Do you allow friends to borrow your Blu-ray discs? (1 Viewer)

[Adam Gregorich]

I loan stuff out all the time, but I keep it local. I only loan to people that I can see often (neighbors, co-workers, etc.). I currently use DVD Profiler, and I use its loan feature to keep track of borrowed titles....Its a lifesaver. If there is someone who doesn't take care of discs then I won't loan to them in the future.

 

[classicmovieguy]

To keep track of the discs loaned I usually kept the empty boxes and provided just the discs (in CD jewel-cases). That way I always could keep current of what was missing at any given time.

 

[jcroy]

I should add to my flat "No", above, that the question, in reality, is almost moot these days. As much as many of my friends are into movies, they aren't "like us" -- they don't collect, they never moved to Blu-ray, etc. (you know the drill) -- so, while they do admire my dedication and collection, this sticky situation doesn't come up. I actually know no one in my immediate area who has any kind of a movie "accumulation" any more -- never mind anything you'd call an actual collection.

I only have one local friend that is still into movie "accumulation".

Of the other local acquaintances who were into accumulating dvds in the past, most of them just watch movies on cable or Netflix these days, and hardly ever watch anything from their dvd collection. They probably came to the realization that it was pointless buying dvds they were only going to watch once or twice.

 

[JohnMor]

Good Lord, I'm surprised at most of these answers. Yes, I do loan out my dvds and blu-rays to friends. Never had a problem.

 

[ahollis]

On rare occasions yes. However I have two 3D Blu-ray titles out and American Horror Story: ASYLUM out on loan for the last 4 months.

 

[classicmovieguy]

You probably loan discs to more careful people. In my experience lending out discs has only ever led to disappointment.

 

[JohnMor]

Well, I lend them to friends, not acquaintances or coworkers I haven't known for a while. My friends have always respected my stuff like I do theirs. Luckily, I guess.

 

[jcroy]

I'm pretty much at the point where anybody who asks me to "loan" them a movie, my standard replies is stuff like:

- "BitTorrent is your best friend."
- "Do you have 1000+ gigabytes to spare?"
- "Do you know how to crack 128-bit AES encryption keys?"
- "Do you know how to crack encryption?"
- "Do you have several Cray machines in your basement?"
- etc ...

(Depending on the person).

It usually shuts them up very quickly.

 

[jcroy]

The other replies that gets people to shut up and drop the topic, is stuff like:

- "Never seen it."
- "Never heard of it."
- "I don't watch (specific genre) movies."
- "Who is that?"
- "What is that?"
- etc ...

 

[John Sparks]

Only family and I leave a post-it in it's place. Time, date and to whom. They are also told, scratch it, lose it and you buy me a new one. No problems so far...knock on wood!

 

[jcroy]

You need new friends...

On a huge tangent.

(Thinking about it more).

My local social circles seem to consist of numerous people who are living in a 20+ year "time warp", where they are either totally ignorant of the internet or they have no idea how to use google effectively.

Before the 1990's if one didn't know something, the easiest way to find further information was to either go through the encyclopedia or ask the "smartest person" in your local social cricles. It turns out in these particular social circles in the present day, I was unofficially (and unknowingly) designated as one of the "smart persons" that many people came to for information. At times I was wondering why didn't they just google for such information, instead of wasting their time asking me. (They seem to think I know everything about current movies, when in reality I don't watch any new movies at all).

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I lend to one friend only, who is really fanatical about disc safety. I do have to remind him to return the discs, but that's no hassle.
To other people! Never. Not even to my daughter. I'd rather she watch the movie here.

 

[Mark Mayes]

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be.."

I have been known to offer to buy importuners a copy rather than to break my no-loan policy.

The pleading stops and my offer is never accepted.

 

[jcroy]

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be.."

I have been known to offer to buy importuners a copy rather than to break my no-loan policy.

The pleading stops and my offer is never accepted.

Wonder why that's the case.

Back in the day when I had friends/acquaintances/colleagues that would repeatedly ask me to loan them a vinyl record or music cd, I usually said I'll tape it for them if they give me a blank tape. Very few of them ever took the offer.

If they kept on persisting, I said "That's the deal. Take it or leave it. Otherwise, fuck off".

 

[DaveF]

I should add to my flat "No", above, that the question, in reality, is almost moot these days. As much as many of my friends are into movies, they aren't "like us" -- they don't collect, they never moved to Blu-ray, etc. (you know the drill) -- so, while they do admire my dedication and collection, this sticky situation doesn't come up. I actually know no one in my immediate area who has any kind of a movie "accumulation" any more -- never mind anything you'd call an actual collection.

Is that a key differentiator? Collectors don't lend, while less involved purchasers do lend?

 

[Allansfirebird]

My film library is like a special collection at a university library. You have to have prior approval to view a title, and you can only view the original copy onsite, absolutely NO lending is allowed. Copies can be made, but only for movies I've got on DVD, since I don't have a computer with a bluray drive.

 

[jcroy]

Copies can be made, but only for movies I've got on DVD, since I don't have a computer with a bluray drive.

If I'm ever asked to make a copy of a bluray, I'll only provide the undecrypted iso.

They will have to find a way of decrypting it themselves.

(ie. This is way more tedious to do than just buying the bluray itself).

 

[jcroy]

In general, a lot of this roundabout way of doing things is largely to make things as difficult as possible for people who ask me for movies.

Most of the time, it is a "slam dunk" way of driving them away and getting them to shut up.

(ie. If they're intending on making my life difficult, I'm going to make their life difficult first).

 

[Mike Frezon]

I don't lend to friends all that often. I had one fella over to my house a few years ago who was looking at my collection and asked about a particular title. I lent it to him at his request. Never saw it again.

I occasionally lend to my two adult kids with never an issue. They understand clearly how I take care of my collection.

But the joy in my life was proactively lending discs to my dad. He loved a good action flick or drama or historical epic as much as anyone. I had great joy in discussing the films with him after he watched them. He was a pretty tough critic...so I always knew how much he really liked a film if he'd tell me it was "pretty good." He was an engineer by trade--a brilliant man but one of few words.

He'd never ask me for a particular title. I'd just drop DVDs off at his house for him to watch.

It worked out pretty good as he was severely limited physically in the last year or so of his life as he suffered from COPD and emphysema from a lifetime of pipe smoking. So movie watching was a good fit.

I lost my dad just about this time last year. There are so many discs I have since purchased that I go through the thought process of if I think my dad would have liked it.

 

[Douglas R]

When younger I used to lend out things like video tapes, LP records and books. I soon learnt not to do that because in the majority if cases I would either not get them back or they were damaged or they would take up to a year to be returned. So experience has led to me never lending DVDs or Blue-rays.