A free market has bred fierce competition, leaving movie lovers with at least two great choices in mail order DVD services: Netflix and Blockbuster. This article will examine four factors you need to consider when choosing the service that is right for you: price, speed of delivery, selection, and website ease of use.
Netflix, Blockbuster, and smaller specialty companies (like CleanFilms) are all offering services that allow you to rent DVDs from home. But how can you decide which service is best for you? You need to consider and compare four major factors--price, speed of delivery, selection, and website ease of use--and then take a look at how the big two rental services stack up in each of these categories.
Why Choose an Online DVD Rental Service?
Mail order DVD services allow you to receive movies in your mailbox and return them when you are ready, so that you don’t have to trek out to the video store, rush to meet delivery dates, or pay late fees when you fail to get your movies back on time. You pay a flat, monthly fee for the privilege of receiving a set number of movies at a time. There is no additional cost for shipping. You make an online list of your movie rental choices, and when you return one of your movies, the next movie on your list (assuming it is available) is mailed out to you. If that title is not available, the rental service simply sends you the next movie on your list.
If you watch at least four movies in a month, chances are that a mail service will cost you less than going to the video store, even if you usually return your video store movies on time. If you tend to return movies late, you will probably save money with a mail order service even if you check out fewer than three movies per month.
Another advantage of mail order DVD rental services is that they generally boast a larger selection than your local video store. Browsing online is not as easy or pleasurable as it is in-store, but you can easily search a database of movies to find a specific title, and most services will also provide you with recommendations based on your past rental choices.
Criteria for Choosing an Online DVD Rental Service
Whether you’ve decided to choose a DVD rental service to save time or money, or whether you just want access to a larger selection of movies, you need to find the service that is the best match for you. To do so, consider the following four factors.
1. Price
The lowest priced option is often, but not always, the best choice. When comparing prices, be sure to compare comparable plans that allow you take out the same number of movies at a time. Most DVD rental services will allow you to choose to take out two, three, or four or more movies at a time, and the three-at-a-time plan is usually the most competitively priced.
For many, price is the most important factor in a DVD rental service. However, given the power of free market competition, most comparable services now charge within $3 of each other. With less than $3 difference in price per month, you’ll probably want to place more weight on other factors.
2. Speed of Delivery
How many movies you can watch in a month doesn’t just depend on you—it depends on how fast your service of choice receives and processes your returns and mails your next movie out to you. Choose a slow service, and not only will you fail to get your bang for your buck, but you may find yourself frequently without a film to watch.
Most DVD services rely on USPS mail to send out their movies, so how fast a movie gets to you will depend in part on the location of the warehouse from which your DVDs are mailed. To test the speed of a DVD rental service, try out its free trial. Most DVD services offer a free trial of at least two weeks. This will give you enough time to gauge how long it takes from the day you return your movie until the day you receive your next movie.
3. Selection
With a DVD rental service, you finally have a chance to go back and watch all of those old movies and television shows you missed, as well as some special documentaries or foreign films not often housed in bricks and mortar rental stores. So naturally, you’ll want to peruse the websites of each rental service you’re considering to see if their selection meets your needs. Both of the major players—Blockbuster and Netflix—claim to offer over 40,000 titles. But one may have more of the type of movie you like than the other, so be sure to search their websites.
Perhaps you are not necessarily interested in a large selection, but in a specialty selection. In that case, you may not need to seek out one of the big three rental services. Instead, you may want to choose a specialty DVD rental service. For example, CleanFilms provides movies edited for profanity, sexual content, and graphic violence to an audience that may wish to view R and PG-13 rated movies but who are concerned about potentially offensive content.
4. Website Ease of Use
Once you choose a DVD rental service, you’ll be spending some time building your list of desired movies. Therefore, you’ll want to consider how easy it is to navigate the websites of the competing rental service companies. Visit each site to determine how quickly they load from your computer and to see if their search and browse methods suit your preferences. You don’t want to choose a DVD rental service to avoid time spent returning movies only to discover that it takes you hours to load and navigate an online maze.
Comparing the Big Two
If you’re not looking for a small company or specialty service like CleanFilms, then you need to compare the major DVD rental services. There used to be three such services, but Wal-mart conceded the battleground on June 16th, 2005 to form an alliance with Netflix. That leaves two companies locked in a fierce marketplace battle: Netflix and Blockbuster. Here’s a quick survey of what the two companies have to offer.
1. Netflix
In general, Netflix has an excellent reputation for speed of delivery (though this may vary depending upon your location). Netflix now also offers a profile feature that makes it possible for each member of your family to maintain his or her own list on one account. So, for instance, if you have a three-out-at-a-time program, you, your spouse, and your child can each maintain his or her own list of movies. When an individual returns a movie, the next movie on that individual’s list will be sent out. This gives each family member an incentive to return his or her movies promptly, and it keeps things organized.
As of June 2005, Netflix’s prices were $14.99 for two movies at a time, $17.99 for three at a time, $23.99 for four at a time, and $29.99 for five at a time. Netflix also has programs for six ($35.99), seven ($41.99), and eight movies ($47.99) at a time.
2. Blockbuster
DVD rental services do have some disadvantages over traditional bricks-and-mortar stores. The biggest one is that, because you have to return and receive movies by mail, you occasionally find yourself without a DVD. And if you are sans a movie on your day off, you may be tempted to make the journey to the video store anyway. So it’s nice that Blockbuster’s mail order DVD rental program also includes two free in-store rentals each month. As of June 2005, Blockbuster’s prices were $14.99 for three movies out at a time ($3 less than Netflix), $27.49 for five out at a time ($2.50 less than Netflix), and $37.49 for eight out at a time ($10.50 less than Netflix). So, if you require a large number of movies out at a time, Blockbuster may well be your preferred choice. If, however, you only require two to five movies at time, the price differentials are not significant, and you will likely consider other factors.
Blockbuster seems determined to level a blow at Netflix. In June of 2005, Blockbuster was offering a special deal to customers who canceled their Walmart or Netflix accounts to sign-up with Blockbuster: two free months and a free new release DVD to own. Like Netflix, Blockbuster usually offers a free, two week trial.
Picking a Winner
After you’ve considered price, speed, selection, and website ease of use, it’s time to start your free trials. Research is important, but until you give each service you are considering a chance, you won’t be able to make the most appropriate decision for you.
External Links:
Clean Films - Online rentals of DVDs edited for content