Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Netflix: The Best 9 Bucks You Can Spend A Month

Sonic's latest Netflix rental

Here’s something you already know:

The current economic climate absolutely sucks. It’s terrible out there. People are doing all sorts of crazy things to save money – I even saw an article in the Daily News here in New York City today about a woman giving tips on how to eat on a $1 a day budget (basically, you eat cornmeal and then reheat it the next day. Or something like that, she lost me at “cornmeal”).

With many industries waning and losing money, which (if any) continue to do somewhat well in times like these? Mainly, home entertainment companies do pretty well. People like to go out and see movies – but that can be crazily expensive. Theaters in New York City charge upwards of $12 a ticket. You and your spouse, plus the kid(s) … that’s already $36 - $48. Add in popcorn, drinks, candy … A family evening to the movies can easily run over $60 or $70. And so, people tend to stay in, maybe rent a movie instead. But this doesn’t necessarily mean a trip to your local video store.

Here’s something you may know, or maybe only partially:

Netflix is awesome, cheap, and has become a much better deal than most people realize. For only $8.99 a month you can sign up for a Netflix unlimited plan. This means, for the uninitiated, that you can “rent” out a movie from their incredibly-better-than-big-chain-video-stores library, which will be sent to you in around 1 business day. You can keep that movie out as long as you want, with no late fees, and then return it in the pre-paid envelope – there are never any shipping fees.

From the Book Designing Web Interfaces by Bill Scott and Theresa Neil © 2009

But wait – there’s more!

Also on this plan, you can choose from another library of movies and television shows to watch instantly – as many as you want, whenever you want – on certain devices. For most, this would probably be a pc or a mac. But there are ways to watch the instant selections on you television as well! If you have an Xbox 360 and an Xbox Live Gold subscription, you can link your Live account to your Netflix account – your entire instant queue will appear on your TV and be available at the touch of a button. I signed up in this particular manner a few months ago and through this service, watched the first two seasons of 30 Rock (which I had not yet seen – for the record, it’s hysterical) in HD on my TV. I’ve seen a ton of cool movies through it, and can watch them in my living room, or I grab my laptop and put something on while lying in bed before I go to sleep.

And you know what? Its 9 bucks a month. Check it out – and if you sign up, use the instant queue to watch Joe Rogan Live. Raunchy as hell, but one of the better comedy specials I’ve seen in a long time.

+ Netflix
+ The Netflix Blog

- Goodchild

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