Netflix - The Future of Movie Rental is Now

If you haven't heard of Netflix, you probably live under a rock. Your rock probably does not have a television, get mail, or have internet connection. Enough about your rock, let me introduce you to Netflix if you are unfamiliar. Netflix is an online movie viewing and mail order movie viewing service. Though they offer online viewing, Netflix is known for their key feature: the movies come to you. Movies come in the mail and are returned the same way. This convenience allows Netflix to power over its competitors, mainly because we movie watchers are lazy (you know who you are). Netflix has about 20,000 more movies than Blockbuster Online. Video stores have between 15,000 and 40,000 titles in their stores, while Netflix has over 100,000. So how does it stack up against a rival competitor - the Redbox kiosks that are popping up everywhere. Well,  with only 100 titles at a time, they can’t really compete with Netflix. Netflix also offers a free trial to allow their future customers to experience their service prior to signing up. This 2-week trial takes just a few minutes to set-up and only one click online to cancel your account if you are not satisfied.

Netflix also allows for online movie-watching. You can select a movie and watch it instantly in varying quality as the bitrate of the movie depends on the bandwidth of your internet connection. If you have a slow connection, the movie will still stream but it may look pixilated. Unlimited online movies come with the unlimited plans. The basic Netflix plan is $4.99 per month, and if you watch 3 movies in a month, the average rental cost comes out to $1.73. Of course if you are a Netflix animal, you are ever vigilant of the time you have unwatched movies. An eager fanatic can watch  movies in a month (if you return 1 every day or 2 with a 1 day lag time between mailings) bringing your movie rental fee to $0.33.Because Netflix has well-spread shipping centers, almost all movies will be delivered in just one business day! I love this feature because other mail order movie services reportedly take at least four days
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Netflix has a social aspect as well as a family centric aspect. If you have a family, you can set online preferences to allow your children to order movies appropriate for their age groups. You can also recommend your favorite movies to your Netflix friends when you are logged on to your account. If you have an Xbox, Wii, or PlayStation gaming system with the Netflix app, you can even "watch" movies with your friends. And keep in mind, Netflix doesn’t charge late fees! How many times have you rented a movie from Blockbuster or any other movie rental store, and you return it one or two days late to get hit hard with the late fees. Keep movies as long as you want with Netflix.

Even though I've found some great things about this service, Netflix does have its downfalls. With Netflix, it’s a bit more difficult to simply browse their movies. With a physical store, you can walk around, see all of the titles, and make a selection. Netflix is great (in fact better) if you know exactly the film you are looking for; but if you are just looking for a random comedy, it becomes more of a process
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Its online capabilities can be compromising when it comes to movie night. A spontaneous urge to watch a specific movie doesn’t fit with Netflix. Because you have to wait for the movie to come in the mail, you must plan ahead. You can watch it online, but that’s not the environment most movie-watchers are yearning for and many (some would say most) of their newer more popular titles are not available for online viewing.

Netflix is a great entertainment option for movie-loving people.  Sure, there are some inconvenient aspects, but overall it’s worth the price. Netflix allows you to watch more movies for cheaper than other services.

This guest post has been provided by Nicolas DAlleva. Nicolas is the CEO of a live operator answering service and call center service.