Alternatives to Netflix?

[milanessa]

A co worker pointed out to me today that Amazon Prime's membership comes with unlimited streaming as well as all the other perks that come with Amazon Prime. That's cheaper than Netflix and they seem to have a ton of content. Looks like a great alternative to me. Has anyone done this? Sorry it it was mentioned upthread and I missed it.

Reckless did - sounds like a good deal.

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...9&postcount=24

[vesperholly]

The Oatmeal explains the new Netflix: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/netflix

[nerdycool]

Amazon Prime does sound promising, but at this point, their eligible library is pretty small. Yeah, they have quite a bit available for streaming, but you still have to "rent" a good portion of it, even if you are an Amazon Prime member. For example, I looked to see if they had Big Love available, since that's the series I'm currently getting on DVD with Netflix. They have it, but it's not Amazon Prime eligible, so each episode costs $1.39 to watch. Even with only 10 episodes in the season I'm in, the total for that comes very very close to my monthly Netflix subscription price.

[tuffcaco]

The Oatmeal explains the new Netflix: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/netflix

I started a free trial of Amazon Prime yesterday. It is definitely an alternative to Netflix streaming, but there is no DVD-by-mail service.

As a streaming option, it is quite good. You can watch a lot of titles with a Prime account, but several of the shows require an extra fee. Basically you have to purchase some shows (per show or per season) if they are not part of the Prime package.

There's some titles I currently watch on Netflix that I would have to pay extra for with Amazon Prime. I use Netflix for streaming educational shows for my kids. Some of the ones we watch now on Netflix would require an extra fee on Prime. But there are a few good ones that Amazon would give me with Prime that I don't have access to on Netflix.

I guess it evens out. For $79 a year, it's not a bad option.

[MacMadame]

The Oatmeal explains the new Netflix: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/netflix

DVDs and streaming aren't a sandwich. You don't need a DVD in order to stream your movie.

They also aren't a left shoe and a right shoe as mentioned above.

What this situation is more like is if a shoes store decided to stop selling boots and only sold shoes in one store while opening up a second store for boots next to the first. For some people, it's no big deal. They never wear boots. For the people who only wear boots, now they have to go a different store and that's a pain but it's the same boots they were buying before at the same price and right next door so mostly it's just an adjustment rather than a true inconvenience. For the people who buy both, it is an inconvenience because now they have to go to two stores when before they went to one store.

What I wonder is: how many customers do they have who buy both? I know when the pricing changes were announced, we went to streaming only. We hardly ever used the DVD option. We were only getting one at a time and most of the time it was something only my husband wanted to watch (it's his account) and it would sit around for weeks before it got watched and sent back. So no skin off our nose to cut out the DVD. Most of the DVDs we watch are ones we buy and we'll just continue to do that. I bet a bunch of people went to the DVD only option as well.

If they have a lot of DVD+streaming customers than splitting is weird. If they are the vast minority, I can see why it might make sense to them. Time will tell if it really makes sense, but I still suspect they don't give a hoot about the DVD business and don't really care if it fails.

[modern_muslimah]

DVDs and streaming aren't a sandwich. You don't need a DVD in order to stream your movie.

They also aren't a left shoe and a right shoe as mentioned above.

What this situation is more like is if a shoes store decided to stop selling boots and only sold shoes in one store while opening up a second store for boots next to the first. For some people, it's no big deal. They never wear boots. For the people who only wear boots, now they have to go a different store and that's a pain but it's the same boots they were buying before at the same price and right next door so mostly it's just an adjustment rather than a true inconvenience. For the people who buy both, it is an inconvenience because now they have to go to two stores when before they went to one store.

What I wonder is: how many customers do they have who buy both? I know when the pricing changes were announced, we went to streaming only. We hardly ever used the DVD option. We were only getting one at a time and most of the time it was something only my husband wanted to watch (it's his account) and it would sit around for weeks before it got watched and sent back. So no skin off our nose to cut out the DVD. Most of the DVDs we watch are ones we buy and we'll just continue to do that. I bet a bunch of people went to the DVD only option as well.

If they have a lot of DVD+streaming customers than splitting is weird. If they are the vast minority, I can see why it might make sense to them. Time will tell if it really makes sense, but I still suspect they don't give a hoot about the DVD business and don't really care if it fails.

I didn't get the cartoon either. The shoes/boots analogy is a much more appropriate one than the sandwich/bun or left shoe/right shoe one. You don't need to get DVDs in order to get streaming service and you don't need the streaming service in order to get DVDs. In fact, up until very recently, we used Netflix for DVDs even though we had the streaming option because we both hate watching movies on the computer.

We had the two DVDs+streaming option but lately we had been watching a lot more DVDs from our local library than from Netflix. Right now, I have a DVD that has been sitting on the couch for almost a week. We've switched to streaming only (we finally got hip to those Roku boxes). It's worked out great because my husband can now watch as much Star Trek and little known independent documentaries as he can stand. I also get to watch independent documentaries and British programming.

[julieann]

DVDs and streaming aren't a sandwich. You don't need a DVD in order to stream your movie.

They also aren't a left shoe and a right shoe as mentioned above.

What this situation is more like is if a shoes store decided to stop selling boots and only sold shoes in one store while opening up a second store for boots next to the first. For some people, it's no big deal. They never wear boots. For the people who only wear boots, now they have to go a different store and that's a pain but it's the same boots they were buying before at the same price and right next door so mostly it's just an adjustment rather than a true inconvenience. For the people who buy both, it is an inconvenience because now they have to go to two stores when before they went to one store.

What I wonder is: how many customers do they have who buy both? I know when the pricing changes were announced, we went to streaming only. We hardly ever used the DVD option. We were only getting one at a time and most of the time it was something only my husband wanted to watch (it's his account) and it would sit around for weeks before it got watched and sent back. So no skin off our nose to cut out the DVD. Most of the DVDs we watch are ones we buy and we'll just continue to do that. I bet a bunch of people went to the DVD only option as well.

If they have a lot of DVD+streaming customers than splitting is weird. If they are the vast minority, I can see why it might make sense to them. Time will tell if it really makes sense, but I still suspect they don't give a hoot about the DVD business and don't really care if it fails.

We get both because there are many things that are not available through streaming and you have to get it on DVD if you want to watch it. My son streams Netflix though his Wii but he only watched things like The Twilight Zone and Cosby Show.

My in-laws on the other hand only get the DVD because they just barely figured out how to load the DVD player, streaming is to advanced.

[MacMadame]

It's worked out great because my husband can now watch as much Star Trek and little known independent documentaries as he can stand. I also get to watch independent documentaries and British programming.

Buffy!! Well, that's what I'm streaming right now. And, even though I haven't been happy since season 3 (the best IMO), I am obsessed with watching every single episode.

[jlai]

For the people who buy both, it is an inconvenience because now they have to go to two stores when before they went to one store.

Poor me.

[vesperholly]

^ well, it's worse because the two stores simultaneously raised their prices when they separated. It's like they're trying to disguise another price increase with the idea of splitting up services.

[modern_muslimah]

Buffy!! Well, that's what I'm streaming right now. And, even though I haven't been happy since season 3 (the best IMO), I am obsessed with watching every single episode.

I've got Dark Shadows in my instant queue.

^ well, it's worse because the two stores simultaneously raised their prices when they separated. It's like they're trying to disguise another price increase with the idea of splitting up services.

The streaming only price stayed the same. So I guess technically, they really only raised the price for one store.

[soxxy]

^ well, it's worse because the two stores simultaneously raised their prices when they separated. It's like they're trying to disguise another price increase with the idea of splitting up services.

Netflix has apparently abandoned the Qwikster plan and will keep both mail and streaming together, (new) prices unchanged:

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...s-on-qwikster/

[Jimena]

Damn. I was switching to Blockbuster. As in, I was going movie by movie in my Netflix queue and adding it to my Blockbuster one.

I think I might do it anyway just because Netflix has really been absolutely inept at handling this.

[Veronika]

Netflix has apparently abandoned the Qwikster plan and will keep both mail and streaming together, (new) prices unchanged:

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...s-on-qwikster/

Glad to hear it--what a dumb idea! I'm glad they didn't make that mistake.

[myhoneyhoney]

Damn. I was switching to Blockbuster. As in, I was going movie by movie in my Netflix queue and adding it to my Blockbuster one

I'm thinking about switching over to Blockbuster also. I like their 3 disc deal that includes blu-ray and games (which my 2 boys are drooling over).

[modern_muslimah]

I tried Blockbuster out. I got new releases much more quickly with them than with Netflix. I ended up staying with Blockbuster however because Netflix has a better selection of documentaries, indie films and older films than Blockbuster.

[Vash01]

Just got an email from Netflix that there would be no further changes (no Qwikster) to my Netflix account. I can continue to order DVDs as before. I was never into streaming.

[dbell1]

Son streams everything on his Xbox, so he's happy with his Netflix stream. He's asked for the movie option for older stuff that's not in Redbox, but said 'no' to the price coming out of his allowance.

I had Amazon Prime for a month free and loved it. Enough free stuff there to keep my sci fi geeky self happy. Plus, the joy of getting individual things shipped within 2 days instead of waiting for 'spend $25 and get super saver slow mo shipping' was worth it. Planning on getting myself the Kindle Fire for Christmas, taking another free month and then extending.

Bye Quikster - you were a silly idea from a floundering company.

[vesperholly]

Bye Quikster - you were a silly idea from a floundering company.

The only person sad to see it go is probably the kid who had @Quikster as his Twitter account.