Peerflix
I happened across Peerflix the other day. It’s a Netflix-like service, except that members trade DVDs among themselves.
This sounds pretty wacky at first, but it could work.
Details on the site are pretty slim, but from what I gather, you index your DVD collection, and then can swap titles with other members for $1 a trade. Trades are permanent - once you get a DVD, you own it.
There’s a mechanism in place which they say will prevent fraud, namely that you get a credit which you can use to get another DVD.
Browsing around the site shows that different titles have different ‘Peerbux’ amounts listed. There’s no explanation of what ‘Peerbux’ are. It’s also not clear if the entire DVD (in the case) gets sent, or if it’s the disc itself, like Netflix does.
It’s interesting how P2P-like this service is, which leads me to wonder how long the MPAA will let it live. While it’s certainly not illegal to trade DVDs with a friend, there’s a third party involved, charging money for the service, and I think that could be a problem.
It’s also not clear how (or if) they make money. They send out prepaid mailers for you to send your DVDs off in, and at some point they have to make up for the net loss in discs due to theft or wear & tear.
If this is successful, though, I think it could mean the end for the local used CD/DVD store. Why sell a $20 DVD for $5, when you can trade it for something you want for $1?