I only use my two 30 Gb video iPods for holding kid movies. It keeps them occupied on long car rides and during air travel. That means I have $500 in capital (2 iPods + accessories) tied-up but only used a handful of weekends every year.

For the times when I'm not using one of the iPods, I'd like to offer them for rent. How about $5-$10 per week? Of course, there should be some kind of damage deposit or insurance.

The iPod would come with a library of about 30 movies, customizable from my collection or the renter's DVD library.

Is it illegal because DVDs can't be legally ripped? If I have a copy of each DVD I don't think it is unethical. Perhaps I have to buy the movies from iTunes.

Edit: How about as a subscription service that rivals NetFlix? $10 per month for an iPod filled with your movie selections.
-- rgandhi, Jun 07 2007

Cinétrain http://www.springwi...ns_and_automobiles/
When you take a high-speed train in France you can rent a DVD-player with a movie, though not a P2P concept like this [rrr, Jun 08 2007]

This is a pretty good idea. What would happen if someone were to say sync the iPod to their computer and accidentally turn it into a brick? Would the customer or the computer be blamed?
-- punk_punker, Jun 07 2007


//Of course, there should be some kind of damage deposit or insurance.//

when i rented a nintendo 64 from blockbuster, they charged a refundable fee of $200 for damage fees. only to be returned once the nintendo was returned.

the only problem i see with this is buying all those movies on itunes so it isn't illegal. (+)
-- vias7268, Jun 07 2007


You would need to pay a license for the movies, It doesnt matter if you download them off Itunes, rip them from dvds or what ever else you want to do. Also I can see many problems with renting out ipods as they simply aren't built to last - I was talking with a man who handles all returned stock and warranty repairs at a local electronics store and he says they last on average about a year and a half. Also, I would seal up the USB interface on the ipods, so people wouldnt just rent them and steal all the movies off them.
-- andrew1, Jun 08 2007


less waste of natural resources [+]
-- rrr, Jun 08 2007


You are basically renting out movies here. You are also renting a playback device. I suspect that someone is going to want a piece of the action.

If you are going to mail or ship the device(with movies) in any way, you are going to have to pay a royality to netflix. They have patent rights to renting movies through the mail pretty tightly nailed down. (I know this because I have a complementary patent in the works and had to be REALLY careful not to infringe on theirs.)
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Jun 08 2007



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