progressive rock rentals based on progarchives

Well, some online shops offer 30 second previews of songs but I guess in the case of prog, it could be argued that 30 seconds isn't enough to capture the essence of a song.

Don't some downloading services offer unlimited downloads for a monthly fee?

I think I read somewhere that one of the major record labels offered the idea of raising everyone's monthly internet bills slightly to account for all of the downloading, and in turn, the RIAA would lay off hunting downloaders. Of course, non-downloaders wouldn't be happy with that idea...

Interesting subject! In Japan, renting CDs is legal (or at least it still was two years ago): you rent them from the same shops where you get DVDs. Problem is there's hardly any prog, mainly light-weight J-Pop.

Here in the UK, where I live, public libraries allow you to rent CDs, but the collections are VERY chaotic and, once again, anti-prog. In that respect, I think, Belgium (where I grew up) is far better organised (and Holland too, I think): public libraries systematically buy ALL representative albums from the main 1960s-1970s bands like Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull etc. (as well as more recent music, of course). You can rent the CDs at a ridiculously low price, much cheaper than in the U.K.!

It would be interesting to hear what kind of service is available in other parts of the world...

2 problems with the idea - 1) computer savants will quickly find a way to make permanent copies by disabling any copy protection encoded in the music. If the major labels have yet to find one that can't be hacked, I doubt a less financially abled place like PA would have a better chance; 2) the ISPs are quickly moving to limit a customer's downloading.
For example, my ISP, Rogers ( in Canada), advises that at my level of service, I am limited to 2GB per month. Anything over that, as of June, will cost me. Now I am on one of the lower levels (ultra high speed lite, what an oxymoron), so if I were to use the movie download services that are starting to set up (not in Canada yet), that would be one movie and a half.
While there is a movement in the U.S. that is pressuring the government for Internet Freedom, i.e. no ISP throttling of traffic, i.e. no discrimination against any type of usage, I can't see the Bushies being the ones to piss off business interests.