Analog peer-to-peer

A few months ago I read about a service called BookMooch on BoingBoing that offers users a community full of people wanting to exchange their old books for free. I’ve used the site extensively and have loved it. I was finally able to get rid of those old Tom Clancy novels and ‘trade up’ to the classier writings of Henry James. My conclusion: there aren’t enough phrases like “class 2 tactical op” in Henry James. Luckily I can always trade down again with BookMooch.

The idea of a non-monetary economy in which people share their goods and/or services sounds like wackiness, I know, but I just read an article from Wired Online about more ‘analog peer-to-peer’ sites that promise just such a cashless utopia. Each one caters to a different type of media, but here’s a short summary taken from the article:
“
PEERFLIX
MEDIA: DVD
INVENTORY: 40,000 titles
PER-TRADE FEE: $1.50

LA LA
MEDIA: CD
INVENTORY: 1.8 million titles
PER-TRADE FEE: $1.75

PAPERBACKSWAP
MEDIA: Take a guess …
INVENTORY: 30,000 titles
PER-TRADE FEE: $1.59

GAMESWAP
MEDIA: Videogame
INVENTORY: 1,102 games
PER-TRADE FEE: $1.99 “

posted by Alex Herder on 14 March 2007
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