Do you rent movies in a store or online?
By thyst07
@thyst07 (2079)
United States
September 16, 2009 10:18pm CST
I've seen it in the news that the Blockbuster chain is going to be closing approximately 1/3 of their stores in the United States. It seems like online movie rentals from Netflix have made movie rental stores just about obsolete. I'm sure there are still people who rent from stores, though, otherwise Blockbuster would be closing all of their stores. Are you a person who still uses a movie rental store, or have you jumped on the Netflix bandwagon?
2 people like this
22 responses
@alatecablebill (519)
• Philippines
17 Sep 09
several years ago, i was into renting movies from vcd/dvd stores. but eversince i learned how to download films from the internet, i never rented again. i guess downloading is much cheaper than renting.
@AniruS (256)
• United States
17 Sep 09
I rent movies online, and to be precise from Netflix. I did tryout Blockbuster for a while but I do not have enough time to go to the store. Also it is very disappointing when you go to the score and find out that the movie that you want to see is not available in the store. According to me it is a waste of time and effort. Through Netflix, you can choose your movie and it arrives in the mail. The only disadvantage with netflix is that you may be in a situation without a movie but that is now taken care by netflix online streaming.
Online streaming is the way where we are now heading to and Netflix has already started creating a space for itself. I do not see Blockbuster making any efforts for this. I am sure if Blockbuster does not provide service as per customer requirements there will be a day when it will have to close down all its shops.
2 people like this
@thyst07 (2079)
• United States
17 Sep 09
I agree with you. Blockbuster is not doing well as a business because they simply aren't keeping up in terms of customer service, pricing, and availability. They do have their online movie rentals like Netflix, but it costs about $4 more per month, so why use it? Their in-store rentals are more expensive and less convenient than Netflix, too. I think the only way they could compete at this point is to make themselves less expensive than Netflix and, like you said, add online streaming video to their service.
@kpfingaz (1027)
• Saint Vincent And The Grenadines
18 Sep 09
I usually just download or watch them online since you can get almost any movie by looking around a little. I especially love when they're in DIVx format so I could download them and watch them later and really good quality too.
1 person likes this
@alyssakenzie (462)
• United States
17 Sep 09
For the most part I just rent my movies off of my cable and avoid having to mess with anything but watching it!! I rent from redbox off and on and love being able to get any movie for a dollar a night!! I can't remember the last time that I actually went to a movie store to rent movies and when I do I always go to a home town one instead of any of the big chains. Blockbuster is coming up with a lot of ideas though to compete and I am sure that they will be around for a long time to come. It is sad that a lot of people will be losing their jobs with the store closings but that seems to be something we are all getting all to familiar with.
2 people like this
@fruitcakeliz (2641)
• United States
17 Sep 09
I rent most all of my movies from RedBox machines now. It is very easy and conveinint, as there is a machine located in the store which i work at. Only a buck a night too!
Otherwise i watch a lot of movies through the "on Demand" feature i have with my cable provider. It is a little more expensive than redbox (at $3 per movie) but i don't have to hope the title i want is in....and i can rent a movie at midnight if the urge hits.
1 person likes this
@thyst07 (2079)
• United States
18 Sep 09
I've never tried Redbox, and probably won't. Most of the time I wouldn't be able to return the movie the next day, so the dollar per day would add up until it was more expensive than a regular movie rental anyway. If it's where you work, though, I bet it's pretty convenient.
@fruitcakeliz (2641)
• United States
18 Sep 09
I dunno....most places around here cost like 4 bucks for a new movie rental, granted, you get to keep it for three days, but that is still more expensive than redbox...and the plus side of redbox is that if you live in an area where there is more than one kiosk (and i am in a SMALL area, and we have two with in 5 miles of my house) you can return it to ANY redbox kiosk, it doens't have to go back to the one you rented it from.
The other thing i like, is that since i signed up with their website, i occasionally get emails and test messages with codes for a free one night rental...
@jesssp (2712)
• Canada
17 Sep 09
I'm in Canada and we started using an online movie rental service called zip.ca about a month ago. We had a coupon for a free month come with our phone bill and thought we might as well try it out. So far I really like it and I have to say I don't mind not having to go to the video store and I really don't miss having to return movies. All I have to do is pop them in a mail box and I go there almost every day anyway.
1 person likes this
@thyst07 (2079)
• United States
17 Sep 09
It's also nice to not have to walk around the video store for an hour trying to decide what to get...I like just putting all the movies I want to see on a list and then waiting for them to show up. Usually I forget what movies I put on the list or in what order, so it's a surprise when they show up.
@xannebull (1793)
• Philippines
17 Sep 09
no, i haven't tried renting movies in an online store . we have a cable connection in our tv and i could see a lot of channels around the world that sometimes im confuse on what movie i could see.and i don't watch movie a lot because im so busy with internet.
@sophisticated_boy (1457)
• Indonesia
18 Sep 09
I don't live in a country that has very good internet connection, so I think streaming video online from Netflix will not be good for me. Heck, even everytime I watch youtube it always run slowly and stuck every minutes:) My choice is to download movies. I know it is illegal, but it is very convenient as I left my laptop on when I sleep, and watching it the next day
@sunilcutein (66)
• India
17 Sep 09
Generally i see most of the movies online only so that i can save most of my time and can enjoy with all my famiy members at home itself and will save my money.
1 person likes this
@jodylee_04530 (1097)
• United States
17 Sep 09
For me, Netflix is the way to go! We have a XBox 360 and can watch them instantly on our TV. We pay 8.99/ month with unlimited access to the instant feature. I can't imagine ever paying late fees again. I have not rented a movie in over a year and I most likely never will again. It is just too easy with the instant. It also is one less thing I have to remember to do, take the movie back :)
@antarcticpostcards (472)
• United States
17 Sep 09
I rent from Netflix. I love being able to get the more obscure stuff that the video store never has. They just carry the new releases and hot movies and especially in the kids section always stink at refreshing the content. I also like being able to see television shows and movies through Netflix Instant.
1 person likes this
@OrangJuice (687)
• China
17 Sep 09
Oh, I just rent disks only once about 8 years ago. At that period, I usually found movies and TV shows via TV. Then rent it from store.
But now, in east coast of China, ADSL is so common (almost all natives here can surf on the net at home by ADSL), so I don't do it again. I always watch them online. And if they're classic for me, I will buy them for collection. But mostly I'd like to download on my computer.
1 person likes this
@mikeysmom (2088)
• United States
17 Sep 09
i used to but with all the free movies on demand on comcast why bother spending the extra money. we do not have money for such things anyway so we stick to videos and dvds we already have or free on demand movies. once in awhile we go to the movies but always the matinee to save money and we never buy food there as it is too expensive.
1 person likes this
@thyst07 (2079)
• United States
17 Sep 09
On-demand movies aren't actually free though, you still have to pay for the cable service. :-) If it's something you're paying for anyway, then you're right, it's a great way to get movies. I didn't like the limited selection, though, when I had cable.
