I find it strange that in a country that is so much immersed in technology liek the USA, region-free DVD players are not more widely available. Here in Holland, most of my friends (including myself) have region-free DVD players. Mine came region-free straight out of the factory, I didn't even have to do programming or replacing some esoteric part to get this. With my steady diet of Anchor Bay and Image Entertainment Euro-DVDs I'm very glad I have this. In fact, I think 90% of my DVD collection comes from the USA, so I wouldn't have much of a collection if I didn't have my region-free player.
I don't find it strange as the US is so much immersed in greed and profit margins. The media conglomerates are using copyright restrictions as a tool (weapon?) to gain more profits. Politics in actions. Thus we have strictly enforced Zone restrictions and very few decent Peer to Peer music options. Also, I don't think most Americans know that there are different Regions. Why would they want a movie from another country? They might have to read it! Most would be surprised that other people in the world have electricity, let alone DVD players :) Zach