Netflix

If anyone actually bothers to read my blog its safe to say that I’m a fan of movies. I think my original intentions were for the blog to be more music-based, but hey, sometimes its easier to write about films than music. In any case, I’m a recent convert to the Netflix phenomena.

My childhood memories are filled with vague recollections of trips to video stores. By the time I was born the switch to VHS was in place. In my relatively short span of exisitence I witnessed the indepedent rental store go downhill. I saw the invasion (so to speak) of Hollywood Video and Blockbuster. I still rented, and I remember searching through the racks for films I’d seen but long forgotten, new releases, or something that caught my eye. When I entered college I had a fairly large (nothing obsessive) DVD collection, and the notion of pirating and downloading movies was certainly there too. I won’t lie by saying I didn’t, because I certainly mucked around in the dirt for a bit. For whatever reasons I still liked actually owning a movie, or even borrowing it from a friend. Lately my movie-buying has slowed down, especially with the realization that I’m horrible at managing funds sometimes. Which I guess leads me to Netflix.

The first person I really heard extoll the virtues of Netflix was my sister. Sure I knew about it before then, and heard other people talking, but sometimes you trust the sources closet to you first. So I signed up. Its been nothing but pure joy since. To a certain extent Netflix has embraced the new-age tech of the internet and mixed it with the old-school tech of video rental. A person still ends up browsing movies, and you can hover to see descriptions. Instead of searching blindly you rate films, which helps Netflix to better know you; thus suggesting movies you might like. Makes it a lot easier, and you can spend as much time as you like browsing without feeling awkward. While I understand their system of DVD delivery - stations all across the US - its still amazing how damn fast they are. Its nice to see that kind of turnaround, because there really is minimal wait. My queue is growing, but I don’t feel as though I need to frantically reorder movies since I know they’ll get here in time. By fair the single most important feature (to me) are the streaming movies. Included in the general subscription plan, a user can stream movies on their computer. Its let me be able to watch movies I want to sooner - several have gone into my actual DVD queue as well. I like it because it appeals to the new internet generation that wants its information faster. That and it means less time waiting for a film, and not feeling bad about not liking something either. However you look at it Netflix is a great service, I see many happy times with it ahead.