Patience has posted great information for those who don't have a DVD player or have emailed a friend with a buddy key:

The LOTRO client is now available for download to players who don't have access to the installation DVDs or a DVD drive. This client installation does not contain the high resolution texture files or all of the cinematics; those features are only included on the retail DVDs.

Click here to download the client.

For more information about downloading the client, please see the related Knowledge Base article here.