I recently became interested in web design. I'm tempted to sign up for a class at my local university, but I don't need the credit and I really don't want to drop a couple grand. Fortunately, I came across several online "knowledge peddlers." An alternative to learning on your own via books or taking traditional classes is buying the knowledge online.

LessonBites offers educational videos sold in segments (like the tracks on a cd player). Each segment is 99 cents. Pay only for the knowledge you want.

Similarly, Instructional Video Rental lets customers rent training videos of their choice. Most rentals cost about ten dollars.

Both of these sites may have trouble competing with Expert Village, however. They have thousands of short educational videos. Best of all, their videos are free.