Attention poor college students: There is no need to pay for movies or music anymore. And no, you will not be cheating the system by burning songs from Lime-Wire or getting bootleg movies off the Internet. What I am talking about is your local library. You would not believe what you can find there for free.
I know what you are thinking, libraries, right? That place where books live. But you will be surprised to find a variety of CDs, DVDs and more. The best thing is that it is free. Well, sort of.
Some libraries charge for movies and music, about a dollar per item, but hey, that is no problem because there is always one a few miles away that will not charge you. Look it up in the yellow pages and a bunch of libraries will show up in your area. If you do not have a library card at the one you want, no problem. Signing up for one is free, too.
Looking for that famous Beatles or that hard-to-find New Barbarians album? Call a library in your area and I guarantee you will find it. Every time I’ve called, I have personally found every movie and CD that I wanted. Libraries are all different but the one important thing they all do is, like Blockbuster, hold movies, CDs and everything else for you.
The good ones will also have some of the most hard-to-find movies ever like “Slacker.” Good luck finding a great independent film nominated for three awards at your local Blockbuster. If you cannot find the album or movie you are looking for at your local library, you can order it for free at most places. You lose nothing other than a few minutes of your time, which you would end up spending anyways in line at Best Buy.
If it is that hard to find, do you really think Best Buy or Blockbuster would have it? Their variety is not as big as people might expect. And sure, you might be able to find it, but you have to pay for it. And those are just hard-to-find movies. Most of your popular blockbuster-type films like “Pirates of the Caribbean” can always be found at your local library.
Remember, I am aiming this column to the poor college student who wants his or her entertainment with the peace of mind that no legal issues are present.
True, you cannot keep anything from libraries, but do you think you would want to buy the one-time worth-watching hilarious horror film, “Halloween Six: The Curse of Michael Myers”? As for CDs, you can always burn one if you really like it, and without legal hassles involved. So what do you have to lose? Nothing really, everything is free. Nothing is sweeter than finding a good movie and checking it out for free without waiting in a line.
Daniel Macri is a junior film major.
