January 17, 2022

Flexplay: The Disposable DVD that Failed (Thankfully)

I only tried Flexplay once. 

In the era of Flexplay being sold at Staples, I found them on a drastic discount and bought a few of them, experimenting with storing them opened and unopened at various temperatures. I don't remember what my far-from-scientific experimental results were because it's been probably fifteen years.

I do remember the disc eventually turning almost totally black, however, and the DVD not working after some amount of time no matter how cool I stored it (thinking the colder temperature would slow the kinetics of whatever reactions caused the DVD to become unplayable) or how sealed (in Ziploc bags, admittedly far from airtight).

As far as what that Flexplay chemistry is, it's pretty much what I assumed it was - an oxidation reaction that adjusts the color via pH change. The Wikipedia article linked above does explain that the reaction is technically reversable - as we know most reactions technically are, but the process doesn't look like a great, cheap option.

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