Peerflix, first takes
So, I signed up with this service called Peerflix in late July. I tend to tinker with new web services, so this should be no surprise.
Here's a basic description of Peerflix:
Mediated DVD-by mail exchange system. You send off movies you have, get credits, use those to acquire other movies. They charge a fee (currently $0.99) for each movie you receive. The sender pays postage.
Now, apparently, despite a name clearly meant to sound like Netflix, and having a usage model that would've easily worked a lot like Netflix, they apparently originally thought that users would probably just exchange movies they liked for those they didn't, and be done with it. How odd. I'd think it would be obvious that some folks would fund into the system with a few DVDs they could manage to trade in, and then trade continuously after that. I guess they finally figured it out, though.
Since July, I've sent off about 8 discs of my own, all movies I didn't really want to own anymore. In exchange, I've gotten about 5 more movies (one more is still in the mail). That's less, but the movies I sent originally were really lousy movies, so, it's not such a big surprise.
Bottom line: if you've got easy access to a printer, this service is pretty easy to use, and it's worth checking out... especially if you've got any movies sitting around that you don't want.... you can essentially treat it as Netflix, but without having to pay an ongoing subscription. Instead, you pay $1/trade, whenever you do them, and they don't hassle you about sending discs. They do reward referrals, though, so ask me for an invite. As a bonus, they make it a lot easier to trade movies with folks who are your “friends”.
They dropped the beta moniker from their site today, but they're still doing promotions to get new signups... the first trade is free, they give your first credit (equal to about 1/2 of a typical DVD, 1/3rd of a new release), and, once you do your first trade and ante-up, they'll send you a DVD (from a finite list they supply, but some of which are decent) for free. In the very least, you can trade that one, and end up with enough pool credit to trade a new release disc right off the bat.
Update: Seems Slashdot actually covered a topic quickly. Here's the slashdot story, rife with misinformation about the doctrine of first sale, and the cost of Peerflix vs. Netflix.