Netflix is getting desperate in their struggle against Blockbuster or they’re taking a page out of Wal-mart’s playbook and gearing up to drive out Blockbuster from online rentals altogether. I’m inclined to believe the latter is true, well, for the most part. By shaving off another dollar from their already cheap prices, Netflix is teetering on a fine line that could end up breaking them. There is no way that Blockbuster will fold their online division because people still go to B&M shops since it’s super easy and you can watch more movies than sitting around and waiting for your next batch of DVDs to arrive. I think I’ll be going back to Netflix, though. I’m lazy and rarely make it out of my apartment.
Wouldn’t have hurt your lazy a$$ to actually mention the new price of $4.99!
I’m with you Peter. I’ve come and gone with Netflix a couple of times and currently only have the “one at a time” deal. But one thing readers might be interested in is that Netflix now has a FREE (well almost, for every dollar you spend for your membership per month, they allow you an hour) instant viewing/streaming/downloading feature. It is amazing actually. I’m not sure how they do it but recently I tried the service on a crappy connection at a hotel using my lap top and the quality was every bit as good as watching using my computer’s DVD player… no stalling, no image degradation… beautiful. I find this new service particularly helpful with my crazy schedule and the “one at a time” membership. I can watch a movie whenever I have the time even without waiting for the next movie to arrive in the mail. So with my $8.99/month membership, I can watch 9 hours of streamed movies each month. Unfortunately their instant viewing option does not include all their movies yet and this can be a little frustrating but otherwise it is a great service with exceptional quality.
I love Netflix. I’ve been using them since they were only in San Jose and the shipping took several days. Like the poster, I hate going to the video store. There is a very limited selection (especially if you want TV shows) and they’re often out of what I want, IF I even know what I want.
Netflix is fantastic as it allows me to add movies to my queue as I think of them or as friends mention them, and then I don’t have to write them down and hope that Walletbuster has it in the store. Their selection is 100X better than a local store.
I don’t care how cheap Walletbuster gets or how many in-store rentals they give me, I’m just not interested in their product. As far as I’m concerned, they might as well be trying to sell me feminine hygiene products – it’s just something I don’t need.
Netflix wouldn’t have to do much right now to win back a bunch of Ballbuster subscribers, after last week’s “Hi, guess what, we’re totally buggering your plan back into the crap you expect from us, you sucker” email they sent out to everyone. Pretty much every subscription level of Blockbuster is either going up in price and/or dropping one movie and/or one in-store exchange per month, and the e-coupons for another movie in the meantime are completely history on all plans.
Blockbuster was definitely undercutting its margin to steal a bunch of us off Netflix with an amazing deal, and now that we’ve fallen for it, they’re yanking it right out from under us.
I left Netflix once to go to the Blockbuster plan. I like the wide choice and convenience online, too…the video stores never have what I want. Whereas Netflix had nearly every movie I wanted available ‘now’ and only a few just releasted big hits on ‘wait’, I found that the majority of my Blockbuster choices had ‘wait’ beside them. In addition, it often took two week days for Blockbuster to arrive and Netflix consistently arrives in one week day turnover. I wouldn’t go back to Blockbuster again even if cheaper.