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Netflix Should Make Streaming Trump DVDs
This past week, my wife and I wanted to watch the movie Motorcycle Diaries in preparation for a trip to Argentina later this year. We did so in three steps.
1. We're Netflix customers, so I ordered the movie on DVD. 41 minutes into the movie, the movie froze. I couldn't get it to work, and I can't describe how frustrated I was when I was forced to re-watch the stupid previews that DVD's won't let me forward past.
We called it a night and decided to watch the rest another night.
2. I pulled down an illegal copy of the movie overnight so we'd have that ready the next day. The beauty of this is we wouldn't have to sit through the previews once again since they're stripped out of illegally downloaded versions. I figure my hands were clean since I made a legitimate attempt to legally watch a movie on a scratched plastic disc first.
Unfortunately, something else was stripped out of the version I downloaded: the subtitles. While my wife and I both know a bit of Spanish, we're not at the movie immersion level yet.
3. The next, and final, tactic used to finish the film was Netflix streaming. This was also painful since y wife and I was already settled into watch the illegally downloaded version. In order to stream the movie, I had to boot Windows using Parallels on my MacBook Pro, then launch IE, navigate to Netflix, and find the movie.
Here's the problem. Step 3 should really have been step 1. I'd much rather watch streamed movies than movies on questionably reliable plastic discs. But to do so involves launching Windows and Internet Explorer. If I'm planning a movie night that's a few days out, I'm better off having Netflix send me the DVD.
It must be cheaper for Netflix to ship me 2 hours of bits than a disc back and forth in the mail.
My advice to Netflix: Support streaming on the Mac. It will save you money.
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2. Posted by: atomic Ant on November 16, 2007 5:11 PM:
you poor soul, how could you endure so much pain as opening IE and a few clicks to log in to NETFLIX to watch movies immediately on you pc anywhere in the US or on your tv through a DVI cable.
oh the humanity !
PS : Dude you are so lazy I bet you wear diapers just to save a trip to the toilet.
PS2: I'm a Mac user.
3. Posted by: Ed Kohler on November 16, 2007 11:00 PM:
You raise some fair points, atomic Ant. Addressing laziness is the key to successful business models. A search engine that's 1/10th of a second faster will create more satisfied users. People are that lazy.
But the problems aren't really my problems as much as they're Netflix's. Streaming has to be competitive with free to make it worth paying for. And it would benefit Netflix for streaming to be a better alternative than shipping physical DVDs around the country.
4. Posted by: Randy Aldrich on November 17, 2007 12:15 PM:
Streaming is definitly the way of the future. I can't wait for the day that we can punch up any movie or tv show we want and stream them for a monthly fee. We're getting closer and closer and I think its picking up pace.
5. Posted by: Aaron Pecha on November 21, 2007 2:42 AM:
I'm surprised that Netflix doesn't support OSX, seeing as so many people have made the Mac switch; however, is IE really the only browser that Netflix does support? Or is it simply relegated to Windows versions of browsers?
6. Posted by: JohnNull on November 21, 2007 1:31 PM:
Ed, I'm sorry but I fail to see how option #3 is more difficult than all the effort and time spent in finding and downloading an illegal version of the movie (option #2). Maybe I mis-understood.
One though might be to hibernate Windows with Explorer already on the screen with Netflix already loaded. That will speed up your boot time, but obviously that isn't the point you are making here.
Bottom line guys: Yes Netflix only works with IE on Windows. Yes it is annoying, but it's business 101. Windows owns around 95% of the market. They chose to target the largest market first. If I were running a large publicly traded company answering to share holders, I'd probably make the same decision. I'm guess you would also. And as you pointed out, they didn't really exclude Mac users, but rather made it a bit more inconvenient for you.
My advice to Mac user's is to take the time to send a suggestion to Netflix. Eventually they will come around.
7. Posted by: Ed Kohler on November 21, 2007 5:16 PM:
John, I can find pretty much any movie and start illegally downloading it in under 30 seconds. It could take hours (overnight for example) or days to download (if it's really obscure), so it's not as convenient as streaming - assuming I didn't assume I'd want to watch a movie sometime in the future.
30 seconds investing in queuing the download, no time spent being forced to watch previews. No time spent booting a separate OS to watch a movie.
Interesting point about going with the PC crowd first. That's a solid justification, but one could also be made for targeting the Mac crowd first since they may be more influential than Windows users.
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1. Posted by: Jamie on November 16, 2007 10:29 AM:
Yes! Not that I wish this misery on anyone else, but I am walking in your shoes! I've multiple incidents over the past few weeks with DVDs from Netflix that turn out to be unplayable just as the movie is starting to get really good. These have all been new releases, so the movies haven't even had time for normal wear and tear.
As a Linux user, I am constantly griping about having to boot into Windows to watch Netflix streaming video. In 2007, it really isn't acceptable for any company to restrict anyone to an inferior operating system. Worse, Netflix has a limited selection of streaming movies, most of which are old or were never that great to begin with.