The DVDs are apparently coated with a chemical substance that begins to react as soon as it comes in contact with oxygen (the developer is stating that the 48 hour period starts with the first playback). The process takes 48 hours to complete and the DVD will be unreadable afterwards. It could be copied though because there does not seem to be any kind of copy protection or DRM on the disks.

While this product might have it’s good side, for instance that you do not have to return it, it has at least one huge bad side that would keep me away from it and that issue is an environmental one. If the self-destructing DVDs are successful, and according the the developer they are in France and Scandinavia, then they will add waste, lots of waste.

I’m not an expert on this topic but my uneducated guess is that it takes more energy to create and distribute and dispose of those self-destructing DVDs than it is to provide downloads on the Internet or use local movie rentals.

What do you think ? Is that a good idea, something the world really needs ?