Flix from the Net

After much hemming, hawing, and kvetching about the abysmal state of movies available on HBO (no, thank you, I’ve seen LOTR enough times now) we decided to bite the bullet and sign up with Netflix.

In theory this should be great—the selection is pretty darn good, the recommendations system is interesting, and there’s no driving to the video store involved.

Having a steady stream of DVDs magically appear for a monthly flat fee also allows for more experimentation in titles and removes the video store “Hmm. This could be good. Or it might suck. And then I’m out five bucks and the Man has screwed me again” conundrum. But then, perhaps that only affects cheapskates like me.

Another reason to have a steady stream of DVDs coming in is, somewhat paradoxically, television: There are some shows I would really like to see again, like for instance Band of Brothers and All Creatures Great and Small but putting down almost a hundred dollars to own a TV show is just Wrong.

The one drawback is finding the time to watch the things. Now there’ll be that little extra layer of stress, since if the movies come in and they just sit there, I’m paying $15 a month for nothing. But oh, well, that’s life on the cutting edge.