10 Oct 08 NetFlix Pros and Cons
NetFlix pioneered the DVD Mail Service arena and it shows. It’s a terrific service. NetFlix is to DVD Mail Service as Xerox is to copying. When you say “NetFlix”, people immediately know what you mean: DVDs in the mail.
I’ve used NetFlix for years and have mostly positive things to say about it. In this post, I’ll cover one positive thing about NetFlix and one negative thing.
PRO #1: DVD Recommendations
I watch about 20 movies a month from NetFlix. That’s 240 new movies per year. In any given year, maybe 25 movies come out that I really want to see, and 25 come out that mild interest me. That means if I didn’t get good quality recommendations, there would be only 50 movies a year that I would actually want to see. But NetFlix really pioneered movie recommendations. It has opened a whole world to me of movies that I love.
The way it works seems simple enough. You rate every movie you watch through NetFlix, and it compares you with people who rate movies the same way. The trick is: if you and someone else are constantly rating movies similarly, then you probably like the same movies. So NetFlix will recommend movies that this person likes that you haven’t seen yet. NetFlix has millions of customers, so they are able to find a lot of people who rate movies similarly. The end result is lots of movies to watch.
Con #1: Still a day wait.
There are some movies that I want to see right away, and with Netflix I have to wait a minimum of one day. Surprisingly, this doesn’t happen that often. Luckily there’s the video store for those 3 or 4 times a year when someone wants to watch a very specific movie right now. But 99% of the time, I have too many movies to watch.
Tags: blockbuster, dvd mail service, netflix
01 Oct 08 Blockbuster Total Access - Pros and Cons Part I
Blockbuster Total Access and Netflix are like the Pepsi and Coke of the DVD Mail Service Industry. In this series of posts I’m going to explore some pros and cons of my experience with the two DVD Mail Service giants. First, I’m going to take a look at Blockbuster.
If you would like to skip my review and try Blockbuster Total Access free of charge, use this special promotional link. My conclusion is that Blockbuster Total Access is a great service and is certainly worth the money–it has even saved me money on rentals and late fees–but don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself risk-free.
Pros:
#1 For me, the one thing I love about Blockbuster Total Access is the in-store component. What Blockbuster has that Netflix doesn’t is STORES–lots of them. If you’ve never used a DVD Mail Service before, I’ll let you know that the biggest problem with these types of services is that sometimes you want to watch a DVD tonight! You may be in the mood for a certain movie, and with a DVD service you have to wait a few days for it to arrive in the mail. Enter Blockbuster Total Access: which lets you go to any Blockbuster and get any DVD that same day(all you have to do is turn in one of your DVDs by mail). I happen to live within 2 miles of a Blockbuster store, so it is very easy for me to get there. I’ve used the in store feature 4 times, and while that doesn’t sound like a lot, think about it like this: this feature MADE MY NIGHT, 4 nights!
Con:
#1 The download selection isn’t great yet. I’m very excited by the future of Blockbuster Online: downloading movies to my PC. While I prefer to watch DVD’s on the big screen, this new service from Blockbuster can be even more convenient than getting them in the mail or at the store. I only use it for certain occasions, but I use it even less than I normally would because of the limited selection. It’s getting better every week, but I don’t see why they can’t just add the whole collection to the download service.
Tags: blockbuster total access, dvd in mail, dvd mail service, netflix
