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| Monday the Nineteenth of September |
An email was sent out this morning to Netflix users and this post was published on the Netflix Blog yesterday. The CEO apologized for not communicating the price change in separating the streaming from DVD rentals efficiently. When the news about the split first happened there was outrage from the Netflix community and they felt like they were getting pissed on. With the new change that just came out it feels like we are not only getting pissed on but getting slapped in the face by a red, envelope-shaped dick.
I started using Netflix getting one DVD out at a time with unlimited online instant streaming. I enjoyed having both of these options available to me and what I liked about the service Netflix provided is probably what everyone else liked too. With the streaming I could watch what I wanted, when I wanted, be in the middle of numerous movies and always be able to resume right where I left off when I decided I wanted to finish the movie. The only drawback to instant streaming was I needed to watch it through a supported internet device. This isn't a problem at my house, my TV has a blu-ray player that is connected and I can watch all the streaming videos Netflix has to offer. What Netflix does have to offer via Instant Streaming is limited though. There are many great movies on there but all of them and more are offered using the direct mail DVD option Netflix also offers.
The DVD option is great because the selection is large, they ship fast, and there is no hurry to send it back. If I want to watch a movie with someone the DVD option is great because I can take it with me to watch it with others. With the DVD option I can not stop in the middle of a movie, watch a different movie, and then finish the original DVD at a later date without sending and receiving the DVD's back and forth and continuously updating my DVD queue.
What was great about having these two options available to me was that if there was a movie I wanted to watch I could search for it on the Netflix website and add it to my instant queue to watch whenever I felt like sitting down in front of my TV or if it was not available on instant, I could add it to my DVD queue and have it available when it arrived at my house. This was great for specific movies that I wanted to see or just for browsing the extensive list of movies Netflix has to offer.
I was with Netflix through a few changes in price, usually going up a dollar every so often. I even stuck around after the decided that they would no longer offer a package that included both streaming and DVD rentals which nearly doubled what I was already paying. Now they are taking away the ability to search the streaming videos and the DVD rentals jointly. Netflix will now be strictly streaming and the DVD rental part will be a separate company called Qwikster. Both the websites for Qwikster and Netflix will look very similar to how Netflix.com looks now except that neither will be integrated with the other. There will be two different websites with two different queues with two different charges.
If I am browsing, looking for a movie I might like to eventually watch I guess I should start with Qwikster because they have the larger selection, once I found one I should hop on over to Netflix to see if it is available for instant viewing, because if it is, I am not going to waste the few days it would take to mail on something that I can watch when I want to instantly when I can get a non-streaming movie mailed to me instead. If the movie is not on Netflix I will have to go back over to Qwikster and add it to my queue. If that movie was on Netflix though I would then go back to Qwikster and start that process again!
That red envelope you are presenting me no longer appeals to me Netflix. The frustration to pick out a movie is not worth my time. Without the integration of streaming and DVD rentals I will have to say goodbye.
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