I’m going to take the unusual move and post, below, and almost complete cut and paste of a piece of corporate informational mail from Netflix. If you are Netflix user, you’ve already got this in your email box, most likely. Before I do this, I want to explain why.
I’m not shy about critiquing corporations on this blog, but there are three things that compel me to be supportive of Netflix at this moment. I will add a bad thing or two about Netflix as well for those of you who hate kittens.
The first thing is that Netflix is not Blockbuster; Netflix is not obnoxious and evile like Blockbuster, it provides a better product, it is what Blockbuster should have been but was not smart enough or perhaps too greedy to be, and Netflix took a big chance with a totally new business model and made life better. Especially for me because I’ve never had very many friends and don’t get out much, so the little DVDs that came in the red envelopes were like my friends. Later, when Netflix started the streaming service, I still kept around a few DVDs (they were my friends, after all) but then I was able to not even have to go out to the mail box (which is down the street). So I could go out even less. Netflix became even better at enabling my hermit-like existence.
The second is that I think that Netflix has gotten the shaft lately when they changed their pricing policy. I had this big argument with all my in-laws all at once. Even my in-law’s in-laws were in on it. As a rule they all have higher end cable or satellite (or both) hooked up to 20 foot wide TV’s and surround sound. I estimate the annualized cost of hardware for the typical system as being at least $240. The cable and/or satellite costs must be between $100 ad $200 a month. And they still go out to movies to the tune of at least $40 a month. The change in Netflix price structure that occurred a couple of months ago when they separated their DVD service and their streaming service was less than $10 a month.
$20 + $150 + $40 >> $10. Yet, they spoke of Netflix as though it had crushed a puppy in front of a school yard of 6th graders. Apoplectic. Spitting, even.
I noticed a similar sentiment in various snorking arenas as well, especially on G+ for some reason.
I’ve told everyone in person why they are wrong about this, about how this is nothing like what Comcast or some other cable company might do to them in a given month’s bill without them even noticing or complaining, but no one listened. Very unfair. I realized that the reason people were mad is not because of the money, but because of the way Netflix made the change. More on that in a moment.
The third reason I’m supporting Netflix is that they’ve actually been very responsive to me. A few times I’ve complained about a technical problem with a feed, and they took money off my monthly bill. Once, on this very blog, I complained about an illogical feature of their Interface, and they totally changed their interface to exactly what I suggested. (I have it on my list of things to do to have Amazon change their interface next. I’ll keep you posted on this.)
There are down sides to Netflix. And, in fact, I’ve complained about them more than I’ve praised them, but that’s because this is a blog and that’s what we do here. In particular, I’m annoyed that the Roku uses Linux (which is good) but streaming on a computer requires Windows and Internet Explorer some Windows-only softare and does not work on a Linux computer. And in fact, with this presentation of a Pro-Netflix blog post, I will renew my efforts at biting at their heels on that issue.
In the meantime it appears that Netflix has realized what I realized the moment I saw it: The change in pricing structure was not bad and demonstrated, if put in perspective, that Netflix was actually NOT doing what the cable and satellite services were doing. But, people didn’t get that in part becuase Netflix told people about this policy in a way that made people mad, even though the change is not particularly enraging. Thus, the Netflix price structure change was a failure in … well, framing.
So, Netflix has a new strategy: They are actually splitting the streams into two distinct things, with two different names (one being Quikster, thus the title of this post). And, they are trying to make the whole situation more clear and more palatable. And, they’ve apologized for saying it wrong the first time around.
Pursuant to this, Netflix’s Reed Hastings has written the letter to which I refer, and a blog post. The letter is below, and the blog post is here.
Dear Greg,
I messed up. I owe you an explanation.
It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.
For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn’t make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.
So here is what we are doing and why.
Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.
I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.
So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.
It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.
Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.
There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.
For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.
I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.
Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.
Respectfully yours,
-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix
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Watched Netflix on Chrome last night. Watched it on Firefox prior to that. Have never watched it on IE.
Nice article Greg, one small correction. Netflix does not require Internet Explorer, it requires Microsoft Silverlight. I’ve only ever used Firefox for my Netflix streaming. I’m not sure but, I think Silverlight is available as a plug-in for most of the Windows and Mac browsers.
Connie and Paul, I stand corrected. I don’t keep up with the latest since it does not run on Linux at all. Which is the point, still.
Excellent article. First time I’ve read your blog, but will be back. This is exactly what I’ve been saying for the last two months. And your point about running on Roku but not Linux is extremely on point. They need to address that. Just say how they do it, and if we can we can, and if we can’t for whatever reason, we can’t. But at least we’ll know it’s just not ’cause they don’t wanna.
Netflix actually works very nicely on the Mac. However, I use it almost exclusively via my AppleTV into my flat screen. I have some quibbles with the AppleTV Netflix interface but, overall it works very well. I am with you though, it would be nice if Linux were also supported. I suspect they just don’t see enough demand to do a Linux implementation of Silverlight. What would be great is if somebody in the Linux Open Source community could hack one together.
Anyone up for the challenge?
After Hastings email, I tried replying to him:
“It’s not for any of those reasons I stopped Netflix. It’s your customer service that couldn’t handle an issue generated by Netflix and the complete disregard for my time in trying to address the problem Netflix created with an alleged missing disk, which, incidentally, magically appeared the very next day (the day after I sent it, which is 100% normal, but not for your folks in CS).”
But apparently, Net-Twit Hastings doesn’t want to receive a reply, lust like their phony customer service.
I have been told that Netflix withholds the few key things (whatever they may be) to make a hack reasonably easy because they don’t want a hack, because once the Linux community hacks Netflix on a Linux box the next step will be to hack the Netflix archive and all of their movies will be freely distributed by Linux users.
But, you are right: This is doable without Netflix. And, the version of the hack done against their will may well be what they fear rather than something that would be beneficial to them.
“Netflix Admits Arrogance”
“In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success.bla bla bla”
As a long time customer, here my thoughts:
A long time ago when you raised the price and customers including myself fled, THAT WAS ARROGANCE!
You got us back by apologizing and went back to the old price.
When you started to full around with the price of 1 DVD vs 3 DVDs, THAT WAS ARROGANCE!
When on Nov. 2010 you raised the price from $8.99 a month to $9.99 a month. THAT WAS ARROGANCE!
Since July 2011, when you again raised the price to $15.98, the price of the stock skyrocketed, and the explanation since and today, IS NOT ARROGANCE, IS GREED AND STUPIDITY!
So my response to you before I cancel and never come back, is: FUCK YOU AND DIE!!!!! ASSHOLES
What is snorking?
Marco. I only hope that you also get this emotionally-tangled in matters that are actually meaningful….things like solving world hunger, curing cancer, political unrest and the like. It’s actually comical to me to watch you and others get so engulfed in something like this.
If you don’t like the service and the price, then cancel it and move on. Personally, I’m tired of cheap-ass moaners like you.
Yup. Linux users will first complain that Netflix doesn’t make their software open source, then if Netflix releases something that is 3rd party, they will try like the dickens to hack into it. Obviously, if Netflix made it opensource, it would be immediately changed. And finally, very few people exclusively use linux (most including myself are hobbyist with linux).
I keep saying it but if Linux is ever going to be a laptop or desktop OS, the Linux community is going to have to start paying for software and other perks. If there is no money to be made, why develop anything for Linux? Plus, another problem while I am ranting, there are so many versions of Linux, it’s a nightmare for companies to support. Can you imagine the customer support that Netflix would have to take on to do Linux? Sir, what version Linux are you using??? Ubuntu (if so, which version), OpenSuse, Debian, Redhat, Puppy Linux, etc etc…
I’m not sure how raising the price of a service one extra dollar a month is arrogance. But who am I to say what is and what is not arrogance? I’m not marco, Arbiter of Arbitrary Ascriptions of Arrogance.
That dude isn’t “fulling” around whatsoever.
Linux has silverlight. It’s called Moonlight, put out by the mono project.
What linux doesn’t have is the Microsoft DRM which is the crux of the issue. The ability to play Windows Media in Silverlight/Moonlight is provided by Microsoft (“Once you install Moonlight from the above URL to play video or audio, you will be prompted by Moonlight to install the Microsoft Media Pack for Moonlight available from Microsoft.” http://www.mono-project.com/Moonlight) There’s no Microsoft DRM planned, as it will be a cold day in hell before Microsoft will allow that to happen.
On the other hand, flash-based services such as Hulu and Amazon Prime work just fine, which is why I welcome Netflix’ move. Now I get the same service at the same price as all the other customers.
(And regarding Linux users paying for software and hacking into things, you should note the piracy rates on Linux, Mac, and Windows and Google “humble bundle linux” Your prejudice is showing. 😉
Russell, Snorking is Social NetwORKING. The word encompases tweeting, facebooking, etc. It is in the Urban Dictionary.
Shawn, first of all most computing cycles running on the internet or internet related activities are Linux cycles, so I don’t think “if you don’t charge for it Linux won’t exist or develop” misses a lot.
Having said that, I agree with part of what you are saying. I am not a purist. Netflix can produce an app that they charge you for and you put it on Linux and run it.
Of course, they are not charging for people who have Windows computers to use that system to access their paid service, so this may be a bad place to test the paid model.
Joseph: Linux has silverlight. It’s called Moonlight, put out by the mono project.
What linux doesn’t have is the Microsoft DRM which is the crux of the issue.
Exactly.
I guess I am less concerned with the price increase than I am with the catalogue of streaming movies. Up to now it has been continuously growing and getting better. As Starz just refused to re-up their contract the Netflix streaming catalogue will drop by 8% in February. As further contracts that Netflix had the foresight to lock in at what turned out to be extremely advantageous rates come up for renewal it seems inevitable Netflix will either raise prices by a lot or get squeezed out. Netflix is in the unenviable position of owning neither the content nor the bandwidth to deliver the content. I fear it is a matter of time before the cable/telecom companies and/or the movie studios decide to quit sharing the profits.
Netflix is in the unenviable position of owning neither the content nor the bandwidth to deliver the content.
But there are a lot of highly touted business models in which you come to the table with an idea, avoid owning anything, get everyone else to do everything, and leave with a pile of cash. When they go down, they won’t own rights they can’t use or bandwidth they’ve contracted to use.
Here’s what I don’t understand about Netflix’s move, why didn’t they just wait for Blockbuster to go out of business? Then they could do whatever they want. True enough, they’re not only a ‘mail order video store’, but the video stores (that is to say, blockbuster) surely are their big competitor. On the streaming side, a lot of cable services provide streaming content, with a good chunk of it for free.
Also, despite the shenanigans that the cable company might pull, very few people are going to drop cable to keep Netflix, two very different services. Maybe it’d be comparable if you had an /antenna/ on your house and could get a good signal (and notice now that’d mean HD content in most places), and then supplement that with Netflix, but again I don’t see very many people doing that.
If you’re paying $X for something and suddenly, out of the blue and all at once, the price goes to 1.6x $X, you’re going to be pissed off if you have any sense at all. Whether or not it’s still cheaper than some other thing is immaterial. Pointing that out would be like me claiming their original price was a ripoff because I can get all the videos I want from my library system for free. So what if I can, that’s hardly the point.
The problem they’re facing is that they’ve made — in quick sucession — two big moves to make their customers’ experience (especially their existing, loyal, fans) worse. Since the changes were done out of the blue it naturally makes those customers wonder what’s next.
Maybe it’d be comparable if you had an /antenna/ on your house and could get a good signal (and notice now that’d mean HD content in most places), and then supplement that with Netflix, but again I don’t see very many people doing that.
That would be me in a NY Minute if I had internet from any other source but Cable. Cable gives me absolutely nothing that I can’t get from an antennae that I want.
In all honesty, I am really quite happy with the pricing schema. I pay $7.95 for streaming service and just don’t do with the discs – which suits me fine. I have enough trouble as it is, keeping track of library books – I don’t need something else to take care of, with a three year old bumbling about. While there are things that we don’t get as a result, we somehow manage to survive. There has been very little we wanted to watch that isn’t available.
The incompatibility with Linux is considerably more of an irritation. Our HTPC dual boots (when I have the time, I will install windows virtually) so it isn’t a problem – for that matter, our tee vee is connected to netflix – it’s just really damned slow. But it is one of those things that rather annoys me as it would be nice to go exclusively Linux. Unfortunately that is unlikely to happen any time soon. If for no other reason than I need to use bloody damned MS Office for too many classes.
If you’re paying $X for something and suddenly, out of the blue and all at once, the price goes to 1.6x $X, you’re going to be pissed off if you have any sense at all.
No, you are not! This sort of thing happens all the time and people don’t get pissed off. I heard zero complaints when Twin Cities comcast rasised their rates by 20 percent and cut off half the stations in one fell swoop. On a per station basis (and I’m not talking about home shopping and preachers, but stations like MSNBC) they more than doubled their price. No one complained when Major League Baseball stopped showing almost any games in the twin cities, forcing people to start paying someone lots of money every month just to watch the Twins get beat. If you look at your bills, there are often two digit increases in price that don’t seem like they are because they are only for part of a service, buried in taxes or other fees.
But yes, the percentage is a bit shocking. But the sensible person does the following two things:
1) Rather than making a very rash decision on the basis of an increase of 5% of your total costs by 60%, you notice that are shelling out 300 bucks a month and suddenly you are shelling out 306 bucks a month, and wonder if your life is really in balance rather than getting mad at Netflix; then
2) Spend an hour in a state of pure self honesty watching your cable or sat stations, looking through them, for something they give you wihtout any commercials that you don’t pay extra for for the tune of way, way more than 6 bucks a month!
Since the changes were done out of the blue it naturally makes those customers wonder what’s next.
I agree. There is no doubt that they did not handle this well.
Schenck –
Between Amazon Prime, Netflix and the shows that the networks put up on their own sites after they have aired and the library, I don’t have any use cable.* There is certainly crap that I can’t watch in a timely fashion within that schema, but not a lot.** And as the networks are finally getting their heads out of their asses and figuring out how to use the internets, cable is steadily heading the way of the dodo anyways.
Of course the methods they use to do so may not be terribly compatible with the Linux either. The few network shows I watch use Flash, but those are all on CBS. For some stupid reason MS’s Silverlight seems to be gaining in popularity and it is unlikely they will make it compatible with Linux.
* I do sometimes get DVDs from the library and due to a very generous gift, the boys and I have a headstart on a documentary blu ray collection*** – we just need a blu ray drive now.
** I have to admit that Doctor Who and Torchwood are a problem, but I don’t expect they will be for all that much longer. In the meantime I have a solution that would surely condemn me to hell if I believed in such a place.
*** I had the BBC High Definition Natural History Collections – 1 & 2 on our family Amazon wishlist and someone bought it for us. There is a long story as to why it was on there in the first place, but that was totally unexpected.
If you’re paying $X for something and suddenly, out of the blue and all at once, the price goes to 1.6x $X, you’re going to be pissed off if you have any sense at all.
Seriously? Look, I have two boys I am raising essentially on my own. I am a (usually) full time student. Due to mine and my elder son’s neurological issues I spend a lot of time dealing with shit most parents don’t even imagine exists. I am also way too sensitive about bad things that happen to other people, usually in other parts of the world, that I can do nothing about.
In the scheme of things, a service I use going up by $6 a month in price really doesn’t bother me all that much. Personally, I am far more concerned about the roughly $40-50 a month increase in my transportation costs. Although I have already noted that I only use the streaming service, so the price schema is actually to my advantage. But seriously, a six dollar increase in shit that I do use wouldn’t be a big deal in the general scheme of things. I have a hell of a lot more important things to worry about…Such as Linux compatibility…
“I have a hell of a lot more important things to worry about…Such as Linux compatibility…”
That would be a great tee-shirt.
So you are honestly telling me that you’re not pissed off when something jumps in price, completely out of the blue, by 60%? I’m not asking if you still think it’s worth it, or think it’s justified, or anything like that. I’m asking if you don’t say “damn” when you find out about it, when you wake up one morning and find that, completely unexpectedly, you’ve been hit with a 60% price increase.
As I said before, the real issue for Netflix and its customers is that they handled this in a way that has to make their present (and future) customers wary of a company they liked an awful lot just a month ago. They could’ve done it differently for both issues: tell people it’s going to happen at some point in the future, say a couple of months. Allow current customers a deal with future customers getting the new price, maybe with the current price only lasting for, say, a year. But they didn’t do that.
The splitting of the stores really doesn’t make any sense unless they’re planning on offing the disc biz, and here’s a problem with that. Maybe they aren’t, but their customers are going to wonder because of the way these two issues were sprung. Netflix won’t even be able to reassure their customers at this point, because why would anyone believe them? It was stupid customer relations, at best, and customer relations was one thing they had going for them in spades. Hey, maybe they decided they just didn’t need all that good word of mouth.
Signed, a non-upset, non-worried, non-Netflix customer. 🙂
(and more likely to stay that way after their actions this past month)
So you are honestly telling me that you’re not pissed off when something jumps in price, completely out of the blue, by 60%?
First, I’m not being dishonest! And you’ve rephrased the question to not be relevant to my point. I am telling you that I spend about 55 bucks a month on TV stuff not counting equipment, and the price went closer to 60, and those I mention above spend closer to 300 bucks and the price went closer to 305. In fact, if anybody should be madder, it should be me. On top of that, when I look at the BS and lousy service and constant commercials etc. you get if you buy into cable or sat vs. watching commercial free streaming or renting DVD’s, the good guys (relatively speaking) are asking for a few more bucks and the bad guys are already charging an arm and a leg and, at least in my area, threatening to shut down all streaming but their own.
I wasn’t hit wit a 60 percent price increase. I was notified of a small change in the overall cost. Hey, Julia and I went to the movies the other day and the price for a ticket had gone up since the previous time so that the two of us spent 10 dollars more for ONE movie. I noticed, complained, got mad, jumped up and down and everything. So rest assured, I’m normal.
Oh, and get this: There is a TV show we were watching on netflix streaming. The streaming has only the first three seasons. To watch the fourth season, we have to get the DVD or wait. Those options are within the price structure, no extra fee.
Or, we could go to Amazon.com, netflix streaming competition. I pay amazon 70 bucks a year so I can have a handful of “free” movies. To watch each of seasons 4 and 5 on amazon would be 40 bucks (total, 80 bucks). I assume boxed sets would be 25 bucks each. Or we could have the higher end cable. That’s close to 200 bucks a month.
So why am I mad at netflix again? Why are YOU not using netflix!?!?!!?/
(Hey, I should get a commission … prolly Neil thinks I am).
I guess I’m unusual, but I liked it when they split the services. I don’t have high-speed internet since I live in the boonies & DSL is not available, and satellite is too expensive and cuts out on a regular basis here anyway. So I never had any use for streaming video and it bugged me to have to download the pics for the streaming video I couldn’t use. I went straight DVD and despite my boony-ish location I get new ones in 2 days. I just didn’t get the angst at all. Things change. Services change. Meh.
Anthrosciguy –
Allow current customers a deal with future customers getting the new price, maybe with the current price only lasting for, say, a year. But they didn’t do that.
I started with Netflix a couple of months ago and opened my account under the current price structure. Not that that does anything for the existing customers, but suffice to say I was really confused by the email I got from them.
The splitting of the stores really doesn’t make any sense unless they’re planning on offing the disc biz, and here’s a problem with that.
Actually there are a lot of folks who just aren’t interested in discs anymore. My guess would be that they separated them to see whether the disc biz even makes sense anymore. Keep in mind that buying hard media for rental costs a hell of a lot more than it does for direct consumers. Netflix has to keep up a relatively high levels of stock for a whole lot of movies and tee vee, which costs a whole lot of money. Streaming is a lot cheaper for them.
Also keep in mind a lot of people are switching towards 1080p or better high def. While I daresay we’re a ways off from DVDs being obsolete, it is coming. And the obsolescence of optical media won’t be all that far behind. While it takes a few minutes to load, I can watch high def content streamed directly to my tee vee. It is near enough to instant through my PC, that it might as well be (though admittedly I am privileged to have built a decent PC that can multitask as an HTPC – better than it would have beem, due to an Amazon mistake and some wheeling and dealing).
Bottom line, I doubt they will have disc service for a whole lot longer. They sure as hell aren’t going to change over to blu ray and would do better to just improve their infrastructure to handle the higher demands of a changing media paradigm. I can almost guarantee that the cable/satellite tee vee paradigm won’t even exist in a decade and hard media formats won’t be all that far behind.
I just built an HTPC for a friend that doesn’t even have an optical drive. He has a media server that contains a blu ray drive. He just puts in discs and they automatically rip – full content, except for warnings and previews. Everything in the system is low wattage – especially the HTPC, which sports a SSD. The media server has a solid state system drive, so the only time mechanical drives run is when it is copying whatever media is going to be watched to the server system drive for streaming. The vast majority of the time neither machine has any moving parts and power consumption is barely to this side of nothing when they’re idle. Overall they consume far less power than most “traditional” media devices.
He is far from alone.
Greg –
Or, we could go to Amazon.com, netflix streaming competition. I pay amazon 70 bucks a year so I can have a handful of “free” movies. To watch each of seasons 4 and 5 on amazon would be 40 bucks (total, 80 bucks). I assume boxed sets would be 25 bucks each. Or we could have the higher end cable. That’s close to 200 bucks a month.
First…HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! It’s half that for me, because I am a student…
Are you really displeased with their “free” selection? I mean personally I prefer the netflix interface, because it flows from one episode to the next more easily – easily enough that Dave can manage to start another (though that is not necessarily a good thing if I doze off in the afternoon – too much Diego, Dora or “My Little Pony” will rot the brain – especially the latter). But netflix doesn’t have “Doctor Who” or “Highlander” the tee vee series – the latter being very conducive to a vegetative state.
Personally, I just got the prime membership for the free two day shipping – and because I got two trials and then a full year free when I made my account a student account – and now I pay $35 a year.
I like their free selection. I’m just noting that there are some limitations to it.
BTW, regarding DVD quality, I checked the “blueray” box on my Netflix account several months back so the “dvd”s come as bluerays. But, like you say, I don’t get very many of them. I should probably cancel that service or start using it for real.
NetFlix needs some good stiff competition…their DVD’s are scratched and play poorly.
Speaking for us Northern Neighbours, the reaction to the price change was a bit hilarious to me. The problem up here is content… or rather the lack thereof. Due to restrictions (I believe resulting from our own government) the content Netflix has up here is an absolute joke.
I would gladly pay the new price they have inflicted upon you if it meant I could access the same content! Instead I’ll keep paying the exorbitant price for cable and dream of a world where an arbitrary line on a map doesn’t quadruple shipping costs and decimate Netflix content.
i like my netflix. when i heard about the splitting of DVD and streaming it kinda annoyed me because the streaming doesn’t have the same catalog size as the DVD. that is annoying. i haven’t watched my two DVDs that have been sitting out now for 2 months. i am thinking of stopping the DVD part and just using the streaming.
by the way, i stream netflix through my xbox onto my 37″ lcd tv. it looks *great* and i have noticed that the quality of the picture has gone up in the last year. it always looks HD-ish now, when before it could look old worn out VHS-ish.
. i haven’t watched my two DVDs that have been sitting out now for 2 months.
Oh! Thanks for reminding me. I knew there was something I was meaning to do!
Hey, who was going to come over and watch the Princes Bride? Oh well, might as well send it back.
The DVD rental may be good for when the streaming of a given TV series runs out and you want to watch then next season sooner than later. Not that that always works.
“Hey, who was going to come over and watch the Princes Bride?”
Never start a land war in asia or argue about internet pricing structures.
Alas, I returned the princess bride unwatched.
Thanks for the information on Netflix. I’ve been thinking about subscribing but really wasn’t sure if I should or not. With the Qwikster split I wasn’t sure how reliable Netflix was and if it was something I wanted to get into. I know it also had a huge stock drop off. It is starting to come back. I think I made up my mind with help from your post. You listed helpful pros and cons. I think it seems like it would be a good decisions to subscribe. Thanks again. Your post was very well written!
i was with netflix, but the renew is in 2 weeks and they have stopped accepting prepaids… even for those running the streaming service… i smell itunes or hulu 😀
anyway try go here if you are leaveing netflix:
http://netflixcommunity.ning.com/forum/topics/goodbye-netflix