Renting DVDs

The concept of renting movies is very well known and has become a part of our modern culture over the past couple of decades. It has even shown up in countless movies as part of the action: as in The Fisher King or in Serial Mom.

No explanation is really needed. Just mention the term 'late fees' and everyone probably rolls their eyes and has a story or two to relate.

But two develpments in the 1990's changed home entertainment: the introduction of DVDs and widespread use of the Internet. DVDs have provided a tremendous improvement in the quality of both sound and picture over the VHS tape format. See DVD Movies for more information.

And as more and more people started using the Internet, it was no longer just the domain of the computer savvy and kids. Adults now became Internet-literate and an unending number of Internet based services sprung up. And some were actually useful and provided a means of doing something that just wasn't possible before. One of these was the Internet DVD Rental service.

Now it is possible to always have some movies on hand to watch without ever leaving the house. You just order them on-line and they are delivered to your door in the mail. You watch them at your own pace and send them back. Nothing could be simpler. This type of service wasn't possible without these two developments.

You can still go to your local video store for DVD Rentals, as they have shifted over to that format in addition to their VHS selection. And there are times that makes sense. But it is hard to beat not having to deal with all the frustrations you encounter there. See Video Store Comparisons for more information on this subject.