AfterDawn: News

CSS enabled burning is changing the face of DVD sales

Walgreen, the largest pharmacy chain in the U.S., plans to install DVD burning kiosks in their stores soon. According to company spokeswoman Tiffany Bruce, "We hope to launch DVD-burning kiosks in the next few months. We think its a type of solution that will work very well in our stores, giving us the ability to provide a virtual inventory to a diverse customer base."

The recent boom in DVD kiosks began when the DVD Forum, and later the DVD Copy Control Association approved a standard for burning DVDs with CSS encryption. The kiosks provide a cost effective and space saving way for retailers who view DVD sales as a peripheral business, such as pharmacies and grocery stores, to provide a wide variety of titles.



Even brick and mortar DVD rental leader Blockbuster is looking seriously at both DVD burning and kiosks. They recently purchased download service Movielink, and are already working on implementing it into their existing business model. They're also watching the kiosk business. Blockbuster spokesman Randy Hargrove said "We'll continue to monitor it. If it makes sense to get into kiosks, it's clearly something we could do."

Source: Reuters

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 28 Oct 2007 17:46

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• 18 comments

• venomX05

  wow, now THIS is going to be interesting to watch and see how profitable it is going to be...either that, or it is going to be a HUGE mistake. Because we all see how good the encryption companies use holds up against someone who wants to break it.
  
  But in all honesty, going to keep track of this story and see how well it fairs, I totally wouldn't be surprised if they stop doing this in say 6 or so months...

  28.10.2007 21:00 #1

• ZippyDSM

  thats an awesome idea if its done right,think about goign to a machine and buying a DVD with a movie of your choice on it for 1-5$.
  
  of corse the problem comes from the media nazi horde that will try and tipple the price, could a new disc type pop up thats made to last a year or less after its burned? then again why bother its not worth the price to the consumer...
  
  unless big biz will choke on the costs to get the media mafia a disc that works great for a few months then dies,making you having to go back and buy a 1-5$ disc.....

  28.10.2007 21:02 #2

• fizzycake

  Doesn't sound like too bad of an idea for those who don't know or have the ability to burn DVDs themselves. But I have a feeling it won't last long after some movie production company gets mad that people aren't paying full price for every copy of the movie they get.

  28.10.2007 21:19 #3

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by fizzycake: Doesn't sound like too bad of an idea for those who don't know or have the ability to burn DVDs themselves. But I have a feeling it won't last long after some movie production company gets mad that people aren't paying full price for every copy of the movie they get.thats the problem the media mafia will have to udnerstand that this is the middle ground they will have to use in the coming years, they wont get their full 5X price but they can still get a profit!

  28.10.2007 21:29 #4

• Pop_Smith

  On walgreen[s], I personally find it weird that they are so big. I have maybe 5 or so with-in about 80 kilometers of my house and it seems like there are at most five cars in the parking lot at any given time.
  
  Most the time its the same cars too so its led me to believe that the cars belong to employees. I everytime, even knowing how big they are, I see a new one in the process of being built I think "What the heck, I never see anyone there how are they popping up more and more"?
  
  I think they must do real well elsewhere in america (and just have sucky business where I live) and they are trying to get business going in my state. Its just weird and makes no business sense to me but oh well. :P
  
  On the DVD subject, this sounds like a money loosing venture. However, I hope its profitable so that companies see that letting consumers burn DVDs does not cause them to loose money. :P
  
  Peace

  28.10.2007 21:41 #5

• windsong

  Would have preferred blu-ray discs...

  28.10.2007 22:49 #6

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by windsong: Would have preferred blu-ray discs...they would be 30 a pop :P

  28.10.2007 22:52 #7

• Pop_Smith

  Quote:Would have preferred blu-ray discs...Except the fact that they are just now doing "burnable CSS". Sure its been removable for years but if we can just burn DVDs with it now AACS isn't going to be at this stage, even though its already removable, for a while.
  
  Peace

  28.10.2007 23:25 #8

• duckNrun

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: thats an awesome idea if its done right,think about goign to a machine and buying a DVD with a movie of your choice on it for 1-5$.Not very likely for those prices.
  Most likely at or near full retail.
  
  Now if someone was to go and put their whole catalog on there so even movies not available at brick stores could be purchased without having to wait the time it takes to order and receive movies this could be more interesting than I think it's going to be.

  28.10.2007 23:55 #9

• maryjayne

  Just CSS to get around? I can live with not having to deal with Sony's ARccOS copy protection.
  
  I doubt anyone will be willing to pay close to retail for a burnt disc. Why wouldnt someone just pop the few extra dollars to get a pressed copy with all the artwork? They will have to seriously consider the sale price in order for this idea to take off.

  29.10.2007 09:30 #10

• pryme_H

  Walgreen?! This is pretty interesting! I don't foresee this taking a long flight.

  29.10.2007 13:15 #11

• DVDdoug

  Quote:Doesn't sound like too bad of an idea for those who don't know or have the ability to burn DVDs themselves. This is legal, and you don't need an "original" to burn a copy.
  
  Quote: But I have a feeling it won't last long after some movie production company gets mad that people aren't paying full price for every copy of the movie they get. Do you think they are doing this without the permission & cooperation of the movie studios? It's just like iTunes. ...The movie studio gets a royality. If the studio doesn't agree, the movie isn't available this way.
  
  Quote:Now if someone was to go and put their whole catalog on there so even movies not available at brick stores could be purchased without having to wait the time it takes to order and receive movies this could be more interesting than I think it's going to be. I'm sure that's part of the idea. I don't know if these first kiosks will have huge selections, but eventually they will. I suspect that the "big stores" will get them so that thay can provide the same huge selection.
  
  Quote:I doubt anyone will be willing to pay close to retail for a burnt disc. Why wouldnt someone just pop the few extra dollars to get a pressed copy with all the artwork? They will have to seriously consider the sale price in order for this idea to take off. I assume these kiosks will have printers. You might get a printed DVD and/or a printed insert-wrapper and a box. You might be willing to pay for a burned DVD, if you wanted it "instantly". People compromise for the sake of convenience and speed all of the time!

  29.10.2007 20:25 #12

• borhan9

  My only question is that why would a pharmacy need burning software.

  1.11.2007 17:32 #13

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Quote:Doesn't sound like too bad of an idea for those who don't know or have the ability to burn DVDs themselves. This is legal, and you don't need an "original" to burn a copy.
  
  Quote: But I have a feeling it won't last long after some movie production company gets mad that people aren't paying full price for every copy of the movie they get. Do you think they are doing this without the permission & cooperation of the movie studios? It's just like iTunes. ...The movie studio gets a royality. If the studio doesn't agree, the movie isn't available this way.
  
  Quote:Now if someone was to go and put their whole catalog on there so even movies not available at brick stores could be purchased without having to wait the time it takes to order and receive movies this could be more interesting than I think it's going to be. I'm sure that's part of the idea. I don't know if these first kiosks will have huge selections, but eventually they will. I suspect that the "big stores" will get them so that thay can provide the same huge selection.
  
  Quote:I doubt anyone will be willing to pay close to retail for a burnt disc. Why wouldnt someone just pop the few extra dollars to get a pressed copy with all the artwork? They will have to seriously consider the sale price in order for this idea to take off. I assume these kiosks will have printers. You might get a printed DVD and/or a printed insert-wrapper and a box. You might be willing to pay for a burned DVD, if you wanted it "instantly". People compromise for the sake of convenience and speed all of the time!All of that kills the price to keep costs low and sells high they need a basic black print out and stuff it in a sleeve with a name on it, hell even using lightscribe on the disc would be better, these discs are not a replacement to normal DVDs its a middle ground if they do this for more 9 a pop it will be ignored profits wane and it dies, they need to keep it cheap so hollywood reduce their OTT pricing in t he hopes it will sell in volume and make a profit.
  
  I can see a cheap setup using lightscibe for the disc and printer for the sleeve being 2-3 a disc thats with mantanace and all maybe as much as 4 if you go with a full color setup, but still phonywood will want 4-8$ a disc if they keep it at or below used disc price it would do ok, the lower it is the better it will sell, however they will complain they are not getting full profit from it always forgetting if they double the price only half or less will sell.
  
  
  but anyway besides my pooy esitmites anyone got a price on these yet?

  1.11.2007 17:41 #14

• pryme_H

  Quote:"We hope to launch DVD-burning kiosks in the next few months. We think its a type of solution that will work very well in our stores, giving us the ability to provide a virtual inventory to a diverse customer base."
  A solution to what problem? Dwindling business?

  1.11.2007 17:46 #15

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Quote:"We hope to launch DVD-burning kiosks in the next few months. We think its a type of solution that will work very well in our stores, giving us the ability to provide a virtual inventory to a diverse customer base."
  A solution to what problem? Dwindling business?they also keep a limited amount of dvds on hand to rent in them, thus switching to this can add 300% or more choices, the only trouble comes down to price.

  2.11.2007 00:19 #16

• rick5446

  Maybe U can bring your own Disc.Depending on the Disc Quality,& Mfgr.You could most likely end up with a DVD that won't play when U get it home,or have so many bad sectors that it will hop,skip & jump right outta your player

  2.11.2007 14:53 #17

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by rick5446: Maybe U can bring your own Disc.Depending on the Disc Quality,& Mfgr.You could most likely end up with a DVD that won't play when U get it home,or have so many bad sectors that it will hop,skip & jump right outta your playerIts not hat bad if using a better class of burner they should be able to pull it off with few technical issues.

  2.11.2007 14:59 #18