That's not really making it useful, that's simply redefining it's purpose. Using something for a different purpose doesn't mean it's still useful in it's original sense, eventhough it's "in use". It makes sense as a creative and temporary solution, but for it to be truly useful it should be able to do what it was designed for. It's a definition thing in my opinion.
(Off course the DVD analogy is a very bad one, because life wasn't designed in such a way, only perhaps shaped into form by it's struggle.)

Cheers