[scaryspooky]

> Seems to me one could make money selling widgets that are a little different than the last ones sold, so the customer keeps coming back for more

The Apple/Samsung model.

> Disney is selling a product I've purchased hundreds of times over.

Disney is extending copyright terms with heavy lobbying and cronyism, and then every few decades opens their "vault" for the new and younger generation of parents to buy the same product. As long as they can keep successfully lobbying for longer copyright this is a sustainable business model because quantity will be limited, and who owns a VHS player any more? Guess you should buy that DVD player after all, and the new DVD copy of Snow White. DVD? What's that?