# Society changing into a Rental Society **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 18, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/society-changing-into-a-rental-society/722809 "2015-06-18T00:33:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/society-changing-into-a-rental-society/722809/161 "2015-06-20T12:49:20Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > Of course these are both true, but my reply was to the idea that using a library is a form of renting books, movies and newspapers. You don’t walk in and pay rental fees on anything in a library. In terms of owning vs renting media, I don’t think using the library qualifies as renting. I think that depends on whether you’re focused on “renting” as _paying_ for short term use of an item _at the time of use_ or renting as one form of a sharing economy - shared use of an item, rather than exclusive and permanent use and custody of an item. I rather view it as the later. I don’t think the OP was familiar with the terms “sharing economy” or “collaborative consumption” and so used “renting” as a proxy. ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/society-changing-into-a-rental-society/722809/162 "2015-06-20T22:16:39Z")
Thanks for the clarification. Yes, I was referring to the sharing society as opposed to renting. Still don’t totally understand it but I do understand the points being made Thanks ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/society-changing-into-a-rental-society/722809/163 "2015-06-21T02:50:47Z")
> [@ssgenius](#): > > In my opinion, it is a better city than New York although I’ve lived in both Boston and New York and “better” is subjective based on tastes and personal needs. NYC certainly has better public transportation and a population density that lends itself to share services like Zipcar and Uber. Boston is more spread out, more suburban with a smaller urban core. Which in many ways makes it the worst of both worlds as it’s not dense enough to support as comprehensive a public transportation system as New York yet the road system is confusing, traffic is terrible and parking is terrible. But New York does have several downsides in terms of cost and standard of living. Also I find that living in New York makes you feel trapped there. > [@Chimera](#): > > We unfortunately see a lot of the same mentality in corporations. Sell off valuable assets and then lease them back, costing them far more in the long run, but due to accounting magic, somehow coming out ahead. It’s actually not a bad model. Companies are turning to Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service models more and more because it makes economic sense to do so. It lets them focus on their core business while treating much of the support activities much in the same way they treat their utilities. Something they pay someone else to take care of. ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/society-changing-into-a-rental-society/722809/164 "2015-06-21T20:28:13Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I’ve lived in both Boston and New York and “better” is subjective based on tastes and personal needs. > > NYC certainly has better public transportation and a population density that lends itself to share services like Zipcar and Uber. Boston is more spread out, more suburban with a smaller urban core. Which in many ways makes it the worst of both worlds as it’s not dense enough to support as comprehensive a public transportation system as New York yet the road system is confusing, traffic is terrible and parking is terrible. > > But New York does have several downsides in terms of cost and standard of living. Also I find that living in New York makes you feel trapped there. > > It’s actually not a bad model. Companies are turning to Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service models more and more because it makes economic sense to do so. It lets them focus on their core business while treating much of the support activities much in the same way they treat their utilities. Something they pay someone else to take care of. Don’t disagree with anything that you said. I have only toured Boston and New York and not lived there. The only reason why I would put Boston over New York is that Boston just seemed neater with more historic features and a nicer waterfront to me and most places were slightly more accessible by car but yes I can imagine the traffic being terrible there on a day to day basis. Yes, New York has one good public transit system but I also found New York (Manhattan mainly) cramped, noisy expensive, and very claustrophobic. Again these are only impressions from a tourist. Someone who has lived there would have a different perspective. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/society-changing-into-a-rental-society/722809/165 "2015-06-21T21:57:48Z")
I’ve lived in both Boston (well, Cambridge) and New York, and I prefer New York. But that is almost certainly because I grew up there, not from any inherent superiority. I feel energized when I return to Manhattan, but I can see people being overwhelmed. There is no best city, I think. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/society-changing-into-a-rental-society/722809/166 "2015-06-22T01:01:58Z")
NY rules, Boston drools! (That’s right, I’m from Bean Town ) Sike! 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/society-changing-into-a-rental-society/722809.md?page=8)