An ambitious pay-to-play DVD format known as Digital Video Express (Divx) is
dead in the water just a year after its launch in the US and before the planned
launch in Europe. Backer Circuit City, the US electronics chain, has lost over
$100 million attempting to woo consumers—the product was launched
after DVD hit the market and so it missed its chance to grab the all-important
gadget fans who adopt new technology early. The Divx disc looked like an
ordinary DVD movie disc but cost only $4.50 and was encrypted to play on
a Divx player for 48 hours. After that, the owner had to use a modem to pay for
more viewing time.
More from 51¶¯Âþ
Explore the latest news, articles and features

Health
The mysterious reason why women get hotter from age 18 to 42
51¶¯Âþ

Comment
This is the most underrated sci-fi film franchise of the 21st century
Culture

Comment
Shiver me timbers: Do we have to worry about space pirates now?
Regulars

Life
PMOS shows us why many scientific terms need to be renamed
Leader
Popular articles
Trending 51¶¯Âþ articles
1
The Selfish Gene at 50: Why Dawkins’s evolution classic still holds up
2
Mystery of the ancient giant stone jars of Laos may have been solved
3
The ‘doomsday’ glacier’s giant ice shelf is about to break away
4
The distant world that is our best hope of finding alien life
5
We may finally know why dinosaurs like T. rex evolved tiny arms
6
First test of CO2 removal with green sand finds no harm to marine life
7
After news about Oliver Sacks's "lies", we revisit his best-loved book
8
We could generate hydrogen from rocks while storing CO2 in them
9
Solar farm on the ocean outperforms land-based solar in Taiwan
10
The mysterious reason why women get hotter from age 18 to 42