This review was posted in the Site Reviews section since the Netflix.com review section wasn't up at that time. Now that it is, I've updated this with the other occurrences that have occurred to me over the last several months.

Most people have probably heard of Netflix.com through various websites, especially discount and latest deal sites. What is Netflix.com? It is a site dedicated to renting DVDs to you for a nominal price per month. That means you can rent your DVDs without leaving home and without ever buying a DVD for that DVD-ROM in your computer, your PS2, and even (gasp) you own DVD player.

Netflix.com: How does it work?

Well, you pay a certain fee per month which is dependent on how many DVDs you can have out at any one time. The current fee structure is:

$13.99 for 2 movies out at any one time
$19.99 for 3 movies out at any one time
$24.95 for 4 movies out at any one time
$29.95 for 5 movies out at any one time
$39.95 for 8 movies out at any one time

Remember to add your local sales tax to this fee. (If you want to know why tax is added, check netflix.com FAQs for the full reason).

Now let's stick with the standard plan, which is $19.99 for 3 movies out at any one time. When you sign up with Netflix.com, you provide your address, a credit card number, and can start building your queue (movie rental list). Once Netflix can verify your credit card, they will send the first three available movies on your queue.

Now before we continue, your queue is the list of movies that you have picked that you want to rent. You can place as many movies on this list as you want and you should place 10-15 titles that you want to rent. You can modify the order (i.e. priority) that would like see particular movies. You're responsible for maintaining your queue and adding titles to it. Netflix will not tell not if there are no available movies to rent on your queue.

Okay, now the first three movies available on your queue. So your queue has really popular movies like say, Gladiator, Charlie's Angels (I know it's not out yet as I'm writing this), and The Soprano's first season as your top three on your rental list. If they are not in Netflix stock at that time, they will keep going down your list till they find three movies to send you or they reach the end of your list. They will then mail you the DVDs. Each DVD comes in a Tyvek sleeve in a seperate paper mailer. Certain DVDs will come in a Tyvek sleeve that is placed into a foam sleeve and sent in a CD/DVD sized bubble mailer. Regardless, the S&H costs are already covered by the monthly rental fee.

You are allowed to keep the DVDs for an unlimited amount of time but you can only rent up to the maximum you pay for the month. In this example, the standard plan only allows for three DVDs out. So to get another movie from your queue, you need to mail a DVD back to Netflix. Remember the mailer the DVD came in... well, it doubles as a return mailer. Again, the S&H are already covered by your monthly rental fee.

So that's the way you rent movies from Netflix!

What's the benefit of Netflix?

Well, for many people, your local video store carries a few hundred DVD's if you're lucky. The Blockbusters and Hollywood Video stores have 400-500 titles for rental. At Netflix, you have thousands of movies to rent. In particular, I enjoy anime and foreign movies which most video stores don't carry on DVD. I can find them on Netflix though. The selection is a major plus!

Unlimited movie rental time. You can hold on to the movie for an unlimited amount of time. I wouldn't recommend this though since it would be a waste of your money... if you're going to hold on to it for a month or two, you should have bought the movie on DVD instead. It would cost you the same to buy if you hold onto the movie for more than a month.

You only have to pay the monthly rental costs and the associated sales tax. Other than that, there are no extra fees.

You can cancel service at any time. However, if you do, you must have the DVDs you have out returned to Netflix within 7 days of cancellation. So make sure you send all your DVDs back to Netflix before you cancel, otherwise your credit card will have the full retail price of the DVDs charged to them (with sales tax too! :)

You can access Netflix anywhere you have a computer and internet connection. At work, at home, from a friend's house, the library... anywhere! It makes Netflix very easy to use.

So far, all the DVDs may seem like they are packaged flimsily, but I have never had a scratch, crack, or any damage on any DVD rented from Netflix. Note that you only get the DVD itself in a Tyvek sleeve with a label on the sleeve with a short movie description and audience rating. The case and any included in the retail packaging is NOT included!

Customer service is rather helpful for the few times I needed to contact them.

What wrong with Netflix.com? (Updated as of 6/9/01)

Well, the further you live from California, the longer the mailing time. I live in New York, so movies take up to 5 days to reach me and at one point it took 6 days(don't forget, you lose Sundays in the mailing process!). This means that a month like February under the standard 3 DVD plan, I will only be able to rent out 6 DVDs for the month. That is assuming that I watch each DVD within 2 days and send it back in the mailer. Why? If it takes 4-6 days to reach you, it will take the same amount of time to send back to Netflix. So for somebody in New York, the average is 4 days to ship to you, add a day to watch, 4 days to ship back, and 1-2 days for Netflix to process the return to their stock. That's an average of 11-12 days to fully process the DVD through Netflix and giving you only a day of rental time. If you live closer to California, you can rent more movies in a given month since days can be cut off the total processing time.

You also have to take note of how the Postal Service is in your area. NYC beware, especially those in apartment buildings! The NYC US Postal Service is officially the worst in the US as of 2000 surveys (by the USPS). To date, I have had to report 3 DVDs missing and 1 DVD mysteriously got returned without ever getting to me first. My longest wait time for DVDs was two weeks, the average wait time was 4-5 days.

Although the DVD selection is huge, the number of each movie Netflix has in stock is not. Frequently, you will see either the message Short Wait, Long Wait, Very Long Wait on many titles you have in your queue. This can be extremely annoying if you see it on 30 out of the 37 you have in queue (which is what I'm seeing on my queue). Popular movies tend to be much easier to obtain than say Anime and foreign films.

If you're not an avid at home movie watcher, then Netflix is an expensive service to upkeep. You're be paying $240 a year for standard service and have to add your state's sales tax as well. If you only watch 36 movies that year, compare that to your local video store. Here, Hollywood Video charges $3.75 for a five day DVD rental after taxes. 36 movies would cost $135. This is still a better bargain that the 2 DVD rental plan at Netflix which would cost $167.40 before you add sales tax.

Another problem is that with most internet transactions, verifying age is always a problem. A saavy youngster can rent just about anything through Netflix. Even that sexually explicit material some people crave.

Conclusions

Netflix is fine if you're an avid movie watcher and have the time to see 6 or more DVDs a month (assuming you stay with the standard plan of 3 DVDs out at a time for $19.99 plus tax). If you only watch movies occasionally, you're better off with your local video store or even buying the movie from an e-tailer. The biggest advantages Netflix has are the DVD selection and the convenience of renting. However, long mailing and processing times really leave a couple of days for you to watch the movie and send it back to maximize your monthly fees. NYC customers will be better off renting from your local video stores or buying the DVD outright and trading around with friends. I can only recommend Netflix if you rent many movies a month and have a broad movie taste that your video store can't satisfy.

Recommended: No