Each Fall I list a product that meets certain requirements: It is something that I not only use a lot, but it also fundamentally changes the way I do something.
My newer, small netbook doesn’t make the cut along with my iPod Touch. Why? Because neither made fundamental changes in how I work. The computer is just smaller, and the iPod Touch essentially an improvement of a number of PDAs I have used.
Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix in 1997 and launched the subscription service in 1999. Netflix grew to one million subscribers in less than four years, and reached 12.3 million subscribers by the end of 2009.
In 2010, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) ranked Netflix number one for customer satisfaction among all e-retail, e-brokerage and e-travel sites
I’m one of the very satisfied customers.
For about nine dollars a month I receive DVDs one at a time. This is plenty for me. A return post paid mailer is included and the returned disk is often logged in as back in under 48 hours. Another DVD in my list is on the way in another day. This kind of efficiency astounds me and makes me wonder why the government isn’t studying their methods.
But the real Netflix gem is the ability to watch any quantity of online movies at no extra charge via steaming Internet delivery. It works great! I watch them on my iMac with the fairly big screen, on my superb little Acer Aspire One (with Windows 7 Starter) with the smaller screen, and even on my iPod Touch for the teeny screen experience.
Since I don’t care if the movies are first run (I just got “Avatar”), it works fine for me. And the selection of indie and obscure films is quite good. Without Netflix I never would have seen the 2006 release, “Monarch of the Moon.” The sci-fi comedy was a perfect send up of the Republic Pictures serials of the 1940’s. But instead of the “Green Hornet,” the hero was the “Yellowjacket.” Busting Nazi chops while flying via mechanical wings. Great stuff.
See the trailer here. ( The preview is in color, the final version on Netflix is in proper black and white.)
I also found the often cited East German DEFA Studio 70’s sci-fi flicks which are about as bizarre as they come. Think the original Star Trek TV series meets the Village People, then have them all speak German. The subtitles help.
Meanwhile my wife has found all the Jane Austin adaptations;
including a delightful British made-for-TV film about a modern
You can browse by genres, or tell Netflix what you like and suggested films will pop up. Can’t watch a streaming movie in one sitting? No problem. There is a pause and return feature built in.
Best of all, you can watch streaming films anywhere, as long as the player is installed. So if I am staying with friends, we can watch a film on their computer by simply entering my account info for that movie. It’s even possible to watch on a TV via a number of game systems that have net access.
Netflix is cheaper than driving to a store and renting DVDs. It’s better than HBO because you control what is on. If your primary use of cable is movies, this could save you enough money to buy a nice flat panel TV!
And there are also new and old TV series available as streams or DVDs.
I just received three episodes of the 1960’s Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV show. The boxed set would cost a small fortune to own, and who really wants to see every episode? I also spotted the 1983 miniseries “North and South,” which I recall as being quite good.
From what I can see, there is no outright porn on Netflix, but some movies have the “R” rating. I would always suggest supervision of children when they are selecting streaming films.