MELISSA BLOCK, host:
We have been experimenting today with a new consumer product. It looks something like a cross between a Game Boy, an iPod and a picture phone. It's the first one-time use video camcorder, and it went on sale today at CVS drugstores in the Northeast for $29.99. You can shoot up to 20 minutes of digital video and sound, then you have to take the camcorder into CVS for processing; that's an extra 12.99. You'll get a disk you can watch on a DVD player or your computer; you don't get the camcorder back. Jefferson Graham is a technology reporter for USA Today, and he's also been fiddling around with the disposable camcorder.
Thanks for being with us.
Mr. JEFFERSON GRAHAM (USA Today): I'm happy to be here.
BLOCK: Let's start by describing this thing. I'm holding it in my hand right now. It's thin. It's got to be about an inch thick, about the size of a pack of cigarettes, I'd say.
Mr. GRAHAM: Yeah, it's like an iPod. But it has a little lens on it, and it can photograph little videos that you can show around. And people, when I had them at my house, they were pretty amazed that that little thing was a video camera. Nobody ever saw a video camera so small before. When you think about taking it on a bike ride or a hike or outside without having to lug a large thing around, it's kind of fun.
BLOCK: Yeah, it's lightweight. It's, I think, 5 ounces. You could just put it in your pocket.
Mr. GRAHAM: You can.
BLOCK: Well, let's talk about some of the drawbacks here. You can't zoom; you're just pointing and shooting.
Mr. GRAHAM: Yes, no zoom, but that's easy to get around. You can--it's so small, you can use your hand and just move in. The number-one drawback is that you can't plug it into your computer when you come home and you can't transfer the footage; you have to pay $13 for that. Number two, you can only watch back the last clip that you recorded. You can't tape 20 minutes worth of footage and then say, `Hey, let's watch it all.'
BLOCK: So you're dependent on the technology here. This was developed by a San Francisco company, right?
Mr. GRAHAM: Pure Digital Technologies, which came out with a one-time use digital camera two years ago. But with video, I think the market is a lot bigger because a lot of people just haven't spent the 300 or the $500 to buy a camcorder, and this is an inexpensive way to get video that's not too painful.
BLOCK: But it will add it up. I mean, if you think about, you're paying about $2.30, I think, per minute of footage. So if you're doing anything long-term or if you want to do a bunch of different things, you're going to be paying a lot of money.
Mr. GRAHAM: If you're interested in buying a video camera, you're better off buying a video camera. If you're on vacation and forgot a video camera, this is a perfect substitute. It's just not a substitute for somebody who says, `I want to buy a camcorder to shoot my daughter's soccer games every weekend.' It's not the proper choice. But as a substitute, it's a great choice.
BLOCK: Now once you take this in and you get a DVD back with your images on it, can you share those on the Internet?
Mr. GRAHAM: Yeah. They've got a very ingenious plan for easy uploads of the footage to a Web site and then you can e-mail them. One of the big drawbacks with video is that it's very hard to share online, unlike pictures. So this is one of the beauties of this camcorder is that you can share it.
BLOCK: How's it actually storing these images?
Mr. GRAHAM: There's no tape in this camera; it is storing the images on internal memory. And they pull it off and put it on a DVD.
BLOCK: And what happens to this piece of plastic after you turn it in to CVS? Is this going to be clogging landfills all around the country?
Mr. GRAHAM: No, CVS sends it back to Pure Digital. Pure Digital hopes to sell this camera five times before it gets thrown away. And if they don't, they're going to lose a lot of money, 'cause they actually lose money on the first sale and won't be in profits until the second time it's turned.
BLOCK: It's not quite one-time use, if you think about it.
Mr. GRAHAM: One-time use per use.
BLOCK: Per customer.
Mr. GRAHAM: Yeah.
BLOCK: Jefferson Graham, thanks very much.
Mr. GRAHAM: Thank you.
BLOCK: Jefferson Graham is a technology reporter for USA Today.
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