Must be on their way out. I hope.
I purchased a DVD player last week (TV to be delivered tomorrow). I explained (in my best pidgin French) to the sales rep at the Darty (think circuit city) that I already had a bunch of region 1 DVDs - did he have region 1 players? No, but he had a little gadget in his pocket that would beam instructions to select DVD players to make them region 6 (world region I think). He pointed out a few players including a reasonably priced Sony, told me to buy it and bring it to him and he'd beam it.
So I did. Opened the box, plugged it in, fiddled with his remote for a minute, closed the box and said au reviour.
I expect this is totally common - and that it signifies the death of region codes.
Which is good, because, really, wtf am I buying if I shell out money for a DVD and it won't play?
Which is the crux of it all, isn't it. When I buy a CD or a DVD, what do I own?