I Rent, Therefore I Am

Call me crazy, but I am a big fan of lending and borrowing (it's kind of like free renting....I know crazy!!) I realize that in this impersonal digital age it has become an out of data idea from the days before I was conceived. It sounds so "leave it to beaver" that you can drop by your neighbor's house and borrow a drill or saw. And in return lend them your pickup truck for a weekend of yard work tasks.

I guess you would actually need to know your neighbors though......again back to the impersonal digital age.

When it comes to things like DVDs however I am all for renting. The few DVDs I just HAD to own (Braveheart, Last of the Mohicans, The Princes Bride, etc) are still mostly collecting dust anyway.

I do have to say though that some things you just need to own. My neighbor owns a chain saw and said that I can borrow it any time, but I just had to have one of my own. Why you ask? That's simple, because any self respecting man needs to own a chain saw....dumb question..... Just think about it, what if I had some real urgent chain saw emergency late one night and my neighbor was asleep!!! Well I guess he is going to be awake 5 second after I rev that baby up anyway. But the sound your own personal chain saw makes at 3am is sweeter than all others.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library

Tom-
Interesting write up on owning vs. subscription. It seems to be a consistently hot topic. You don't mind renting movies, you wish you could rent tools, and you're stoked that you can rent books. Right? Yet, you balk at renting music because you feel the need to own something. But, have you given a subscription music service a fair shot?

I think if you dove in to a library 7 million songs strong you may change your tune (yes, pun intended). You'd have the ability to listen to thousands of artists- many you know, many you may not have ever heard before. Your guests would be impressed by your vast music catalogue, just as they are your book library.

Here's an interesting fact. In a recent Piper Jaffray study, (dated April 7, 2009) 46% of teens said they'd consider paying $15 a month to rent music. That number has steadily increased since 2005. And if that demographic is getting on board with subscription music, it'll be interesting to see where it goes in the next few years.

In the mean time, we'd like to give you a free subscription to Rhapsody, so you can see for yourself the benefits of a music subscription service. You'll be receiving the subscription info via email soon.

Cheers-
Lacy Kemp (of RealNetworks/Rhapsody)

You know who needs to take on this model??

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY

Still the best place to rent books and movies and music and its all free. They just need to work on the no late fees thing and a nice online service and maybe some deliveries.

Personally I would never pay a cent for a digital copy of music, artists don't do anything in creating copies of their music for me to have in my library, I'd rather pay people for working. To me, becoming a popular musician provides enough opportunity for revenue, and making your music free and available everywhere can only increase your following. I mean come on... these people are famous, they should be making money throwing huge concerts and through corporate sponsorships if they really wanna sell out (if they're only in it for the money which it seems most of the pop musicians are who protest free downloading).

Still the public library should be providing these services free of charge except for maybe a delivery charge

"Netflix for tools, anyone?"
Here in Rochester NY, most Neighborhood Associations have tool librarys. Cheaper than Netflix, it's FREE (small refundable deposit), cus the associations want to help with the upkeep of their/our neighborhood.
They don't deliver, but they are in walking distance.
The last tool i borrowed was a 500lb roller to flatten the new patches i put on my driveway. I sure didn't want to buy one, and only use it once.
"Netflix for books"
Ben Franklyn started them over 200 years ago.
How quickly you forgot LIBRARYS.
They don't deliver, but they are in walking distance too.
(admit it, you NEED to get away from your desk and get some exercise.)

Actually, out here on the Left Coast of Canada we have a Netflix like program from the Vancouver Island Regional Library - its called Books By Mail (and includes DVDs too). You can join by email, they have a website to pick the books and they pay the postage to & from. You can have up to 10 books, 30 days. They won't ship any new books if even one is overdue, but no fines.

The only glitch is you have live here.

Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.

Yea and who would want to live in Canada? hahaha for the books!!? No that does sound like a sweet deal though.

Okay the baby toys thing sounds really unsanitary. I can't imagine what mother would allow their child to play with a used toy that could've come from anywhere. That will never catch on.
A lot of people, including myself, take pride in what they own. I'd much rather own than borrow any day.
Also, tools are never a waste of space to a real man. Why would you purchase power tools without the intention of using them regularly anyway?