Netflix price hike

Yeah, I'm not sure how many of you folks have been following this one, but the web was alive last week with complaints with the latest Netflix price hike.

I'm not sure yet if a 5$ dollar a month price hike is enough to make me leave the service, so for now I'm going with option one, but may indeed switch to option 3 if they don't get more streaming content.

I'm actually more upset with "new and improved" instant watch layout on their website, in a word I find it sucks. It's very hard to find movies and that scrolling movie finder gives me vertigo. I've started at least a dozen movies I didn't want to watch just clicking on the picture foe more information. I think I'm past that now. And really, no sortable list, that's nuts. If they don't get that fixed up pretty soon then option 3 is looking better all the time.
 

Whether it costs more depends on how you use Netflix. If you want both streaming and DVD by mail, then the cost went up a whopping 60%. Ouch, but not enough for me to drop the service. If you are an avid movie watcher, the new $16 monthly fee is still a bargain no matter how you look at it. However, if you only stream, or only rent DVDs by mail, then the cost went down by about 20%.

We decided to stay with Netflix, but are dropping to the streaming only option. It seems like that's all we have time for anyway. On average, we were hanging on to the DVDs for about 2 weeks due to lack of time. So, we'll now be saving a couple bucks a month. As for the content, I can't keep up with what they have. But I'm all for more choices, especially newer movies. I believe Netflix is hoping to dramatically increase their streaming content with the new changes. We'll see.

Pat, I'm with you on their new layout. I don't like it and it makes it really hard to scroll for movies. Hopefully they'll come up with something better.

Scuzzy; it'd be nice to get a new and improved Ace, too.

I hope they use some of the extra income to buy more disks so the wait is not so long. I've had a movie in my queue with a long/short wait right up at the top there since February. That just seems unreasonable. And then on the other hand I often get a new release on the day it becomes available while others released on the same day end up going to the very long wait column. 

But yeah, I do hope they get that streaming page sorted out, there were and continue to be many complaints about that at their blog site.

I doubt it will get better on the DVD front. As I understand it, NetFlix's long-term goal is strictly streaming. They want out of the DVD-by-mail program.

I don't doubt they would very much like to get out of the DVDs and move to streaming only, but how can they? There is no way the could get the studios to offer them access to the latest content for streaming anywhere near what people would be willing to pay. How often does someone pay the 5.99 Comcast wants for watching a new release on "On Demand". I'm sure some do, but I sure wouldn't.

I think DVDs will be with us for some time to come and I think as much as Netflix would like to do away with them and move to streaming they realize that too and are adjusting their prices to cover that.

You may be right, Pat. But I doubt it's a change that will happen soon anyway. Still, I would not be surprised if in some 5 years, DVDs by mail are no longer an option. Time will tell.

For now, I still think Netflix has the best deal for movie junkies. My wife and I will probably be quite happy with just the streaming option. It's a great deal for $8 a month, especially if one considers that unlike Hulu Plus there are no commercials to deal with. Plus, we have 3 of our kids that live near us who are constantly buying new releases. They are always willing to share, so we're covered anyway.

Scuzzy; someday movies will be beamed straight to our brains for one flat fee.

I'm going with the streaming only too. I get a dvd I like and keep thinking I want to watch it one more time before sending it back. Next thing I know a month has gone by and I still have it. Waste of $. I've got almost a hundred titles in the streaming queue (that many too in the dvd queue). It's a deal anyway you go since the price of a movie at the theater is pushing $10 for one, double if you take your girlfriend. The comfort and convenience of staying at home is irresistable and they are very much aware of this. The range of titles is impressive too. I really enjoy documentaries and I've found a lot I never knew existed.