Friday · February 17 2006
Netflix starting a $4.99/month plan
1 DVD at a time, limit 2 per month. As the post says, I think they're starting this plan with the intent of upgrading users once they get going. However, I'll bet they get their fair share of people like me who will consider downgrading, since the more expensive, unlimited plans end up being a waste for our renting habits.
This inspired me to look up my entire Netflix history -- I joined in June of 2003 -- determine how much I'd spent on the membership and divide by the number of movies I've watched... I'm at $3.60 per movie. I think that's actually pretty reasonable. Am I off?
I think $3.60 a movie is pretty good. I know that we're nowhere near that. We are the market segment that keep them in business.
We are not doing as well either. However, we watch stuff in spurts so I don't think one movie makes sense for us. One movie at a time would probably eliminate one of the main reasons I like Netflix in the first place - variety.
I tend to look at my Netflix membership in terms of what would it cost if I rented movies at Blockbuster. We are so bad at returning movies that $20/month is probably a good deal if we watch zero movies. Since Blockbuster has changed its late movie policy this might not be solid mathematics anymore. I have no idea.
I don't even know how much we pay per month, actually. We have been using Netflix almost since it began. We actually get 4 movies a month due to some grandfather clause.
I'm at $2.42 per movie, so it's definitely a good deal for a movie-holic like me.
In case you're wondering: 176 movies in 19 months. Yikes. I'm the market segment that would drive Netflix out of business, were it not for members like Jason and Stacy.
176 movies in just over a year and a half. Crap, that's alot. You and Kelly should share movie stories.
We have a hard enough time keeping up with the few TV shows that we record on the computer. That's why our movie rental habits are so low. TV, gaming, music, and reading have all won out over watching movies in our house.
How are the DVD's from Netflix in terms of quality of play? I have gotten fed up with Blockbuster's crappy scratched DVD's.
Last month, we had to endure a worm hole through the middle of March of the Penguins. Last week, we lost a 20 minute section of Cinderella Man, after which I immediately took the disk back to Blockbuster, told them to clean & inspect their DVDs, and demanded a full refund. I also told them that I rather pay an extra $1 to order the movie on-demand from our cable company.
So tonight, we are renting on-demand again via digital cable for $4.99 for 24 hrs. At this point, I just don't want to be interrupted by skips during the show.