On video on demand and DVD...

I used to like going into the corner DVD store to rent DVD's. It was good deal good, 5 DVD for 2-3 days, for $10. I like purusing the DVD's in my hand.

And then I moved, and there's no DVD store nearby. I switched to MovieLink, for downloads of movies, for essentially the same (and sometimes more expensive) price. Sometimes, old movies can be had for $1.99 which is not bad. I don't need to rush to the store to return the movies to avoid late fees. The catch(es) is, the movie quality is bad (even with 500Mb size), it can take couple of hours to download (even though I have DSL), and once you start the movie, you only have one day to watch it.

And then Netflix came along. The first thing that caught my eyes was that, the selection is large. I like old movies (like, really old movies) and new movies alike, and it has almost all that I can think of. Like MovieLink, I don't need to drive to return the DVD's. And I like the one-at-a-time plan, when the DVD comes in the mail every few days. The pace is just right for me. And if Netflix doesn't screw up (intentional or otherwise) with delays in the mail, it comes out to be cheaper than even the store and definitely MovieLink. It's no wonder why I read the report that its subscription base is expanding. It even starts my interest in blog too, to write reviews every so often, when I have a strong opinion on a particular movie (if it's particularly good or bad), and feel good to see that there're alot of people sharing my opinion in voting for my reviews.

What actually started me on this blog journal was that New York Times reporting on child abuse in Africa. Such injustice. I have to write something about it. No matter that no one read about it (yet). But if it hasn't been for Netflix, I wouldn't have felt comfortable writing the opinions, and realized that it would feel quite good knowing that I'm not alone in my opinions.

I hope Netflix will be around for a long time. It's my main source of entertainment these days. And it's so convenient and reasonably priced. If it hasn't allowed me to keep count, I would not know that I had watched close to 1000 movies since childhood. It amazes myself.