The Inter-Residence Council has made a deal with DVD Now Kiosks Inc. to put up DVD and video game kiosks around campus.
Mariah Woodroof, vice president of business for the IRC, has been working to get entertainment vending machines since the middle of last semester. She said she expects to have them up around campus at the end of March.
According to Woodroof, there will be a three machines installed: two in Bragaw and one in D.H. Hill Library. One machine in Bragaw will be for video games and the other will be for DVDs, but the one in the library will house only DVDs.
Woodroof said the price to check out items will be between $1 and $1.50, and renters can only use a credit card. Students will not be able to use their AllCampus cards
“There is no way to link the DVDNow payment system to the N.C. State payment system,” Woodroof, a junior in textile engineering, said.
If students do not return the DVD or game in the time given, they will be charged the full cost of the item and all late fees will be charged directly to the credit card in use.
Woodroof said she and Brian Mathis, IRC president, first had the idea to contact the company Redbox, which provides kiosks at local grocery stores such as Harris Teeter, but she said the company wasn’t very interested.
When they contacted DVDNow, they had more luck.
“They pretty much hopped on the opportunity,” Woodroof said.
The DVDs in the kiosks will be rotated to provide new releases, Woodroof said.
“It will probably be about every three months that the [DVDs] will be switched out,” Woodroof said, “In the video game [machine], it will be the most popular [instead of the newest].”
Peter Umstead, freshman in First Year College, said he although likes the idea of having the kiosks, he’s not happy about the price.
“It is good that they are getting them, but I think it is stupid that it costs money,” he said. “A school with 35,000 students should be able to afford providing their students with DVDs without the price. [UNC-Chapel Hill’s] dorms let you check out DVDs for free.”
Tien Cheng, freshman in International Studies, said more machines would be necessary.
“We have [poor] dining halls so if we have the DVD vending machines it would make the dorm life a little bit better,” he said. “But I think they should be in every hall. Students pay equally for dormitory fees, so they should get equal service. Plus, I’m too fat and lazy to walk all the way out to Bragaw.”
Cheng also said more options should be considered for DVDs.
“It would cool if they get T.V. series DVDs in there as well,” he said. “I want to catch up on Lost.”
