As an early adopter of DVDs I’ve been pleased by the progress they’ve made in the past few years.  It’s reached the point where most video stores now have all the new releases on DVD and no major studio would dream of releasing only on tape.  I will now only rent or buy movies on DVD.

The unfortunate downside of this, though, is that the DVD format is not as robust as VHS in the rental market.  DVDs are susceptible to scratches and because of their higher data densities are more sensitive than CDs to this problem.  I’ve always taken great pains to avoid scratches and fingerprints on my CDs and DVDs.  I only handle them by the edges when possible (and in the truck, where I have a front-loading CD player, I tend to only use copies rather than originals to avoid permanent damage from scratches to the original).  Unfortunately, it appears that a lot of people are not as careful as I am. 

I mention this because a friend recommended Requiem For A Dream a couple of weeks ago.  I rented it yesterday and tried to watch it last night.  I got through most of it, but there were several times where my DVD player froze and had to jump ahead to get past a bad spot on the disc.  When I took it out and looked at the data side of the disc it looked like someone had hit it with a belt sander.  That or they’d been using it as a hockey puck on a concrete surface.

Anyhow, I just wish people would exercise a little common sense and remember to be kind to the next person who gets that DVD.  It’s a simple thing to just put the disc back in its case when it’s not being used.