One-Night Stands vs. Long-Term Relationships
The Magnetic Group - Colleen | January 12, 2010 When I see a “for sale” sign on a Blockbuster store, I get uneasy. I miss the smiling faces. I miss the recommendations. Gosh darn it, I miss the Snow-Caps!
Blockbuster’s troubles started when Netflix found a way to offer greater convenience by letting us order movies online and get them in the mail. Even better, there’s no pressure about late fees and return dates. Keep them as long as you want, and just mail them back when you’re ready for more movies.
But now Netflix has its own troubles thanks to redbox. I’ve recently been hooked by the redbox call: rent a movie at one buck a night. It’s a pretty great deal and you can return a rental to ANY redbox location. Now that’s convenient!
So I think Netflix and redbox are great. Both provide economical, accessible methods for movie rentals, making them darn good options for movie-lovers.
But while the marketplace keeps rewarding movie vendors who offer lower prices and great convenience, I’m left wondering about the tradeoffs we’re making.
There’s one big thing that both redbox and Netflix lack: Personality. A redbox can’t talk to me and provide recommendations or reviews. A redbox can’t convey honest enthusiasm about a movie.
And a redbox definitely can’t dispense Snow-Caps (trust me, I’ve looked).
Next time, we’ll discuss the opposite of these one-night stands…
Reader Comments (4)
However, Netflix does offer reviews and tailored recommendations services. Additionally they offer a practically unlimited selection and their customer service seems stellar. Netflix, like Amazon, is pretty amazing in it's level of service and consistency. This is more than I ever got from the pimply teen at Blockbuster that essentially ignored me. Oh and Blockbuster was like the gestapo in the return policy and what movie's they stocked. Truly depressing.
I have to agree with Jason. Netflix offers several avenues for recommending movies, treating it's dynamic selections in exactly the same way as Amazon does. I can also read numerous customer reviews for a movie. Couple that with the fact that Netflix now streams content through two, and soon to be three gaming consoles (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and soon Nintendo Wii), and I'm very happy with their service.
Not sure what I think about online reviews. I can't be the only one who's been burned by iTunes reviews. You see a few fans write, "Best record ever!" and eagerly hit the download button, only to realize that those people don't know much about music.
Same tension the Internet poses everywhere- tons of information is now available, but so much of it is dubious.
Jason and Stephen-- While I agree that Netflix is a great service that can replace Blockbuster for some segment of the consumer population there is another part of the population that looses out. Recently I have been a sporadic movie watcher; not often enough to justify a Netflix account. And, though convenient, Redbox doesn't usually work for me because they don't carry movies that I'm interested in--I'd like a larger selection. The Amazon on-demand looks promising and may be the solution eventually but I agree with Colleen, even there, something is missing. Maybe it is personality; maybe it is the unmediated, tactile experience of picking up movies, flipping them over and reading the back, getting a feel for them and then deciding. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I know I'd miss it.