Getcha’ Popcorn Ready!
Written by Bryan Los on January 6th, 2008 @ 11:40 PM
I was never too much of a movie fan, not even in the old VHS days. However, there is something about going out and renting a movie you haven’t seen in years and being able to watch it again. I was never into new releases as much as I enjoyed finding a movie I’ve seen before, a movie that is good enough to watch 10 times over.
Netflix, and then Blockbuster, provided me with these options.
The Price Is Right.. Bitch
The price seemed to be right. For under $20.00/month you could have unlimited rentals with up to three movies out at once. It was a good deal, but I found myself stepping over my returned mailers on the floor of my room. I would end up not returning them, maybe in the hopes they would return themselves? Still, it was nice to know that when you did finally get around to dropping them in a mailbox, you could have movies coming the next day. If you played your cards right, you could literally almost never be without a movie to watch.
Blockbuster’s in-store rentals are a joke. You can go in there, rent a couple movies, and drop ten bucks before you know it. It’s almost better to buy a used copy of the movie, at least you’d have it forever. The only way to go with Blockbuster is the online rental with the in-store component. Now, even at $34.95/month for three movies, it’s still better to use this form of unlimited in-store returns that actually walk into Blockbuster and rent a movie for five bucks.
Something Blue… Something New…
Now, if new releases are your thing, you might wanna try redbox, if one is available near your location. redbox uses automated vendors so customers can easily rent movies and then return them. Movies can be returned or rented at any redbox vendor locations, usually found in malls, supermarkets and McDonalds. For $1.00 per night, plus a $10.00 authorization hold on your credit/debit cart, you can watch all the new releases you like. And they only charge $1.00 per night if you keep the movie after the first night. Their cutoff time is 9:00 pm, which gives you enough time during the day to return the movie without the additional fee of $1.00.
Renting a movie, or returning a movie for that matter, couldn’t be easier. The screen displays all the movies, either by release date or title, as well as the light box on the outside of the machine. You scroll through the selections, adding movies to your order. Once you are done, you select check-out, provide an e-mail (return customers don’t need to enter the email again), and swipe your credit or debit card. The movies then dispenses from the machine and you are good to go.
For anyone who hasn’t tried redbox, I would highly recommend it. You can visit their website for locations throughout the country.
Pros: Easily rent movies online and pick them up at any location of your choosing, or rent them right from the redbox vendor. Once you are ready to return your movie, simply drop it off at any redbox location. It’s that simple. You will receive an email notice when you rent or return a movie. redbox venders feating an elegant user interface that is both easy to use and streamlined.
Cons: Although redbox feature new releases every week, if you are looking for older movies, you won’t find them here. For those who want to see a movie as soon as it hits the DVD shelves, redbox is for you.
Rating: 5/5 stars
Pros: Like Netflix before it, Blockbuster continued to make online DVD rentals easy. With the muscle of their brick-and-mortar stores behind them, they are able to offer the best of both worlds; online and in-store rentals. This provides Blockbuster a leg up over Netflix, who only allow returns via mail. Easy queue system ensures that you always have movies coming.
Cons: They limit in-store returns to five per month for their standard three movie package with unlimited online returns. They added a new plan which charges double that amount for more than five monthly in-store returns. Effectively, this doubled many people’s monthly bill.
Rating: 2/5 stars
Pros: Netflix was the first successful online movie rental company. Renting online was as easy as choosing a movie and placing it in your queue. Provided you had movies in your queue, new movies would be sent to you when Netflix received your returns. No hassle return mailers meant you simply had to place the DVD in your mailbox for pickup or drop it in a post office box.
Cons: Although they boasted a price of $17.99 for unlimited movie rentals, with up to three DVDs out at any time, a class-action suit was brought against Netflix for blacklisting frequent renters. Netflix used a secret formula to determine if you were costing them too much money. If you were, you account was flagged, and you would received delays in your movies being sent out to you. Netflix ended up having to send a free month subscriptions to its customers. However, as in almost all class-action suits, only the lawyers get any money.
Rating: 3/5 stars
