The idea behind Netflix.com is a great idea. Why go out to the video store when you just click away and have them delivered to you? They charge $20/month + tax for the ability to have 3 movies out at a time. There are no late fees and you can have the DVD's for an unlimited amount of time. There are more expensive deals which let you rent more movies at a time for more money of course. You will have to email them about that because it is not an obvious option when first signing up.

Selection

Their selection of titles is unparalleled. I found many an interesting movie I didn't know even existed. Browse their site and see for yourself. I don't know of ANY rental place that could compete with something like this. Enough said =)

Speed

Netflix is pretty quick about their operations. Everything from customer support to turnaround for movies is phenomenal. I was simply amazed. You will know instantly whether or not the movie is in stock, and can be shipped. Even if it does not seem like normal operating hours, Netflix will tell you your DVD is ready to be shipped within an hour or so.

The achilles heel of their speed is that they use regular United States Postal Service to send their DVD's. Being on the other coast as their headquarters, I could wait up to 3 or 4 days to get their DVD. Then spend another 3 or 4 days for them to receive it. Under the $20 plan, I could usually watch about 9-12 movies per month. For $20, it beats blockbuster hands down. Of course blockbuster has the $30/month 30 DVD's plan, but who really can watch 30 movies in a month? Or even be able to pick out 30 movies they can watch from their crummy selection?

Waiting lines

There can be some serious waiting for your movies. I've waited 2 weeks once for a movie. That is more the exception than the rule, but be prepared to put another movie in cue because I'm guessing its about a 30% chance of your movie being out of stock. The website will keep track of all the movie you requested and are in queue. If you have a movie that is out of stock, they will wait a little bit to see if it comes in, if not, they will try to ship the next movie in your queue. Of course I wanted to watch THAT movie, thats out of stock, but what are you gonna do.

Returns/breakage/etc

The DVD's usually come in a variety of packagings, as I believe they are still testing what they can use to reliably handle the DVD's. When returning them, simply peel off the original mailing label, peel off the second layer of tape, and it transforms itself into a returnable pre-paid envelope. Very neat. I have seen different forms of paper and plastic packaging with a sponge layer for protection, but it can only protect so much. I have gotten quite a few cracked, yes cracked DVD's because of the rough mail system. If your DVD is cracked, simply fill out a simple form on their website, write a note saying it was unplayable, and they send you out a new one. Very easy. The only drawback is, all the time wasted for that movie going back and forth.

Customer Service

Is simply the best. Very quick response times on emails and they are very courteous and professional. Although you probably won't have any reason to even contact them, but its still nice to know.

Recommended: Yes