Congratulations, Clay Shannon of Birmingham, Ala.! Your unsuspecting order of the 2008 indie rom-com Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist on Blu-Ray made you the recipient of Netflix’s 2 billionth (yes, billion with a "b") DVD shipped! What do you win? Well, mostly a story syndicated in a bunch of newspapers by Reuters that will render you forever Googleable — but also a complimentary lifetime membership from the home-delivery DVD service, now in its tenth year and, apparently, more popular than ever. According to the article, Netflix has more than 10 millionsubscribers, and ships about two million of those famous little red envelopes every day from 58 distribution centers across the country.
I, myself, am too flaky-slash-impatient to use the service for anything other than the "watch-it-now" option directly on my computer, but tell me PopWatchers, what does Netflix mean to you? Can you imagine life without it? Can the company keep it up as things like video on-demand become more prevalent? Do you still prefer to select your evening entertainment in person at your nearest Blockbuster or mom-and-pop storefront? Or are you still figuring out how to get that jammed copy of Spaceballs out of your VCR?
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No joke, spaceballs totally got jammed in my VCR way back when VCR’s were becoming irrelevent, made my Dad finally get us a DVD player.
So does his lifetime membership include the high cost of adding blu-ray titles?
I loved Netflix…have been a member since 2001. Now with the increase for blu-ray titles (which are rarely available anyway), I have made the switch to their competitor. I will miss my little red envelopes, but as a recent victim of the economy, every dollar counts. And they will no longer be going to Netflix.
And their streaming service is horrible!
I always seem to forget to drop my little red envelopes back in the mail, so I end up hanging onto disc 3 of the first season of Mad Men for 2 months… but still, I love the idea of Netflix, even if it is imperfect in practice. Cheers!
I prefer Netflix. I am a faithful Netflix customer. I’ve only just recently decreased my plan because of economic reasons, but I will never let it go.
Since I don’t go to movies a whole lot, Netflix is my savior. I don’t have a car and tend to want to stay in. Netflix was the best thing invented.
I use blockbuster online mostly because, for about the same price, you can trade in evelopes to the store for free rentals… and my blockbuster gets all the new releases on thursday, so i’m usually watching new movies before anyone else. It’s cool that Netflix lets you stream movies, but i’m not a fan of watching movies on my 19 inch screen. Besides i’m a blu-ray guy and i ain’t paying extra rental fees for hi-def.
This comment is in no way endorsed by blockbuster or its parent company. So there.
I love Netflix. I live in a small town and the nearest video store with a good variety of titles is nearly 35 miles away. High gas prices made me switch to Netflix. The wide variety of movies, especially foreign titles, made me stay. In this economy, when we’re all looking for cheaper ways to entertain ourselves, Netflix is definitely worth it.
What a fun movie to get the big shout-out, too!
I know lots of people really love their Netflix; but I still can’t give up the instant gratification of going to my local Blockbuster and seeing something and watching it ten minutes later. I find it hard to “browse” on Netflix and enjoy browsing the aisles till something jumps out at me. Plus I’m too impatient to wait for something to arrive in the mail. When you and friends decide to watch a dvd Friday night it really does no good to know that the dvd you want to watch will be delivered in the next day or two. I want it now dang it!!
I absolutely love Netflix. I joined mainly because they offer such a wide variety of tv shows on dvd. And i loved the selection of movies from my childhood. You know the ones that weren’t that popular, but you loved anyway. And that’s why I stay.
I love me some Netflix. I made the switch after I found out that I was paying way too much for store rentals – akin to paying a Netflix monthly fee per store visit. And I love renting because I don’t have time or extra money for the theater and I like keeping my eye out for those obscure titles that aren’t in rental stores.
They’re a good, elegant, well run service. Kudos and good luck.
I love Netflix. They have pretty much everything I want, and I refuse to use Blockbuster’s service since they were the ones who ran all of the mom and pop stores out of business and jacked up rental fees unntil Netflix came along and forced them to compete. Netflix isn’t perfect, but I watch a lot of movies and have rarely had any sort of problem.
My DVD buying habit was getting out of control. My wife pointed out that I would buy the movie the moment it came out, watch it once, then put it on a shelf where it would gather dust. I didn’t think I could quit because Blockbuster didn’t carry half the titles I was interested in. Netflix to the rescue. I’ve only bought two new DVDs in the last year, and one was to test my new Blu-Ray player to make sure it worked before the return period ran out. Netflix insures I can see every DVD I want without having to buy them. It’s especially invaluable for watching specific episodes of TV shows when you don’t want to purchase the whole season set.
I bet Clay’s glad he didn’t rent a p0rn0 or some other equally-embarrassing flick. (I’m not a Netflix gal—I’m one of those who prefers the instant gratification of walking into a movie store and watching my movie five minutes later—so I don’t know if they really have pornography).
Screw the new releases, I’ll get those In Demand or see them in the movie theater. I love Netflix because I can get those movies that none of the video stores carry. There are like 6 video stores in a 15 mile radius of my house, I could never find The Seventh Seal at any of them, and then I got Netflix and had it in two days! Now I watch 6 movies a week on a 2 movie at a time plan. I’m definitely getting my money’s worth!
Haven’t rented a movie since 2005 when I lived near a Blockbuster. Now it is too much of a hassle to go. I;ve thought about Netflix, but figured the movies would sit on my coffee table for weeks and I wouldn’t be getting my money’s worth. So now I just wait for the movie to show up on basic cable or swap dvds with co-workers who bought the newest releases.
I have Netflix to thank for catching me up on seasons 1-3 of “BSG.” I watched the first half of the fourth season and decided I needed to witness it from the beginning. Thus, Netflix will have a special place in my heart just for that reason.
Netflix means never having to haul a** to the video store when you realized your video is due. I love the fact I can get the whole season of shows with the $50 price tag..especially for older shows or shows that didn’t last long…aww “The Critic” how I was happy to watch you. My DVD collection is redunkulous, lots of space wasted, but with Netflix, watch it, let it hang around till everyone has seen it then send it back in the mail…awesome.
Amen, Devin! Great tv on dvd is the reason I finally signed up for Netflix. I’ve gotten through the first season of BSG and am currently on the third disc of season two. In addition to my tv shows, there are great flicks that my local Blockbuster would never carry. For that reason alone, it’s worth my money (and the periodic wait for movies). I heart Netflix!
I love Netflix. Have been a member for 7 years. Have been enjoying Watch It Now through the XBox 360. Now that Blockbuster has dropped their prices to $1.99 day for new releases and Blu-ray, I’ll probably be using that more for newer titles instead of having to wait for Netflix availability.
Thank God it was Nick and Nora, could you imagine how embarrassing some Netflix picks could be for the 2 billionth? Geez, I know I’ve picked a few that I’d pass up the award if it meant I had to admit that I selected some of the crap I’ve ended up with.
I will ditto many others – I love Netflix for the TV on DVD – worth every penny I don’t have to spend on $50 boxed sets. I’ve been a customer for 5+ years and have had VERY few problems, I recommend it to everyone.
P.S. – Hurray for Nick & Norah, glad Clay has taste.
I agree whole heartedly with the tv on dvd comments. That and Netflix has a huge variety of movies that my local stores would never carry. Everything from small indies to rare foreign movies to the piece of crap first movies of major stars. I also like that they (most of the time) carry the special editions of movies when local video stores only have the one-disc versions. I just wish that their “watch it now” feature included DVD extras as well (or at least closed caption subtitles).