How come we do not have a Headphone Time-Share Program?

[spraggih]

Like having a home in Orlando for two weeks out of each year - you pay a small price.

Or like a fruit of the month club.

Or like a car share program.

Only difference is it would be headphones. Oh I have the L3000s in August; then Jim has them in September; then Jill has them in October...

Or each month there is a delivery on my doorsteps - a RS1 in March, a PS-1 in April, a R-10 in May...

Any such chance of a program like that hitting off? The details might kill a program like this BUT if we team together and focus our energies and creativity on making the program come true then it could work.

right?

 

[phergus_25]

I think its would be awsome, but one thing about it is shipping around a really expensive pair of cans is expensive, and also gives room for fraud... sadly

 

[ericj]

'cause time shares are a scam?

 

[mofonyx]

Is this a "communal" pair of headphones where everyone in the community chips in for them and have them shared?

They may get stolen on the way.

 

[ekinwang]

lol.. since i am poor, i would be interested in "owning" a nice pair of cans 2 wkends out of the year. my $20 is ready!

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spraggih /img/forum/go_quote.gif Like having a home in Orlando for two weeks out of each year - you pay a small price. Or like a fruit of the month club. Or like a car share program. Only difference is it would be headphones. Oh I have the L3000s in August; then Jim has them in September; then Jill has them in October... Or each month there is a delivery on my doorsteps - a RS1 in March, a PS-1 in April, a R-10 in May... Any such chance of a program like that hitting off? The details might kill a program like this BUT if we team together and focus our energies and creativity on making the program come true then it could work. right?

I think it would work, but only if the members were honorable. There would have to be some kind of screening process for the members, and a way to refund members if something goes wrong.

I would rather buy the headphone outright.

 

[lt.milo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think it would work, but only if the members were honorable. There would have to be some kind of screening process for the members, and a way to refund members if something goes wrong. I would rather buy the headphone outright.

agreed, owning a pair of headphones for only a short time doesn't sound fun. I like to listen to my music at my own leisure. Most headphones hold their value pretty well so when you don't need them, you can sell them.

 

[Fitz]

I've had offers set up to let people borrow some of my AKGs to try them out since many are hard to find much info about, which is a little similar to this idea, but I am stopping doing that at all anymore.

 

[mminutel]

Like stated before, there would be a huge liability. many people say that they wouldn't steel and stuff but when you have a $500+ pair of phones the calling might be too hard for some.

 

[Duggeh]

Id be prepared to do it with a set of headphones I owned, but only with head-fiers who I personally had a trust in, and preferably, at the reciprocation with a set of theirs if they had as much trust in me as I did in them.

Shipping costs are the main factor inhibiting such a programme. The only head-fier who I (personally) could go into such a system with realistically would be milkpowder. Or maybe Mike. Geography plays as big a part as trust in such a scheme.

 

[legbone]

i'm not sure i want to share any iem's though!

 

[ldj325]

I would love to do something like this not so much to have something for listening periodically, but as a way of doing an extensive audition of an expensive HP that I was thinking of buying. I think that the key would be setting up some type of "escrow." It would have to be someone or an organization above reproach, who also had the time and willingness to administrate this.

The recipient of the HP would need to pay for the HP in full and then receive a refund upon safe return of the HP. Everyone would need to agree to abide by iron-clad, no protest rules, such as a penalty to be withdrawn from the deposit for every day the HP was kept past the allotted time. And shipping via UPS or something similar so that tracking could be done. And the administrator would have to have a final say as to whether the HP was returned damaged in any way. 10 people putting up $100 (or 20) putting up $50 gets a $1000 HP. At the end of the audition period, sell the HP and redistribute funds or move onto the next HP. Say the HP sold for 80% of cost. This means that (for 10 people) I'd get to audition a $1000 HP for 1 week for $20. This would work for me. And this kind of a program would be worth $100-200 initial investment to me if it meant that I could do an extensive (say 1 week) audition on some of the top HPs.

Maybe some well known and respected Headphoneus Supremus who was willing would be a good person for the role. As a perk for them they would do the burn in as well as get extra audition time with the HP.

I don't know if this would violate any Head-fi rules, but I sure would like find a way to have some quality time with a number of high end HP without having to buy each one.

 

[Asr]

All I have to say is that if my first 6 loaner programs work out, I think I'm going to do more later on.

I'm not sure why other people haven't done something similar before, it's such a simple thing to do, and you only need to be willing to part with something for a while!

 

[jmmtn4aj]

You know when I was in the bathroom I was actually thinking about starting a website that does something like this, timeshares, trades etc. Eventually it would encompass everything, not just headphones

But as I've just about zilch in the way of web coding and such..

A potential problem is shipping charges, so ideally a program like this would have agreements with the shipping companies for cheaper delivery charges.

 

[norseman8485]

I would not like to know that I'm sharing a set of headphones with nikongod...