https://superuser.com/questions/251369/what-is-the-lifespan-...
When your media is advertised to last for 100 years, it is reasonable to want a replacement when it lasts less than a quarter of that time
When your media is advertised to last for 100 years, it is reasonable to want a replacement when it lasts less than a quarter of that time
Yet the comments here talk like we have norms that don't exist. The actual norms we have are that you're SOL if your product breaks after the warranty, even due to a defect, and even for things that cost 1000x the price of a DVD.
That's not technically true. Implied warranties are a thing. The law in the US and many other places does place obligations of warranty on sellers beyond the whims of their voluntary warranties.
There's a reason every piece of FOSS software doesn't simply come without a warranty, they all disclaim warranty.
Now it isn't likely that it would be applicable to products quite as old as these, but the idea that "the manufacturer's written warranty is the only warranty" is a total falsehood that large companies want you to believe.
Warranty is about fitness for use, merchantability, and honoring sales contracts. It has nothing to do with issues of intellectual property.
If you sold someone a book, filled with public domain content, and the ink faded after a week, you can't just throw up your hands and say that the buyer should have made another copy. You'd likely be liable for warranty of merchantability.
The fact that it's a limited license attached to the physical disc only makes my case more clear, I think. There's even less expectation that I have some claim to the content if the disc breaks in 20 years.
The US didn't correctly defend the right to backup, but that leaves a funny grey zone where WB being bad at making DVDs means less ability to shame "piracy" tool makers because backups is normalized and in no way suspicious if the media isn't perfect like they said.
It was only with the advent of toner based xerox in the 70s that photocopying books became vaguely practical, but still cost about 5 cents a page, at a time when a mass market paperback might cost $1.25.
When no replacement discs are available, that's a more interesting edge case where they should feel obligated to do something to make it right in some other way, and I'd say a refund should be on the table.
I'll trade you a copy of "Big Momma's House 2" for your damaged copy of "The Two Towers".