NetFlix Keeping Profiles!

Yay! Today, in their corporate blog, NetFlix announced that they would be keeping the Profiles feature. They had previously planned to eliminate the feature, which allows one customer to manage multiple queues of movies. This works out great for families, where each member of the family can select their own movies in their own queue, so that everyone gets something to watch. This is great news! I was afraid that we were going to have to resort to movie channels and Pay-Per-View if this NetFlix feature went away... They were persuaded by an outpouring of public response to keep the Profiles feature in place. Thanks, NetFlix!

Save NetFlix Profiles!

Yesterday NetFlix announced that it was going to be removing the Profiles feature of its subscription service. I think that this is a huge mistake! Profiles turned out to be the best feature of NetFlix when we switched from Blockbuster a year ago. With one account, we could have one queue for me, one for Jeannette and Melissa, and one for Eric. We all have different interests in movies, so using separate queues allowed each of us to have a movie that we would like. This also helped with the Recommendations, since it would suggest the right kinds of movies for each of us. If we were all using the same queue, the recommendations would only be able to show action/adventure/romantic comedy/science fiction movies from Disney!

I can't really understand what NetFlix hopes to gain by eliminating profiles. While it will reduce some of the complexity of multiple queues under a single account, its no different than managing subscribers and dependents for health insurance plans, or many other common scenarios. It won't reduce the number or frequency of movies being rented, which is where I would imagine their capital expenses are tied up.

It really seems like netFlix is trying to drive its customers to use several individual accounts that cost more per movie than the multiple-movies-per-month plans that are more cost effective for consumers.

Since we have already had so many issues with BlockBuster, I'm not sure that we would return to their online service. They still don't have a store that would be convenient for us, which is part of the reason we left them. Being able to return the online movie at the store in exchange for a free rental gave us a lot of flexibility.

I think that if NetFlix removes the Profiles, we are likely to cancel, and get movie channels or use the Pay-Per-View on DirecTV instead. We've also rented movies from the grocery store or checked them out from the library. Its not as convenient, but beats paying more to NetFlix to get back the functionality that we already have today...

There is an online petition to try to convince NetFlix to keep the Profile feature. If you are a NetFlix subscriber who uses the Profiles feature, please consider signing the petition to encourage them to reconsider.

NetFlix Profiles

I discovered today that our new NetFlix subscription already has one of the features that I had always wished for with BlockBuster Online. NetFlix allows you to create multiple profiles, each with their own queue. You can assign the number of DVD "slots" assigned to that queue, so that the movies can be divided up between family members. Once a movie from that queue is returned, the next movie from that queue will be sent.

We always had trouble with BlockBuster when Eric ordered something like the entire season of "24" because it would send all three of the DVD's at once! Since each disc had several hours of shows to watch, it would take Eric a few days to get through each disc. In the meantime, no one else had any movies to watch, since the queue was tied up with the entire season. We tried to order each disc of the season individually, but then BlockBuster could never manage to send them in order, so you'd have to wait for the next one to come, so that you could watch it first...

I was glad to see that NetFlix has provisions for this, we'll see how it works... I entered the 34 movies that had been in my queue at BlockBuster into my NetFlix queue today. Then tonight I got several emails from BlockBuster saying that they had sent the next three movies, even though I cancelled my subscription yesterday! I guess that it is still active for another week or two...

Switching to Netflix

Blockbuster has blown it again, at least for me... For the second time in two years, Blockbuster is closing the store closest to us, and at the same time they are raising their rates another couple of bucks a month!

We have been using the Blockbuster online service for the past year or so, and had been pretty satisfied with it... We got three movies at a time, and after we watched them we could turn them in at the store and get a free rental. By the time we were done watching we got from the store, the next movies would arrive in the mail.

The store that we used to go to a couple of years ago was only a couple of blocks from us, basically at the corner of our subdivision. When they opened a new store in Highlands Ranch, a couple of miles away, they closed the store by our house. While this was irritating, we adjusted to it after a short time. It turned out that our doctor moved their office to the building across the street from the shopping center where the Blockbuster was located, and we switched to a bank that had a branch located there as well.

The remaining locations that are near us are all about 5 miles away, with pretty heavy traffic to contend with... All are inconvenient enough that we wouldn't just want to run by them on a whim to check out movies.

Add to this the rate increase. We had been paying about $18/month for unlimited movies, with three out at a time. As I mentioned above, we could also turn them in at the store for free rentals, so we were able to watch lots of movies. With the price going up about $25 more per year, this was the last straw!

We have already started a trial subscription with Netflix, and have been pretty impressed so far. The leadtime to have movies mailed seems a bit faster than Blockbuster, typically only two days. Netflix is also nearly $5/month less than Blockbuster's new higher rate...

So, we're saying "Auf Wiedersehen" to Blockbuster...