example, if you have say a 4 disc set and one of the discs is damaged, should you be able to replace that disc by sending it back to the maker and paying a small fee?  In my world, hell yes.

Anyway, read on for more discussion about the issue...

I'm more and more frustrated at the movie studios over stupidity like this. If you send them a scratched disc (or if you have one that is scratched and could send it to them), then damnit, they should replace it for you for a small fee. Period. End of discussion.

I'm not suggesting that people should abuse their DVDs and then ship them back, pay a $5.00 fee and get a brand new copy repeatedly, but then again, why the hell not?

Set a reasonable "disc replacement" fee and require the person that is asking for the replacement to send back in the damaged disc.

Considering that the MPAA and it's members, and the studios in general don't want to allow for fair use and are doing everything possible to disallow customers from making backup copies of their materials (witness the lawsuit that drove the DVDXCopy people out of business some time back), fair is fair.

Not having some sort of replacement policy in effect is just anti-consumer and smacks of something that should have customers incensed and screaming at their legislators (congress critters) to get fixed. If they refused, then take the cuffs off the customers that make backups for themselves and let them protect their valuable media libraries.

Thank god that my family has gotten much better about caring for materials, but for a while there my son (especially) and wife were horrible about not returning things to their original containers, just leaving discs laying around, putting them back in the wrong cases, having them fall on the floor, etc. I wanted to throttle them around the neck for it, but what can you really do? I scolded, howled, fussed, and cajoled, and over time things got better (somewhat) with my wife, and my son has since moved out to his own space where I needn't worry about him anymore.

Anyway, if it was easier to make backups, and was absolutely legal to do so, then we'd have no complaints. If not, then making replacements discs available is the *least* that the producers of the discs owe us all.

11,896 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Just to clarify, I don't recommend damaging your DVDs just so you can send them in and get new copies of them (for anyone silly enough to try that approach).
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
If DVDs weren't so easy to navigate through, I'd go back to VHS because the discs are so easy to wreck.
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
I think congress should pass a law to do just that!  Then we will see how well the MPAA and RIAA like to be terrorized!
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top

If DVDs weren't so easy to navigate through, I'd go back to VHS because the discs are so easy to wreck.

To be fair, DVDs aren't that easily ruined if people practice somewhat simple safe handling techniques:

  1. Always handle discs from the edges (hold the edge of the disc, not the surfaces of the disc)
  2. Always return the discs to their proper containers after you are finished watching/listening to them
  3. Don't handle discs after getting greasy or oily substances or sticky substances on your hands/fingers

That's all relatively simple stuff and yet the common folk among us seem to ignore the common sense in those simple rules.  The number of people I see handling discs by the surfaces, with grimy fingers, is pretty high.  Much higher than it should be.

For whatever reason people were convinced early on that DVDs and CDs were damned near indestructible when that is definitely not the case.  Because of that, though, people have always seemed to be less than careful in their handling of discs.

With all of that said though, there is absolutely no way I'd ever want to go back to tape.  Tape media sucks.  It stretches, breaks, and doesn't hold up near as long as does good optical media does.  There's also (as noted) the lack of ability to navigate through the materials as easily.  With optical discs there's almost instantaneous access to materials, where with tape it's sequential and takes seemingly forever to get to the proper points.

 

I think congress should pass a law to do just that! Then we will see how well the MPAA and RIAA like to be terrorized!

I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell of ever having Congress do something like this, but I really wish they would.  Fair is fair.  Mandate an effective replacement availability program or open and legislate once and for all a fair use policy that allows archival backups and makes illegal any copy protection method that doesn't permit a customer to make their own backups.

As noted, I don't have a problem with being told that I have to pay to replace damaged materials, but I absolutely should not have to pay for a complete new copy of something just to get the replacement for one part of it.  The discs cost so little to manufacturer, and even with a small labor charge to honor the request, and a reasonable charge for shipping and handling in a mailer that would protect the contents, the fees should still be in the $5.99 range at the worst.  Even if the fees had to be as high as say $7.99 or $9.99, at least it would be better than paying $39 - $89 (or more) to get a new copy of a set that you have one damaged disc in.

Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top

While thinking about it, I should also use the space here to again thank Draginol and his compatriots at StarDock Corporation for their excellent customer friendly anti-copy protection policies.  If more companies took the same approach -- especially if the movie studios and record companies did -- then the issues I've written about above wouldn't matter at all.  You'd always be able to get a replacement for your items.

I suppose that in the future as the DOWNLOAD TO BURN business model for movies and music becomes more prevalent, and as magnetic media storage limits keep expanding, that these issues may become less of a bother for everyone.  As people moves towards an iTunes type model for getting movies that are then burned to DVDs whenever necessary, and can be redownloaded again once purchased, it may not be anything to ever really deal with again.  Meanwhile, though, there has to be a way to get from a library of many discs to a library where the big online retailer is keeping the copies that are downloaded when needed, burnt when needed, and only need to be unlocked through purchase one time.