How many times have you watched "The Incredibles?" A more important question you may want to ask yourself is how many more times do you plan to watch it? Chances are it's been a while since you've last played it yet there it sits in your DVD collection along with your other discs that you'll probably never watch again. Still, your DVD library represents a significant investment of your hard earned dollars. But unlike your other investments, they don't generate any interest nor do they increase in value.
Sorry, but that special "collector's edition" you bought is probably not going to be worth millions someday. Still I guess some are collectors who enjoy a pride of ownership as they gaze upon their shelves and shelves of these discs. But for most of us, they just collect dust. The founder of Peerflix was one of us who got tired of just watching them sit there and came up with a really novel solution to this problem. Now you too can turn your stale DVD collection into something wonderful, dynamic and current.

Peerflix is an online network of DVD owners like yourself that have DVDs they've watched and now wish to exchange them for something new that they want to see. The concept is really a simply one. Peerflix acts as a facilitator, offering a service that lets its members exchange DVDs with each other. To get things going, there are three basic steps you need to take.

The first step is to sign up. Membership to Peerflix is free. You just go to the Peerflix website and enter in your name and the address to where you want your DVDs sent. The second step takes you to the page where you enter in the DVD titles you own and wish to exchange. The last step is to browse through the literally thousands of titles available through the Peerflix network and select the titles you want. That's pretty much it.

Once you begin, each disc you send or receive costs you 99 cents per trade.
You can do this via credit card or PayPal. When a member says they want a disc you own, you simply slip the disc in a mailer and send it off to them and pay Peerflix 99 cents. Each time that happens you get Peerflix credits known as "Peerbux." How many Peerbux you get for each of your DVDs depends on its value. Each DVD on the Peerflix network is assigned a Peerbux value based on its release date and retail value. For example, any DVD released within the past 3 months or any DVD with a retail value above the average price range is worth three Peerbux. Any DVD with a retail value within the average price range is valued at two Peerbux and a DVD with a retail value below the average price range is worth one. Peerflix keeps a running tally on how many Peerbux you spend and receive. The more you have, the more DVDs you can get. And if you find yourself wanting more DVDs than you have to trade, you can also buy Peerbux if you like.

Sending the discs out is a snap as well thanks to the new PeerMailer. Using your printer, the website turns two ordinary pieces of paper into a self-mailer envelope that you use to send out your DVDs. And you don't have to be an Origami expert as the instructions on folding appear directly on the pages.

Another benefit of membership is that you are insured that you get the DVD you want and in a playable condition. Peerflix's PeerSafe protection program will credit you for any DVD that is lost, stolen or damaged.

Availability is also a big issue. After all, there may only be so many DVDs available on the Peerflix network and depending in its popularity, you may have to wait some time before you can get it. The Availability column displays how long you may have to wait before a particular DVD on your wish list shows up on the network. As the network continues to grow (and it is growing fast), wait times continue to become smaller.

There are other issues as well but so far Peerflix has done an excellent job of addressing them all. The best way to see if this is right for you is to give it try. There are no sign up fees and as long as you don't have an outstanding balance, you can cancel your account whenever you like.

This perfectly legal peer-to-peer network that's designed to let people exchange their DVDs is certainly a novel approach to people getting new movies to watch at home. Given that Peerflix doesn't have the usual overhead of having to carry an inventory of thousands of titles like other companies that sell DVDs, the savings are passed on to you with this system.
You can literally save thousands of dollars as your movie viewing enjoyment continues to flourish. Now all you need is the popcorn.

www.peerflix.com