Skip to main content

Get $10 for the DVD drive in your old desktop or laptop that’s collecting dust

how to rip a dvd or blu ray movie 35630932  drive on laptop computer
champiofoto/123RF
Want to make a quick $10 from an old optical drive? Customers who purchased a computer with a built-in DVD drive between April 1, 2003, and December 31, 2008, can complete this form to receive up to $10 for the drive based on a recent settlement made by Sony, NEC, Panasonic, and Hitachi-LG. The settlement covers external drives, too, enabling customers to claim more than one optical drive. Claims must be submitted by July 1, 2017.

The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed against optical disc drive manufacturers years ago that accuses these companies of conspiring to inflate optical disc drive prices that were sold to the big device makers and retailers. Because PC builders like Dell and HP purchase in bulk, they look for the cheapest offer from optical drive makers. However, these suppliers were apparently sharing their bids with each other to inflate drive prices to artificially high levels.

While this drove up the prices of desktop and laptops, the inflation also affected optical drives sold on store shelves. The settlement filed in December of 2016 specifically mentions Circuit City, which, during the “conspiracy period,” purchased large numbers of optical drives worth billions of dollars. This hurt the electronics retailer “to the tune of millions of dollars,” the settlement said. Circuit City closed its retail stores in 2009 and sold its brand to Systemax (TigerDirect).

Here are the remaining defendants accused of inflating optical drive prices during the conspiracy period:

  • BenQ Corporation
  • BenQ America Corp.
  • Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
  • Lite-On IT Corporation
  • Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions Corp.
  • Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions USA, Inc.
  • Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
  • Toshiba Corp.
  • Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corp.
  • Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corp. Korea
  • TEAC America Inc.
  • TEAC Corporation, Quanta Storage America, Inc.
  • Quanta Storage Inc.
  • Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.
  • Pioneer North America, Inc.
  • Pioneer Corporation
  • Pioneer High Fidelity Taiwan Co., Ltd.

Note that these companies may settle out of court as well. If not, the jury trial begins on February 12, 2018. One Hitachi-LG executive already went to prison over this whole price inflation fiasco in 2012, after pleading guilty to conspiring with others to rig bids for optical drives sold in bulk to HP. The executive agreed to serve six months in prison, cough up a $25,000 criminal fine, and help the Department of Justice in its investigation.

Unfortunately, the settlement isn’t for everyone, as it only covers individuals and businesses residing in the following jurisdictions:

  • Arizona
  • California
  • District of Columbia
  • Florida
  • Hawaii
  • Kansas
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • Oregon
  • Tennessee
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin

Finally, the form states that customers who file a “valid and timely” claim will receive an electronic payment. It also states that the settlement payment will be based on “qualifying” purchases, meaning customers may be required to cough up serial numbers listed on the optical drives during the claim processing procedure.

Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
How to use Dante to create your own version of GPT-4
how to use dante create gpt 4 dantechatbotlaptop01

GPT-4 is one of the most capable language models, but did you know you can use it to create your own custom chatbot that specializes in something you're interested in? With Dante you can. It's an AI tool that you can train with your own data: PDF files, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Youtube videos ... whatever information you want it to know.

Here's how to use Dante to create your own GPT-4 chatbot.

Read more
Meta Quest 3 vs. Quest Pro: Which is right for you?
From a side view, you can see how glasses can be worn along with a Quest Pro.

Meta recently announced the Quest 3, a mid-range VR headset that matches some features of the more expensive Quest Pro. If you'd like to explore virtual reality for games, entertainment, and work, there are several points to consider before making a decision.

The operating system and app library are virtually the same. We need to examine the price, performance, image quality, comfort, and special features to determine the best VR headset and which is right for you.

Read more
Don’t miss your chance to get this 15-inch HP laptop for $300
hp 15 6 inch laptop deal may 2023 15t featured image lifestyle

If you're in the market for a cheap laptop, there's no need to only dig for the low budget options. Laptop deals help cut the price on mid-range laptops, bringing them down to budget prices. For instance, right now HP is selling their 15-inch laptop for $300 after a $160 discount. Check out the specs below, then buy one before the HP laptop sale ends.

Why you should buy the HP 15-inch laptop
Anyone seeking out one of the best budget laptops is likely to be tempted by this one. It has an AMD Athlon Silver processor along with 8GB of memory and 128GB of SSD storage. While none of that is spectacular, we often see laptops around this price with 4GB of memory or even eMMC storage instead of SSD, so that's a bonus.

Read more