Read It? Watched It? Swap It

The era of eBay renting is upon us. Add another site to go along with Peerflix and LaLa: Zunafish.

The site, which looks remarkably similar to a prototype Mr. Bloom sketched on notebook paper four years ago with Mr. Elias, trades only one-for-one items within the same category — CD's, DVD's, VHS tapes, video games, audio books or paperback books. No item (for example, a seven-disc DVD set of the first season of the television series "24") is worth more than any another (say, a DVD of Peter Jackson's "King Kong").

Each trader pays Zunafish $1 through credit or debit card for each trade.

I also found this quote to be interesting:

He said that if consumers were asked to place all of their CD's and DVD's, for example, in three piles — those they love, those they like well enough to keep and those they would be happy to have taken away — the piles would most likely be equal.

I wonder how long these sites will be around for? Long term I see the subscription method of accessing this content as being a winner. Think cable tv or Real Rhapsody. Pay $10 a month and watch whatever you want. But, it could be 10+ years before that becomes a reality. In the interm let the eBay renting continue.

via New York Times