The Switch from Blockbuster to Netflix

I remember when the first Blockbuster store opened in our city. I was there the day that it opened and was one of the first people to get a membership. Until that point, the only option for movie rentals were local, independent stores. Blockbuster offered a larger choice of movies in a quality environment. I spent many nights wandering the isles in search for the right movie.

As the video market progressed, so did Blockbuster. Going from VHS tapes to DVDs. When Netflix came along and made it clear that there was a market for online rentals, Blockbuster took that next step as well. I will admit that for a long time, I was against the idea of online, through the mail, rentals. I enjoyed the experience of going to the store to pick out the movie. Besides, who wants to wait several days to watch a movie. However, after much prodding by my wife, we finally decided to give it a try. Much to my surprise, it worked out very well. We were usually able to get the movies that we wanted and in a very timely manner. We liked it so much that we even gave my grandfather a subscription to Christmas.

Everything went great for the first year or so that we had our subscription. Then things started to change. When we first signed up, we were able to get unlimited free, in-store rentals. Then one day, we received an email stating that they had changed the terms of service and we would only be able to get five free, in-store rentals. Although, not happy with the change, we understood. We then started to notice that the movies were taking longer to clear our queue and also to arrive. They were being sent to and from a location that was only about 75 miles away, so there was no reason for it to take more than a day to reach it's destination. Also, selections that we had in our queue which had previously been available, were starting to no longer be available. For instance, we had started to watch The Closer and had all of the seasons in the queue. We received season one and two. When it came time to get season three, the queue indicated that it was no longer available. When I questioned Blockbuster, I was told that they no longer had the DVDs and could not get anymore. It was as though we were suppose to believe that Blockbuster only had one copy of the season and somehow, it became lost and they were unable to purchase another.

The final straw came in the last few weeks. We received an email stating that there would no longer be a return date on the free in-store rentals. This sounded great until, after renting a movie in-store, we never received our next movie through the mail. Upon inquiring into the matter, I discovered the reason. Although there would no longer be due dates for in-store rentals, we would no longer receive a movie in the mail until the in-store movie was returned. After finding out this information, I decided that it was time to cancel Blockbuster and give Netflix a try.

The day after signing up, we received the first movie from Netflix. However, the most impressive aspect was that immediately upon signing up, we were able to instantly watch free, unlimited movies and videos online. Blockbuster had been offering online viewing of certain movies for several months, although they charged for each movie. So I was very impressed with the free online viewing option that Netflix offers. Although the available selection is not as large as what one might want and most new releases are not available for online viewing, the ones that are available appear to be in high quality. We use a CRT projector with a 92 inch screen and from what I have seen thus far, the online videos are comparable to DVDs.

We have only been with Netflix for about two weeks, but so far, we have been very satisfied. We have received all selections in a timely manner. We did have one disc that was physically damaged, but that is eventually going to happen. The envelops that the disks are sent in are a little oversized, which creates an unnatural flap at the end which I have been unable to understand why its there. But that is just a minor annoyance.

Since switching, I have caught myself once or twice thinking that I should go to the store to rent a movie, which I am sure will soon pass. To be honest, I have my doubts whether the stores are going to be around much longer anyway. From what I understand, Blockbuster has already started looking into bankruptcy. Our local store recently reduced it's operating hours. Just as with most things in life, there is a time for change. Blockbuster had it's time, but now it is time to move on. Only time will tell if Netflix will continue to impress.