The other day I set out to rent “No Country for Old Men.” I fired up iTunes, since this seemed like the perfect movie to try out their rentals with. I figured save my ass a drive to the store, and since it would only be a bit more than at the local store, I’d actually rent a digital copy. Nope, they only sell it. Well, la de fricken da, so does Amazon for one whole dollar more. For a buck, I’ll take the physical media, thank you very much! (Either way I don’t have to get dressed or get out of bed.) Then I can lend it to friends, play it on any DVD player I like, and sell it used to recoup some of my expense if I don’t like it. An Apple movie I can only watch on iTuneses that are authorized by my account. That’s no fun. Nope, no fun at all.

So I swung by my local rental store, they had like 100 copies, but all or them were out. I guess this movie is popular or something. Anyway, I figured, “Screw it. I’ll just wait until it’s on ABC Family,” but then, while doing my grocery shopping, I have it pointed out to me by someone (she knows who she is. Happy Birthday!), that there’s this Redbox thingie, it might have it. Yep, it does. But after looking it over, I’m thinking there’s got to be a catch.

Nope, not really. I rented my first movie, returned it to a different location the next day, and it all went swimmingly. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! By the time I got home I had a receipt in my inbox and my card was charged one whole dollar the next morning, so take that, no-movie-having-Hastings, take that DRM-no-physical-copy-Apple, take that can’t-watch-it-for-three-days-Amazon.

I’ll be hitting this thing a lot more. Oh, and in full disclosure, I guess there are two catches. No porn, and they have a bit more limited selection than any of the above, but they are primarily new releases, so I’m guessing I’ll most often be able to find something to watch. So easy, so legal, someone finally came up to an answer to torrenting. I’ll be happy until they raise their prices.

At some point I may get around to writing about the movie, but really, what can I say that hasn’t been said 1,000 times already?