Not the “one-play only” DVD again!
I’ve seen this story reported on several sites already today, including Techdirt. The comments at TechDirt, like all the others, point to an article at The Business Online that claims Microsoft is about to resurrect one of the truly bad ideas of the 1990s:
Computer software giant Microsoft has developed a cheap, disposable pre-recorded DVD disc that consumers can play only once. The discs would give Hollywood increased control over the release of new films and allow consumers the chance to watch a film at the fraction of the price of an ordinary pre-recorded DVD. More important, the discs would prevent copying and digital piracy, which is costing the film and music industry billions in lost revenues.
The revolutionary product could be on the market as early as next year, with the new DVD players needed to view them. Microsoft hopes it will help the company dominate home entertainment as it dominates the desktop computer market.
The reactions to this story are predictable: “How dare Microsoft do this,” and “Doesn’t anyone remember the Divx disaster?”
But I was more interested in the strange journalism at work here. The story includes only one offhand reference to “a senior source in the company,” and it’s a little odd to see all these assertions being presented as outright facts rather than attributed to someone. Most experienced reporters would go out of their way to provide details and attributions. Their absence here is telling.
I’d never heard of this publication before, and Google doesn’t exactly give it a lot of respect either. With stories like this, it’s no wonder.
My guess is that the real story here is somewhere between “way off base” and “complete fabrication.”
Anyone want to take bets?
Update: Yep. It’s a hoax.
You know Divx would have worked alot better, but it wasn’t “fraction of the price” they were almost as expensive as a regular DVD.
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The Business is a physical newspaper edited by Andrew Neil (well known editor/tv presenter in UK). This story was on the front page of their paper edition as well.
And to think I helped spread this bogus story lol But truth be told we haven’t heard any hype from MS about this one so I felt suspicious at first, but as you said The Business IS a reliable newspaper after all.
As an online journo I checked this out with Microsoft. No truth to it at all, no-one in US or UK knows anything.
In his defence Tony Glover is a good journalist and the Business is a legitimate, if small by the competition’s standards, national newspaper. I just think he got fed a wrongun.
So where’s the retraction from The Business?
When I talked to Microsoft yesterday, they said they had several mesages in to the reporter there but had not yet connected.
It could also be that they are one of those online annexes of print publications that don’t believe in corrections. Any word from the folks who live in their neighborhood?