I loan to my Mom and Dad... I mean hey... they are Mom and Dad... but they do often come back fingerprinted... most of the time I just buy them new dvds so they never have much need to borrow mine... Everyone else I know who wants to borrow my DVDs just wants to copy them, so even if they did take good care of them, I wouldn't let them borrow them.

No. I've never loaned out a DVD ever. I've had a few friends ask, but I always make some excuse. One friend of mine wanted to borrow Spider-Man from my girlfriend (she insisted that she own it instead of me 'cause she's always been a huge Spidey fan) and I told him I would ask her. She flatly refused. She's like me: neither one of us wants to have our possessions trashed by some uncaring person. Combined, we have over 500 DVDs and none are scratched and the cases are more or less immaculate.

No way Jose!

i offer to loan dvds to people i trust will take good care of them and eventually return them. if they keep them a while, who cares, i can wait to see it again!

I used to loan them out but after they came back to me all mangled I refuse to.

How could the relatively low cost of a dvd stand in the way of letting a friend or family member borrow a movie.
"I once had to replace one that a friend lost" ... Oh my god
"one time one of my movies came back with a scratch"... so what.
"How could a real movie collector ever think of loaning out a dvd"....because maybe other collectors realize that when it comes down to it dvd's are typically cheap pieces of plastic that can usually be inexpensively replaced. How can anyone with a straight face tell a friend that they can't borrow a dvd?
Get a grip. Of course that is just my opinion.

Um, if they're just cheap pieces of plastic why would they want to borrow mine and not just buy or rent it themselves? I have almost 1500 DVD's and I don't want be treated like the local friendly Blockbuster and then have to keep track of where all my discs are on a spreadsheet. No thank you. My friends don't ask to borrow my discs and we get along just fine.

Only if they're as picky and anal about quality as I.

I lend my DVD's out to good friends and family, and I keep lending to them until they abuse it somehow, or ruid discs without replacing them. They know how freakish I am with my DVD's so they tend to treat them like scratching/breaking them will release some deadly disease on them =)

I buy all my DVDs keep them in a climate controled room. Along with all my 8 tracs I used to collect. If anybody wants to borrow one, they have to go through a credit check and hand over collateral.

I think this is were we see the fundamental split in the board . . . we have some people who view their movies more as a collection and some who view them more as a personal library. matome, you asked, 'Um, if they're just cheap pieces of plastic why would they want to borrow mine and not just buy or rent it themselves?" For the same reason that you wouldn't go by a pen in order to sign a birthday card if your friend next to you had one that you could use? The "collector" type looks at their DVD's as "prized" possessions worth more than the movies that they hold and requiring extra special care. The "librarian" type looks at their DVD's as more of a convenient way to have their favorite movies on hand for when they want to watch them, and if they are not watching them, why not save a friend a couple of bucks and let him use yours (making reasonably sure that they are responsible and/or willing to replace it if something happens).

As for the spreadsheet . . . I keep track of mine that way anyway . . . the added bonus is that it is a conveinient way to track "borrows" as well.

But as they say, each to his (or her) own.

What if a friend was over your house and asked you for a soda? would you tell him to run to a store and buy his own? Would you tell him or her that you are insulted because of this request explaining to them that they are treating you like a 7-11?

I fall in the middle here... Not that often, but yes I do... To a very small circle.

1) My parents (come on, it's mom and dad, you owe them everything).

2) One - and only one - of my best friends (who also has a huge collection that he takes care of and treats with respect).

3) My ex (yes, I know that sounds deadly, but she's a great person - long story, it didn't work out - and would never mess with my stuff).

Other than that, no. The rest of my friends, family and co-workers are SOL.

If you're going to go to that extreme, here's an appropriate response:

SODA $0.75
MST3K THE MOVIE DVD $100.00

I think I can spare the soda.

Apples and Oranges:

If a friend asked me for a soda I will gladly give him one because a) he can throw it in the trash after he's done or crush it against his forehead and I don't care b) If I want to drink that same soda I can, since I have three more six packs of it in the pantry, c) I can replenish my supply of soda virtually anyplace at any time d) I won't ever hear "Oh, I don't have the soda now. My girlfriend's brother's neighbor wanted to borrow it."

Give me a break. ..nice exaggeration on the subject.

That's just a silly comparison.

Furthermore, why should it be on the person with the library to replace the discs anyway? You make it sound like we should be penitent for even caring about our DVD's. Who cares about a scratch?!? I do, when the disc locks up or pixelates on the next viewing.

Why even bother collecting movies if you don't care about their condition? Just get yourself a Netflix account and be done with it.

No.

I bought them so if they want to see them they can buy their own.

This should've been a poll!

For the record: NEVER

Ditto.

Only to people I know I can trust to take care of them and get them back to me in a timely manner. Mainly my ex-fiancee and the girl I share an office with at school.

Out of my 600, or so, dvds I have, at any given time, about 30 of them lent out.

Usually, it's my suggestion for a friend to borrow a specific dvd, because I know they will enjoy it.

I would prefer they just come over and watch on my HT set-up - but it can be difficult to find mutual time.

Some are returned quickly w/ no problems, and some get returned over 6 months later - I personally don't mind either way. I've never had to replace a disc due to damage and if I did, the person responsible would totally pony up.

I buy all the dvds I have to share with other peoplel just as much as I want to watch them myslef. I'm into a lot of obscure stuff that a lot of my friends wouldn't even know about if I didn't let them borrow it.

The only anal thing I do when I lend out dvds is that I put the discs in plain jewel boxes and leave the empty packaging on my shelf - just so (a) I know what's lent out, and (b) they don't "damage" the packaging. (people will replace damaged discs - but they'd be a lot more apprehensive about replacing damaged packaging).

I just love movies and I love sharing them with people.

For those of you who hate people asking to borrow your DVD's, let them read this:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/vze26q...ckbustered.htm

Holy crap, that guy read my friggin mind!

Like Brodie said in Mallrats: Usual vault rules apply: Touch not, lest ye be touched.