Comments on: Six toys I’m not buying from Amazon.de

By: Allison

Allison — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:30:46 +0000

Wow, the labyrinth game and and the remote control train both look really cool!

By: AJ

AJ — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:25:48 +0000

Phil, it’s worse than you think. Your DVDs were intentionally rendered unplayable outside Region 1 (the US and Canada). This is done so companies can charge different prices in different countries. Any claims about it being an anti-piracy move are baloney. Pirates have no trouble removing “digital rights management.”

I bought a “region-free” DVD player from my local DVD rental store so I could watch UK-minted Doctor Who DVDs a full year before they are released in America. These days it seems most fans choose to illegally download TV shows because the BBC offers no legal option for watching, short of waiting a year or more until a DVD is released or it runs a year later on an American cable channel.

Meanwhile, the new Blu-Ray discs are even more bad news, introducing even tougher restrictions. Corporations don’t understand their markets and actively fight consumers (trying to control us) rather than embracing a more lucrative business model that recognizes today’s reality. I’d gladly pay a subscription fee to watch BBC TV online.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:37:29 +0000

Hey AJ – we lived in Germany for a year and learned the hard way that German DVDs and American DVD players don’t play nicely (and vice versa). That was nearly 10 years ago so maybe they’ve unified into a standard format.

Hope Le Premier Cri works in your player!

By: SarraJK

SarraJK — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:31:38 +0000

Brio made something similar to item 7. I got it for my son for Christmas 2 years ago.

http://www.amazon.com/BRIO-Remote-Control-Express-Train/dp/B0007W5S6W

Looks like it’s no longer available, but we got ours at Toys R Us.