Tim: >> Zoning is, rather foolishly, done in the drive. It may well be done >> elsewhere, as well, but drives can be region locked. David Fletcher > I heard that too or maybe read it somewhere. Further is it true that > the zone of a drive can be changed but only a fixed, small number of > times? something like five or ten times? If you get a drive with a proper info sheet with it, they'll tell you things like: The drive initially comes not set for any particular zone. And you can only change the zone so many times (five has always been the figure I've come across). My drive was a Pioneer, it came with that information. It also came with a personal warning, from their technician, that they can release a locked drive just the once. As someone else has said, a region free (zone zero) drive has its own set of problems (with some discs). This whole zoning issue is a right pain in the arse. Imagine if you were a jet-setting exec with a DVD-equiped laptop. It'd only be a short time before your drive gets locked into a particular zone. And I think it was the director for the recent Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie that had words to say about zoning preventing them from viewing work sent to them by a prospective worker. Their website didn't have any kind words for it. -- (Currently testing FC5, but still running FC4, if that's important.) Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists.
