...via custom burning. I can't find an online version of the story I read in yesterday's paper, but local retailer Trans World, struggling to stay relevant as they lose customers to downloading, has come up with a decent idea. Did find this press release:

http://media-newswire.com/release_1052686.html

I'm surprised nobody has commented on this yet. I suppose others may be like me in that I don't have much to say other than I think it's a neat idea as well. Here's hoping they can attract studios to the project to supply shows and movies that people may want, but the studios don't feel warrant a traditional release.

You're right, great idea but the reality is likely to be something different. I can't imagine that we'll be able to get, say, some of Hawks or Ford's 30s films, any desired episode of Gunsmoke or any of scores of things that definitely have a waiting market. What would be nice is if this inspired studios to follow something like the Smithsonian/Folkways model where they will custom burn most anything in their library. The catch of course is party money and organizational (studios would have to build basically an entire new business) and rights. The book business has been experimenting with Print on Demand (POD) for several years now, so far with mixed results. One plan to put actual POD equipment in stores was a failure so now most go through Ingram's POD or a similar source.