The idea of having virtually any movie or TV show at your fingertips for free is unfathomable for most college kids. We spend hours finding ways to avoid paying for anything from a slice of pizza to a lift ticket to Smuggs’.

At least I do. So when I heard about free movies and television from a Web site, I was skeptical.

But at Peekvid.com, you can watch anything from movies to TV shows to anime as the Web site streams whatever you chose directly to your computer, without you having to download anything.

Interestingly, the site itself doesn’t have any content. Instead, it is made up of links to places that contain the vid-eos you wish to see. This is related to Peekvid’s purpose: to provide a legal way to watch videos for free.

The Web site reads, “PeekVid is committed to an industry solution that will provide a mechanism to compensate artists that create the work you enjoy watching. Peekvid would like to be part of the long term solution.”

PeekVid.com is still in the beta stage (which just means they’re still working out the kinks) that allows you to access the content for free.

That being said, the most surprising thing about the Web site is that it actually works.

Click a few buttons and you’ll be watching an episode of “Desperate Housewives” or “Pete and Pete” in no time. But …

First you must endure pop-ups. Even using Firefox as my browser, pop-ups from the site somehow made it through.

Once the movie starts, it may be choppy if you have a low speed Internet connection because it takes longer to stream than to watch the actual video. Because it is streaming, it is also relatively low quality and very grainy if you try to watch it full screen.

There are a slew of sites that are similar to PeekVid, including FreeTube and Stream-ic that tune into live TV stations and let you watch them right in your browser. These Web sites provide a viable alternative to cable TV.

Yet PeekVid is unique be-cause it is comprised of a list of links for individual mov-ies and TV shows rather than television stations.

Personally, PeekVid might provide me with some entertainment if I had my laptop between classes, or was desperate to watch an episode of “Seinfeld” while I use a more creative method to obtain a copy of Will Ferrell’s latest, “Stranger Than Fiction”.

However, if you aren’t getting free cable from the people who live downstairs or you’re not properly acquainted with BitTorrents, PeekVid is definitely worth utilizing as a method of satiating your media related appetite.