Peerflix Launches P2P DVD Sharing Service

Dotnaught writes "Peerflix has offically launched, ending a 12 month beta test. The company manages the peer-to-peer trading of physical DVDs (with CDs and videogames coming soon) by mail. As the article in InformationWeek suggests, while such trades may be legal under the first-sale doctrine of U.S. Copyright Act, content owners won't be pleased -- discs are easy to copy and there's ample precedent to suggest users will dupe discs before trading them."

Comments

as opposed to the NetFlix project?

[way2trivial]

rent it all, copy and send back? is this less/more offensive than netflix= just because there is no monthly fee?

Re:as opposed to the NetFlix project?

[ghstomahawks]

exactly ... but it happens anyway. The real genius is a company finding a way to make money off of illegal scheming of peoples. Rock on!

Re:Asks about piracy

[modemboy]

How would you tell if someone pirated it?
I believe the submitter is suggesting that the end user would make a copy, keep the copy, then send on the original, not the copy...

Fighting The Waves

[JordanL]

How would any media corporation of any kind fight something like this on any principal but that they think all their users are lying, cheating bastards?

And even then... would companied like Paramount have to sue themselves for owning something like Blockbuster?

Lying, cheating bastards

[Barbarian]

They already think everyone who uses their product is a lying cheating bastard who deserves their scorn.

Reference:
- the "do not pirate" commericals in a theatre, after you've paid to see the movie
- The FBI warning at the beginning of every DVD that you can't fast-forward through
- Unskippable advertisements on DVDs, especially rentals

Why use this instead of Netflix?

[NineNine]

And why would I even consider using this instead of Netflix? With Netflix, I have every DVD I could imagine one day away, and if there's something wrong with it, they'll send me a replacement. With this setup, I'm getting DVD's in who-knows-what condition, in who-knows-how-much time from who-knows-who. Oh yeah, and I'm still paying, possibly more than Netflix. Where do I sign up?

Yeah, right

[JoeCommodore]

Like I'm really want to keep a copy of the new Planet of the Apes movie or the new Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy... Studios only wish I wanted those so badly.

Maybe thet's it, people will realize what turkys they are when Peerflix gets flooded with those loosers.

Re:Asks about piracy

[xenocide2]

Actually, you're forgetting pirated in Hong Kong / China pirated. The far more popular kind of pirated. I've seen plenty of pirated hardware for consoles, and the same holds true for DVDs. The worksmanship is far superiour to your average burnt in a DVD-r quality, but still not a decent release. Pirated carts are typically much easier to spot, since they usually don't work right and the labels look like trash. This is the sort of piracy that netflix can prevent by purchasing in bulk from reputable distributers, that peerflix can't quite filter for.

But the submitter probably was suggesting the usual rent-burn-return piracy. It's just not the only form out there is all.