Flix on Campus Movie Exchange Service
The Daily Bruin has a story about a new campus DVD sharing service, Flix on Campus.
Flix on Campus, as a handful of Facebook advertisements already state, is essentially a service that allows UCLA students with a UCLA e-mail address to rent DVDs to and from each other for profit. A rental begins with a person who is looking to rent a movie logging on to the central Flix on Campus Web site and searching for a movie, either by title, genre or by the movie’s physical dorm building location. Once the movie has been located and the renter clicks on “rent it,” an automated e-mail and text message is sent to the owner of the movie. Then, the owner can decide to accept or decline the rental request. If the owner accepts, the renter and owner proceed to set up a time and place to meet up and exchange payment for the movie. At the end of the rental period, an automated e-mail is sent to the renter reminding them to return the movie to the owner. Then, much like eBay, users can give online feedback and ratings on the practices of renters and owners.
Thanks to Eric for sending this in.
I love this idea. It's almost a co-op.
Bet the MPAA tells them their not allowed to lend out their DVDs this way.
Posted by:gir | September 25, 2007 at 02:18 PM
This is one place where the MPAA will get told to bug off.
The first-sale doctrine clearly applies. Me renting out my legally acquired DVD is no different than what Netflix and BB do.
Posted by:Hunter McDaniel | September 25, 2007 at 02:54 PM
Except netflix and blockbuster spend more money on the license to rent out dvds.
The agreement clearly written at the beginning of every disc states that you cannot charge for viewings.
This will get shut down.
Posted by:FredFredrickson | September 26, 2007 at 02:46 PM
Working at a video store, I have to say, this is probably not a great idea. DVD owners are going to get their discs returned scratched, beat to hell, and in some cases, broken. DVDs are just so fragile. Are these students making enough off rentals to replace discs?
How are they dealing with late fees (or whatever policy they have) and collecting fees and discs?
Being in the (dvd) rental business is more trouble than it initially seems. I don't see how individuals would make it, honestly.
Posted by:shredhead42 | September 29, 2007 at 05:01 PM