I am interested in feedback from Netflix users. For those unfamiliar with the service, for a $20 flat monthly rate, you can “borrow” DVDs- no shipping charge to you or to send back.
http://www.netflix.com/Default
Has anyone used this and liked it? I signed up and picked three movies, so I’m curious to see how fast they arrive, etc.
Zette
Yeah, I’ve been a Netflix subscriber for about a year now. Shipping times aren’t the fastest in the world (it takes several days before the movies you order arrive), but you can hardly blame them for using the cheapest shipping available since they’re a flat-rate service. To get the most for your money, stack up movies in your rental queue. That way the next batch ships as soon as the ones you sent back arrive. You should be able to keep a fairly steady stream of movies flowing that way.
I’ve had no problems with Netflix. Their web site is fast and functional. The one time the US Postal Service lost one of my movies, Netflix gave me no hassle about it - they simply shipped me another copy. I was afraid they’d try to make me pay to replace it or something, but nothing like that happened.
In my opinion, DVD’s beat the hell out of videotapes, and Netflix beats the hell out of the local video stores. I haven’t been to a video store in months.
love it, love it, love it! i shall never darken the viddy store’s door again. theyve got a pretty good selection of docs and indies and old stuff, lots of silents, with some weird holes (‘dazed and confused’, but no ‘slackers’?) i dont watch a whole lotta first run movies.
recently upgraded from 3 to 4 movies, mainly because i just cant give ‘american movie’ back.
i live really close, tho, so i get em two days after theyre shipped. netflix is the best!
Used to. I was one of the early adopters and had 4/$20. This meant that I could watch 2 at a time, generally, while the other 2 were in transit. I eventually figured out a way to speed things up slightly - I could report that I had mailed back a little “early” 
and they would turn the next title loose. This method could usually trim about 2 days off the turnaround. In general, if you get a DVD, watch it, and send it back the next day, you could turn it around in about a week. So this means you could theoretically see 8-12 DVDs/mo if you can get to the mailbox every day. The last time they sent me a “come back” email, though, they were only doing 3/$20.
Another downside is that very new releases are often unavailable. The only way I could get them was to get on the list for it as soon as they were put up on the site. I got one DVD that way one day before its street date.
The reason I quit was I found that I didn’t have enough time to watch enough DVDs to make the service a good enough deal for me. I absolutely loved being able to skip Blockbuster and not worry about return dates, but the service costs you even when you’re on vacation and not turning them over.
Also, they have a large collection of adult material, which they would not send to me in Tennessee because of local laws. They would screw up 
every once in a while, though, and some would get through.
One DVD got lost in the mail, and I reported that I never got it, and they didn’t charge me for it.
Overall, I think it’s great for someone with enough time to watch a lot of DVDs. Just be sure you’re watching enough to justify the monthly fee compared to Blockbuster or whatever your alternative is.
I’m a new member, and I love it so far. It is fun to build up your queue, and then when you know you’re ready for the next one, just manipulate your list so that you’ll get what you feel like watching. You should also rate movies that you’ve already seen, because it will customize movie recommendations for you. It’s pretty cool.
I been a member for over a year now and I love it.
Once a dvd broke during shipment and they gave me no problem with it.
The only thing is that you need to watch the movie and send it back.
Sounds simple? Well my wife picked out some movies and we have one that has been sitting on top of the dvd player since MARCH. She just hasn’t been in the mood to watch it yet.
Why did I give her my password?
Love it. I have the top service 8/$37 because I’m a brat. I love not worrying about having to return it, watching when I want to, the fun of new movies arriving in the mail… completely rocks. Now that nearly everything is coming out on DVD, I pretty much never go to the video store anymore.
Highly recommend.
2 complaints: they got rid of the “remind me” list, and I hate myself because I forgot to print mine out, and if they have the first version of a DVD already and a Special Edition comes out later, they won’t stock it. Oh, and this practice of splitting double-disc sets into two for rental purposes is kind of annoying.
Oh, and one more great thing about it: no agonizing over whether I want to spend the money to see a particular movie, since I pay the same rate no matter what. So I see any and every movie that even slightly interests me, and I will rent movies I’ve already seen in the theatre just to check out the DVD extras, etc. It doesn’t cost extra, so why not?
stoid
Sounds like a winner to me! I don’t watch TV, so I have no cable/sattelite bill. $20 a month is a great deal for mega DVDs. Also, I just bought a laptop with a DVD player in it, so I’ll use it lots with that. Huzza! I can’t wait!
Zette
I’ve used it for about a year and a half.
I like them for the sole fact that they have movies that I couldn’t find anywhere else, outside of buying them. If I wanted to get the latest blockbuster movie I’d go down to, well, Blockbuster. I don’t use Netflix for big films at all.
But while Netflix does have quite a large selection of out of the way titles, you usually have to wait quite a while before receiving some of them. I’ve had Key the Metal Idol: Disc Three number one in my queue for several months. They also tend to let their stock on lesser moving titles dwindle to nothing. I like Netflix a lot, but if they stopped carrying the alternative movies I’d drop 'em in a second.
At any rate, I started with the 3 DVD/$20, then went to 5 DVD/$30. I dropped down to the 2 DVD/$13 when I realized that I simply do not watch the movies in a timely enough manner to make the $30 worth it.
So, I’d highly recommend Netflix, but not if you’re just looking to go for big Hollywood titles. Just go down to your local video store for that.