We shop pretty regularly at Amazon.com. Why wouldn’t we? It’s a great site, easy to navigate, fully stocked with great deals on just about everything you’re looking for and one of the most customer-centric online sites in existence today. It’s safe to shop at Amazon because their A to Z Guarantee is always working in the buyer’s favor. For the past two years we’ve been using the Amazon Prime program in order to save even more money on shipping costs. The Amazon Prime program allows us to shop for a full year on Amazonand have the purchases we make directly from their warehouse or one of their participating 3rd party vendors shipped to us directly or anywhere in the country we need it to go via 2 day delivery for FREE. Of course, there’s a fee to join Prime, which is currently $79 for a full year.

$79 sounds pretty steep, doesn’t it? Let’s look at that number. If one were to buy only the items they need (and not extra items to get up to Amazon’s $25 Super Saver Shipping threshold) it would break down this way: Regular shipping for books is $3.99 and for music, DVDs, VHS etc.. Amazon charges $2.98. If one bought 20 or more books in a year’s time through Amazon (singly), the Prime program justifies itself. If one were to buy 27 or more DVDs, CDs etc the same would be true. That still sounds like a lot of dough! However, if one has the periodic need for other items like yard tools, kitchen appliances, video game players etc, the savings is more significant as it costs much more to ship these larger and often heavier items.

Here’s where the Prime Membership has really been a boon for us. Ever wait too long to shop for someone’s birthday, graduation or wedding? Ever need a close-to-the-last-minute gift? With Amazon Prime’s free 2 day shipping, there’s no cost involved to receive the expedited delivery service of 2 day receipt. And Amazon will let you send these last-minute-gifts to any US address at no additional charge! For books, expedited service usually costs $6.99 and Amazon charges $5.19 for expedited shipping on other media items (like DVDs, CDs). At these rates, expedited service translates into 12 annual book purchases or 16 annual DVD or CD purchases to reach the break even point. Though we haven’t used it, Prime members are often offered the ability to upgrade their 2 day shipping to ONE day shipping for just $3.99 more.

Once we’d decided to take the Prime plunge, we were more attuned to the various classes of items available on the site that automatically qualify for the Prime discount. We’ve bought grocery items from time to time using our Prime account as well as items like household appliances, yard tools and a plethora of other items sold directly by Amazon. What’s even better, is that Amazon has a program called Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) that allows third party sellers to ship their items they want to sell directly to Amazon’s warehouse. Since Amazon then ships the item when it sells, they offer the ability to use your Prime membership to buy these items from 3rd party sellers that would not otherwise qualify. In general, if the item is not shipped by Amazon directly, it won’t qualify for Prime free shipping. All of this means that the Prime member is presented with more and more opportunities to buy items that Amazon either doesn’t stock themselves or at prices lower than Amazon’s own.

With gas prices what they are today, and with families having less time than ever to do household shopping, comparing prices on the internet and specifically at Amazon has been very convenient. Not only do we find deep discounts on hot new releases in all the media categories (typically between 30 and 40% off) but by carefully comparison shopping for the items we need, we can often save a considerable amount on non-media products and still have them shipped to us for free. When a trip to Best Buy, Walden Books, Borders, Barnes & Noble , Target or Sears means a 20+ mile round trip investment of time and gas, many online alternatives can be a life saver.

When we joined, we did not get a free trial period to try out the service – I wish! However, right now Amazon is offering a free one month trial of Prime for new users! Amazon Prime has been a very beneficial feature for our family – I’d suggest that you give it a try for yourself!

Here are some of the features as described by Amazon:

Amazon Prime members enjoy the following benefits:

Fast Delivery

• Unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items
• Upgrades to One-Day (Overnight) Shipping for just $3.99 per item

Simple Shopping

• No minimum purchase required
• Members-only 1-Click buttons on product pages
• No need to think about shipping charges

Convenient Sharing

• Members can share benefits with up to four family members living in the same household

Free Trial

• Amazon Prime new subscribers are invited to try Amazon Prime free, for one month.

After the Free Trial period, customers will be automatically charged the $79 annual fee unless they choose not to upgrade to regular annual memberships at or before the end of the trial period.

Here are a few hyper new releases that are already listed in the catalog at SwapaDVD. If you’re interested in any of these series you may want to get them onto your wish list fast! I’m including the Amazon link for each title below for those of you who (like me) like to take advantage of Amazon’s pre-order deals.

• Dirty Sexy Money: Season One – only on 1 wish list in the 13th position
• Gossip Girl – The Complete First Season (2007) – on 3 wish lists ranging from 3rd to 30th positions
• Desperate Housewives: The Complete Fourth Season (2007) – 6 wishers ranging from 3rd to 60th position
• Brothers and Sisters: The Complete Second Season (2006) – only on 1 wish list in the 12th position
• Lost: The Complete Fourth Season – already 16 members wishing in positions ranging from 1st to 900+! Amazon’s sales rank for this title is already #79 and it doesn’t even get released until December 9th!

Generally, you’ll see more and more wishers added to any particular title the closer it comes to its release day and the lower its sales rank becomes on Amazon. Amazon’s Top 100 lists are browsed thousands of times a day and they are a great source for finding new release information. While it sometimes seems to take a while before these items show up in the catalog over at SwapaDVD it does pay to check for them occasionally as the length of time an item spends on your wish list, combined with the rank you assign to it, is what determines how quickly you would be given the opportunity to swap for them.

Disney is re-releasing Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas as a special 2 Disk Collector’s Edition DVD as well as in the high definition Blu-ray format on August 28th of this year (2008)! As of approximately 9:30 AM CST today, the new Blu-ray edition already has 2 members waiting on its wish list at SwapaDVD. Only one of these wishes resides in the top 5 and none in the #1 position. The new 2 Disk Collector’s Edition DVD on only has one member currently on the wish list and that member only has it ranked at #12. This is a prime opportunity for those at the back of the old line to jump ahead of everyone else for a copy of the newest Disney versions! Pre-orders for both titles are available at Amazon with a 30% discount.

Disney has announced that there will also be a special 3D version of the film released in select theaters for a limited period (beginning October 19th, 2008). You can view the announcement from Disney here. Lastly, there will be an ultra-special Ultimate Collector’s Edition DVD that will feature a hand-painted and numbered bust of Jack Skellington with his Sandy Claws hat and a sound chip that plays quotes from the movie. Amazon’s catalog indicates that there are 3 disks in this set where the regular collector’s edition only has 2 mentioned so there’s evidently a bit more to this super pricey option than just the limited edition artwork! This little goody will retail at nearly $180 a pop but also may be pre-ordered for 30% off at Amazon with a release date of August 28th. With 124 people wishing for the out of print Special Edition and approximately 100 wishes for the other previously released versions (though many are likely duplications from the same lists) there’s no doubt that many SwapaDVD members could benefit from this expulsion from Disney’s vault!

(Just because I like to track this sort of thing, Amazon’s current sales ranks are 3,311 for the 2 disk DVD version – 1,702 for the Blu-ray edition – and 1,914 for the Ultimate Collector’s Edition.)

So you’ve joined SwapaDVD, listed your initial 10 DVDs and have placed a few items on your wish list. Maybe you’re feeling a bit skeptical of the system because you haven’t yet received anything that you really wanted from the other members of the site. You aren’t alone. Some members are evidently feeling a bit impatient about the lack of movement of their wish lists and have voiced some dissatisfaction with the way the site operates, and even some suggestions for changing or improving it.

My personal feeling is that in order to get the most out of a swap system like SwapaDVD, one needs to be patient and flexible. While it is true that the newest members desiring titles that are in high demand may have to wait a significant period of time before being given the opportunity to swap for them, those same members have the exact same window of opportunity to put future hot releases onto their wish lists as any of the “established” members. Please keep in mind that those members who are in front of you on any given wish list have been waiting too – many of them since November of 2007 when the site first opened! No trading system can deliver immediate gratification in all cases. Unless you are willing to go out and purchase those items you want the most, you must resign yourself to waiting behind all those folks in line in front of you. If you filled the wishes of some members when you joined and posted your initial DVD tower, so too have all of the other members of this fine site. That’s where all the magic comes from.

When I peek at the wish lists of these new-but-vocal folks, I almost always find that they have less than 100 items on their wish lists (which may seem like a lot) and usually less than 40 (which really isn’t very many at all). If they truly aren’t interested in acquiring very many films, perhaps they would be better served elsewhere. However, I’m convinced that these same folks might actually be interested in swapping for many other titles if they opened themselves up to the possibilities. Not only could they develop their own interests but they could also locate items that their friends or family members might enjoy. I have given more than a dozen DVDs from the site as gifts, and as I mention elsewhere in my blog, one of the best of these was a copy of Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” that made my step-daughter’s Christmas morning very special last year.

I personally don’t attempt to swap for new releases. I would much rather buy those titles, or rent them locally than clog up my wish list with items where I am forced to compete with hundreds of other members. Instead, I have explored new genres and have received a respectable number of items off my wish list as a result. I have also made it a point to educate myself a little about films that earned recognition in the past. There are many organizations who keep detailed archives that might be helpful to someone who is willing to invest a little effort. Visit the home of the Academy Awards or the Sundance Film Festival to refresh your memory about the some of the best films that have been out on DVD long enough that they should be readily available. As evidenced by this blog, I also frequently choose an actor or director and then proceed to explore their entire body of work. The practice of taking a chance on an unfamiliar title or revisiting one from the past enables me to derive great satisfaction from my membership during those “dry spells” before a wish listed item pops onto my account. I must tell you, when that happens, I feel like I hit a home run!

There are many films that I’ve received from the site that I will never swap back out to another member for one reason or another. Some were gifted to members of my family and others have found a permanent home in my collection. However, in order to have the credits to swap for these items I must actively pursue titles desired by the other members of the site. Just this past weekend I attended an estate sale where I not only secured several items that have been on my wish list but also a number of items that were on the wish lists of other members. Among these were 3 different boxed sets (one for 8 credits!) and 3 Disney films that were 2 disk sets. They were priced low enough that even considering my postage expenses I would earn credits for less than what they cost on the site. The best part is that by fulfilling the wishes of other members, I am actively contributing to the overall good of the site and am eventually rewarded by others members making my own wishes a reality. (Wow – the really sounded very much like “The Secret”, didn’t it??!)

Without getting specific, I can tell you that I’ve received well over 100 items from the site to date. That’s a lot of credits to spend! Of course, I had to earn them just like every other member. Because I have a large library of books and a music collection that I no longer need, trading through the sister sites PaperBackSwap and SwapaCD to earn credits that I can later transfer to SwapaDVD has been a huge benefit for me in the pursuit of building a film library. I do return many DVDs back into the system so that others may enjoy them, and sometimes I must be patient for these titles to be requested from me so that I can recycle the credit.

Let’s face it, SwapaDVD is not for everyone. For those who don’t enjoy the swapping experience there are many other options that may prove more satisfactory. These include such services as Netflix and Blockbuster. I personally appreciate the fact that I can have as many DVDs delivered to my home as I want, without the overhead of a subscription. The only out of pocket expenses I incur come when I send a DVD out to another member. Of course, I also have the out-of-pocket expense of the DVD that I swapped, (but that is an expense that I’d already committed to paying when I chose to buy the disk).

I hope you’ll decide to stick around a little while to give the system a chance to work for you. Like all things, nothing good comes easy and often the best things in life are worth the wait. Develop your wish list and explore the vast catalog of films that is already out there waiting for you. While these titles aren’t guaranteed to be immediately available on SwapaDVD, I can almost guarantee that the wish lists for them won’t be nearly as long as they are for the most popular new releases or the average Disney movie!

28 year old Australian actor Heath Ledger was found dead today in his New York City apartment. Early reports and rumors suppose that he might have died of a drug overdose (and that suicide was a possibility) or that he may have succumbed to pneumonia. I am terribly upset by this news and am somewhat surprised to find myself in shock. It’s not that I’ve been a huge fan of his all this time, but I’ve enjoyed watching the development of his career and really believe that he started hitting his stride and his potential with Brokeback Mountain. His public manner and the spirit he has displayed have always led me to believe that he was a grounded and sensitive man. He leaves behind a rather impressive body of work for such a young man as well as a very, very young daughter. My heart aches for his friends and family and I hope that they soon find peace and consolation for their pain.

Perhaps this is hitting me harder today because I’ve been thinking a lot about the tragic death of River Phoenix lately. This comes as a result of having watched 3 Gus Van Sant films in as many days, one of them being My Own Private Idaho. I did a bit of googling and found a March 1991 interview of Van Sant by River Phoenix and one particular part caught my attention. Phoenix asks Van Sant what his favorite holiday is and he answers that it is Halloween. For those of you who may not know, River Phoenix died of an overdose outside an LA club co-owned by Johnny Depp (The Viper Room) in the early hours of October 31, 1993. I wonder if this haunts Van Sant as much as it haunts me.

Both deaths are such a colossal waste. In 1995 Natalie Merchant wrote a song called “River” for River Phoenix and you can find it on her Tigerlily album. Many of the words are appropriate here as I think about the tragic loss of Heath Ledger and the resulting media frenzy. Please God, let us be allowed to remember him for the brightness he brought to our lives rather than the darkness of his death and all the half-truths and sensationalized drama that we will be spoon-fed by the media.

So, in honor of Heath Ledger I thought I’d provide a bibliographic list of his movies that are available on DVD:

1. Candy – 2007
2. Casanova – 2006
3. Brokeback Mountian – 2006 – only 5 copies available for swap at SwapaDVD
4. The Brothers Grimm – 2005
5. Two Hands – 2005
6. Lords of Dogtown – 2005 -2 copies available for swap at SwapaDVD
7. Ned Kelly – 2004
8. The Order – 2003 – 8 copies available
9. The Four Feathers – 2003 – 5 copies available
10. A Knight’s Tale – 2002 – 29 copies available
11. Monster’s Ball – 2001- 22 copies available
12. The Patriot – 2000 – 29 copies available
13. 10 Things I Hate About You -1999
14. Roar – 1997

His most current projects included a role as Bob Dylan in I’m Not There and the Joker in the newest Batman film The Dark Knight. You can view the trailer of The Dark Knight and catch a glimpse of Heath as “The Joker” by clicking this link. Due out this summer, this will be his last film to be released.

Well, not really, but it should be! Oprah’s annual list creates a buying and spending frenzy among her viewers and the people who benefit the most (I’m going to assume that Oprah doesn’t get any kick-backs) are the manufacturers, publishers and distributors of those items deemed worthy enough to appear on her list. Did you know that Williams Sonoma had 2 items on her Favorite Things list in 2007??? You can bet they LOOOOOVE Oprah! Most of the items, while lush and appealing, are too expensive for the average person/family to really afford, with fully half of them costing over $90. Would I spend $42 for 3 bars of soap? Only if they were made with the fat off Elvis’ butt! In 2007 she even featured a $3,800 HDTV refrigerator! My God! I could renovate my kitchen for that! Do you REALLY need to watch The Simpsons in HD while you’re cooking? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been an Oprah fan since the early 1980’s – but an HDTV Fridge?? Come on!

Let me be fair. There are things that have been on Oprah’s list over the years that I love – and some that I buy over and over again! For example, the best thing (IMO) that Oprah has ever had on her list was the Key Lime Cake at WeTakeTheCake.com in 2004! I love this cake so much that I served it as my wedding cake 2 years ago (we had a “Key West” theme)! I’m not trying to bash at Oprah – she rocks! But so many of the things on her yearly lists seem so excessive and make irresponsible purchases for the average consumer.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Oprah included an entry that even her viewers at home could immediately benefit from using without having to justify a “splurge” to the family accountant? But then again, would she feel squeamish about promoting the practice of trading used items that the movie, music and publishing industries are far more interested in selling? You would think that with her own humble beginnings that she might be open to the promotion of sites such as PaperBackSwap, where many of her book club selections may be found and delivered for just the price of postage! She promotes all the things that the developers of these sites promote: books, music and film (PaperBackSwap, SwapaCD and SwapaDVD) . Do you think she’d ever promote the use of swap sites to get these things? I’d hate to believe that it’s all about the money and prestige for Oprah. I’d like to think that she understands that most Americans need to economize right now. Even her frequent guest, Suze Orman, says that too many Americans spend too much – especially during the holidays! The economy sucks, and it’s not gonna get better very soon. In fact, it will likely get much worse. Wouldn’t it be great if Oprah would promote thriftiness??! What’s more, there’s even a healthy element of recycling going on with these sites as untold numbers of books, DVDs and CDs are saved from ultimately ending up at the landfill and are given the opportunity to be used again. What’s better for America? To re-use items multiple times and as a society “share” things or a society where each of us requires our own unique copy to be used and then perhaps discarded?

So here’s a breakdown of Oprahs’ favorite things for 2007:

1. An HD Camcorder – $800
2. A Pair of Boots – $120
3. Watches – $150 – $1,500
4. Cupcakes-$59 (Williams Sonoma)
5. Mixing Bowls and Spoons – $32 & $18 (Williams Sonoma)
6. Electric Mixer – $350
7. Planet Earth DVD Set – $60
8. Body Butter and Buffer – $28 & $55
9. Skin Care System – $195
10. Soaps – $42
11. Book (Oprah’s book club selection, The Pillars of the Earth) – $25
12. Panini Press – $100
13. HDTV Refrigerator (so you can view your HD home movies from #1 while scrambling eggs) – $3,800
14. Sorbetto – $5
15. Clothing (2 piece outfit) – $141 & $194
16. Scrabble – $70
17. United Artists DVD Set – $870
18. Environmental Cleaning Products – $90
19. O’s Guide to Life (book) – $30
20. CD (Josh Groban) – $20

Of course, Oprah very generously lavishes these gifts on each lucky member of her in-studio audience. What could she possible give them from SwapaDVD? Well, to start she could buy a bunch of credits in the kiosk and give each audience member 10 free swaps! (Actually, I’d be willing to bet that the developers of the site would be happy to donate those gift-swaps for her audience members – a $49.95 value!) Personally, I’d be delighted! So come on Oprah, show us who you really are. Will you use your power and influence to encourage your viewers to spend less money acquiring their media items or will you continue to enjoy being courted by every music/movie studio and publishing industry executive that has a new movie, CD or book to sell? It would be easy to ignore this and other similar opportunities to make a difference by encouraging thrift en lieu of consumerism. Surely used goods aren’t beneath you now – are they? lol

Most American viewers were first introduced to Audrey Tautou in The Da Vinci Code. While an entertaining movie, it doesn’t serve to celebrate Audrey’s considerable acting talents in a way that might encourage a viewer to explore her other work. This is unfortunate because some of her best films are French and the average American’s aversion to reading subtitles dictates that she will likely remain under appreciated in our culture. You may be interested to know that Tautou has been selected to star in a bio-pic about the early life of French designer Coco Chanel. I can’t think of anyone more suitable for the task and am eagerly awaiting the completion of this project! Production is scheduled to begin early this year.

I first ran across Audrey Tautou in the French comedy Amelie. She struck me as being quite similar to Audrey Hepburn and her angelic face, Mona Lisa smile and soft manner work quickly to establish an impression. Delighted by Amelie I have sought out some of her other films in the hope that her range might truly be as impressive as I’d imagined. I have not been disappointed! Since joining SwapaDVD I have placed a number of her films on my wish list in the hope of building this portion of my collection more quickly.

Films I’ve seen, and you should too (in my order of preference):

1. Amelie (13 people wishing)
2. A Very Long Engagement (2 people wishing)
3. Dirty Pretty Things (1 copy available!)
4. The Da Vinci Code (26 copies available)

Films on my Wish List at SwapaDVD:

1. Priceless
2. Baby Blues
3. God is Great, And I’m Not
4. He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
5. Pretty Devils
6. Happenstance

Of course, to view any of these films (with the exception of The Da Vinci Code) one will be required to either speak fluid French or resign themselves to reading the subtitles. I find it sad that so many Americans refuse to commit themselves to foreign films, and quite frankly, I believe it’s born of sheer laziness. Once one is engrossed in an excellent foreign film you forget entirely that you’re even “reading” the dialog. In a culture that supposedly embraces diversity and the concept of the “melting pot” we’ve managed to insulate ourselves from the influences of the rest of the world. Even the indifference and disinterest most of us display towards learning to speak new languages illustrates my point. So, if you’re not intimidated by a little bit of light “reading” give Audrey Tautou another look.

I’m in lust with Daniel Craig. OK – Maybe not lust – it’s love – but it sure started out as lust! He came across my radar (and that of a zillion other women) with his performance in Casino Royale. He’d been in a number of other films that I’d seen (Sylvia, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Munich, Elizabeth) but somehow he just didn’t make the impression on me that he did as James Bond. Perhaps it was that scene where he was being tortured…. So anyway, now that I’ve seen a larger representation of his (::cough::) “body” of work I’ve come to realize what a talented and engaging actor he is – of course his appearance in big box office productions such as The Golden Compass might have given me a clue as well.

Since Casino Royal, my husband and I have been on a Daniel Craig pilgrimage of sorts. We started out buying movies at Amazon, and the first of these was Layer Cake. What a blast and so quintessentially English! Since joining SwapaDVD we’ve been able to branch out a bit more quickly, though there are several movies still sitting on my wish list!

So far, we’ve seen:

1. Casino Royale (theater)
2. Layer Cake (purchased)
3. Infamous (swap)
   
4. Archangel (swap)
   
5. Obsession (swap) (1 copy available at the site)
   
6. Enduring Love (swap) (4 copies available to swap)
7. Munich (We’ve seen these last 4 entries, but before we became big Daniel Craig fans.)
   
8. The Road to Perdition
9. Sylvia
10. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

On the Wish List:

1. Renaissance
2. The Invasion
3. Kiss and Tell
4. Infamous
5. Sword of Honor
6. The Mother
7. The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, Part 1
8. The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, Part 2

Other Daniel Craig films that are currently (as of this post) available for trading at SwapaDVD are:

1. Munich (about 20 copies available in 2 formats)
2. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (more than 35 copies available)
3. Sylvia (3 copies)
4. The Road to Perdition (15 copies)
5. Obsession (1 copy)
   
6. Enduring Love (4 copies)

The man has been in a surprising number of movies and I for one am very satisfied with his performance as James Bond (IMO, he has done the impossible and replaced Sean Connery as the best Bond ever) ! If you’re a fellow Daniel Craig admirer I would recommend any of the films I’ve listed as worth watching. Though they differ vastly from Casino Royale, each is impressive in its own right.

Most of the films featuring Daniel Craig are, technically, foreign films. Produced and shot in the UK, they offer the American viewer the opportunity to immerse themselves in a different culture without needing to learn a new language or read subtitles. My husband enjoys foreign films, including those with subtitles (such as A Very Long Engagement with Audrey Tautou). However, he’s really developing a strong appreciation for films from the UK and doesn’t mind that he doesn’t get to read subtitles one little bit!

Trying to decide what to do with the many DVDs in my possession has resulted in an odd dilemma. What do I do with all of them once I’ve watched them? Of course, everyone has “keepers” that they would never get rid of. It’s not the obvious keepers that are causing me pause – it’s the ones that fall into the gray zones between “I’ll watch it again” and “it’s just gonna sit there and collect dust but I might want to watch it again someday” that I’m talking about. This issue seems to come up a lot (see my recent dilemma over what to do with my copy of The Tudors) and it even affects simple things like managing what little space I have available to house all of my accumulated treasures! The answer is to swap them at SwapaDVD, but the question of when and which ones to swap remains the same.

I think I’ve decided to keep the items that I can’t readily replace – even if there’s little possibility that I’ll watch them again any time soon. While I’ve been very lucky to pick up a number of out of print DVDs at SwapaDVD, I don’t kid myself that lightening would strike twice and that I’d be able to get the same titles again very readily. First, because there are other collectors who have the same titles on their wish lists and I’ll be forced to wait in line to get a replacement (that’s fair). Second, because these titles are out of print, they often command stupid-expensive pricing on the secondary used market (as a buyer I call the high prices stupid, if I were the seller I’d call it fair market value)!

I watch a lot of non-fiction. Documentaries, biographies, performance art, you name it – I watch it. A lot of this sort of thing is only produced in small numbers – it’s never expected to appeal to the masses so their production runs tend to be quite small. Some houses, such as A&E/History Channel only issues certain titles based on demand. This is literally a print-on-demand scenario where they will tell you up front that your order will take longer to fill because they physically have to manufacture the DVD to fill your order. If you were to go their website, a great many of their titles are noted this way. Of course, you’re usually forced to pay the full price of $25 for these titles, unless they decide to run a special and produce a bunch of them in advance. They did this recently with their Modern Marvels series and offered them as a BOGO free deal.

There are many titles that I have on hand that I could easily re-acquire from SwapaDVD. These include almost any major block-buster film produced in the last 10 years (with the notable exception of many Disney titles) as well as the majority of films that have been re-released from VHS to DVD. Again, there will be exceptions as copies of Where the Red Fern Grows can be a challenge to locate at reasonable expense (it is out of print again). Incidentally, I picked up 2 pristine used copies of it through SwapaDVD before Christmas even though I had to go through the line on the wish list twice. One was a Christmas gift for my nieces in Minnesota, the other was destined to be the “house” copy. As I write this post, there are 10 people waiting to get a copy. Even though no copies have been offered in the last 10 days, I feel certain that these folks will get an opportunity to order the movie within the next few months or so as they are offered for swap fairly regularly.

From what I can tell, a lot of the folks who regularly post to the discussion boards at SwapaDVD are old-timers from the PaperBackSwap site. Allow let me say that I enjoy and use both sites and respect the communities at both very highly. But it seems to me that there’s a very different mentality about DVDs in play than there is concerning books. Most people don’t read the same book more than once. Yes, yes, of course each person has exceptions and I myself have a collection of books that I could never do without, regardless of whether I ever read them again or not. However, movies are entirely different. People will watch the same thing over and over again. People will keep movies in their house because they have a perception that an un-named “someone” in the house may want to see it again. Watching movies is an almost universal past-time in our culture, where reading is not. I know a lot of people who don’t read recreationaly, but those same people often borrow DVDs from my collection.

So what does this mean? To me, it means that a typical used book at PaperBackSwap will be swapped from one member to another repeatedly where as the typical used DVD will be swapped a lot less frequently. The reason for this is that the typical reader, once finished with a book, is truly finished with it. Often there is no one else in that reader’s every day world who might be interested in reading it, and if that is the case, that book will be posted back into the swap system fairly soon (unless that person has accumulated so many books that they are buried under their “to be read” pile). We treat DVDs differently. We assign many of them an intangible “potential” for further personal use that may or may not ever come to fruition. Because of this, DVDs that have been swapped will return to the swap system far less frequently – if ever. The danger here is that SwapaDVD, unless they undertake some creative marketing efforts, runs the risk that the site will become somewhat “stale” for their members over the long run. One will likely always be able to find a copy of Charlie’s Angels on the site - but without the constant influx of a healthy percentage of new users, those more esoteric, hard to find or out of print titles, such as Where the Red Fern Grows, that make a member cry with joy when successfully swapped, will become fewer and further between.

To illustrate my point, I’d like to refer back to what I’ve come to call the “honeymoon” period of membership at SwapaDVD. I joined on November 14th and had the opportunity to place some items on my wish list before the site went public on November 27th. When that happened, it was like the flood gates opened! All of a sudden, I was spending credits like they were going out of style! Members were reporting that they were getting 3 to 5 items off their wish lists each day! I must tell you, it was heavenly though it only lasted a few weeks. Of course, we were benefiting just because we got there first and it would be folly to try to re-create that sort of activity again. However, I think that the site would benefit from some judicious marketing efforts. I’ve seen the great press releases about SwapaDVD but I’m hoping to see the developers invest a little money in the site as soon as they have the opportunity to increase public awareness. Something like 34 million DVD players were sold last year. Can you imagine how many DVDs must have been sold??! It would be simpler to attempt to count the number of households that don’t own DVDs than those who do. I really think that the site has enormous potential and right now, the sky is the limit. So really, what I’m saying is that one of you REALLY needs to call Oprah so she can make SwapaDVD one of her “favorite things” too! Then of course, the rest of the world will follow. (Actually, I’m really kind of serious!)

I received a copy of The Unknown Marx Brothers from SwapaDVD about a month ago and was pleasantly surprised to find it to be a very informative and entertaining documentary/biography. Hosted by Leslie Nielsen, it centered mostly on Groucho, Harpo and Chico (Zeppo is mentioned here and there) and their personal lives with a lot of rare footage that must have come directly from the family. I appreciated the opportunity to catch a glimpse of these men when they were not necessarily “in character” and was delighted to have been given the opportunity to own the disk.

I’m not sure exactly how I ended up with it as I’m positive that I had not placed it on my wish list. Perhaps I ran across it on the “DVDs Posted Today” screen. As The Marx Brothers entertained America long before my time, I’m really rather surprised that I even ordered it in the first place. Aside from hearing their names used over the years and seeing a screen shot or two of Groucho’s “You Bet Your Life” I knew absolutely nothing about them. I can only say that the title struck me as unusual and it’s not the kind of thing that I run across everyday, so why not give it a shot? I certainly wouldn’t have ever ordered it from Netflix, nor would I have ever purchased it (it seems to be out of print). I can tell you that since viewing it a few weeks ago I have placed similar items on my wish list and have made it a point to search for what I’ll call “out of the way” titles that I might not have considered before. One of the best features of SwapaDVD is that the expenses involved with experimenting like this are so low that it would be difficult to ever really feel like I’d wasted my time, money or effort. Too bad more things in life aren’t that way!