Off topic, sort of…
I have 323 movies in my DVD queue and 96 in instant on Netflix - which has been on hold for many months. I put it on hold to see if Netflix management would correct the error in their ways and offer a discounted DVD+streaming again or; more new movies on streaming only.
But they have not and now, I don’t care!
I’d rather chip away at the 325 DVDs for under $8 a month. That comes to about $1.60 to $2.00 per DVD a month. My DVD queue contains all the movies I would like to see. The 96 instant queue are almost entirely movies I am not all that interested in, like Chinese foreign films nominated for the 2002 Oscar. Sure, I’d watch them, on rare occasion. But not for double the price! I have Amazon Prime for that, almost, for now.
This is why, I predict, Netflix and ultimately the studios, will fail. They don’t get and have not adapted to the changes in media technologies fast enough.
We can only hope an Apple TV of the future will disrupt it and move things along so consumers come first and inflexible distribution systems and methods are shut down.
Maybe Steve Jobs greatest legacy will not be the Mac or iPhone, etc. but how he foresaw the way new technologies can take petrified methods of media distribution and open them back up in ways consumers prefer, new players can enter, and the industry can still profit from.
Could you imagine if every DVD was also available for unlimited streaming for $7.99 a month? It would be my preference but, the dream of Netflix to do this is just not realistic until legacy DVD availability diminishes (not for a while if ever?) and pricing makes sense and the film industry stupidity log jam is broken up.
I never wanted to own or “rent” a movie. We used to go to a local movie palace to see a movie for a small charge. I left the renting of the cans of film to the theatre owner and projectionist. We can still go to a theater to see a movie, but for more money. Unlike thirty years ago, high def screens with sound via even a basic stereo amp and sub (what I use) at home means we can have a nice small private theater instantly.
I still want to go to my home movie palace and pay a small charge to see a movie. Netflix is the projectionist. Simple. It is not about the movie being streamed. It is about the millions of new home movie palaces simply wanting a convenient way to see movies affordably. iTunes is just an expensive instant DVD rental service.
