A Japanese company called "Astala Vista" has officially announced their "Astala Vista" DVD rental vending machines. The machines will be placed in 10 stations in the Tokyo Metro on the 25th, and the company plans to have machines in as many as 150 private railyway stations before the end of the year. More details inside.

The machine itself stands about 1.9M tall, and can fit roughly 330 DVD videos. It features a 17" touchscreen LCD, and can also handle credit card payments. DVDs can be rented for 350 yen for 24 hours. Users can return DVDs to any of the company's machines when they are done with them. Each DVD is equipped with an RFID chip, enabling Astala Vista to check the machine's stock at any time using a data sensor. Astala Vista imagines a world (or at least a Japan) where "[someone] can rent a DVD at the train station close to work, and return it at the train station close to home." What sets them apart from rental stores, says CEO Mr. Saitou, is the fact that discs can be "returned anywhere."

Astala Vista has plans that some may call lofty. Not only are they shooting for 10,000 rental vending machines by the end of 2008, they plan to allow users to check the stock of machines nearby them and make reservations for movies.



Inspired by:
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/lifestyle/articles/0608/24/news101.html

Astala Vista Homepage:
http://www.astalavista.jp/