The first Thing of the Week post is dedicated to Netflix. In 1997, two budding media were gaining a lot of attention: DVDs and the internet. After being slammed with late fees for his rented copy of Apollo 13, a gentleman named Reed Hastings was inspired to create a service where late fees were a thing of the past. What happened from there was nothing short of one of the most important advances in film history. The ability to rent DVDs online and through the mail has completely reinvented the video rental process.Let me give you an example. I enjoy a lot of British comedy series, but find it hard to get a hold of them in stores and at my local video rental store. However, with an enormous library online, I can have these DVDs sent in the mail to my door in about 2 days time. Brilliant! I can watch the shows I enjoy in my own time, return them by mail, and have another show/movie ready for me in another 2 days!
So, what do you do during the days you don't have DVDs? Netflix has the option to watch a large selection of their movies instantly. This tends to be older or less popular titles, but it's a pretty massive collection. Also, you can watch as many of these as you like for free with your subscription. No limits! Just open them up in your internet browser (or stream them to your Xbox 360) and watch.
What does a movie cost in a video store these days? Down the street from me, Four Star Video rents them for $5 for a few nights. When I worked at Blockbuster, it was $3.66 for a movie, but I believe that's gone up since then. Family Video tends to be cheaper, but has heavy late fees. For 3 people to split a Netflix account with 1 DVD each at a time, it costs $6 per month per person. If you play your cards right, you can be watching about 2 movies a week, giving you about 8 movies! And that doesn't include those instant movies!
I absolutely love watching movies and TV shows, and if you're the same, you owe it to yourself to look into Netflix. It's a great way to see a lot of movies without late fees, and for a very reasonable price. And for those reasons, it's my Thing of the Week.
Next week: Indecision (maybe)
I just want to make a point: You have flip-flopped on this issue over the past few years.
ReplyDeleteI previously had Netflix while in CA. I cancelled when I left for deployment and while speaking with you, you assured me that upon my return I should sign up for Blockbuster. Now I am a loyal blockbuster online customer and you are promoting netflix! I agree in their superiority, but I still love the ability to take a movie to the store and exchange it. It's like getting a free rental!
I enjoy reading your blog. Keep it up!
You are absolutely correct that I've flip-flopped on the issue! The reason for that is that the two companies keep introducing new features. Once Netflix announced their "instant" line-up of movies, it made them a much more valuable company in my opinion. If Netflix had the in-store exchange that Blockbuster had, it would be perfect, but given the choice between instant and in-store, I have to go with Netflix on this one. The ability to watch full TV series on my computer/TV is extremely valuable to me.
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