Letters to the Editor
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Leap of Faith?
Netflix's users are fiercely loyal; if Netflix makes it easier for them to leave, many would see the move as a sign of the company's faith in its own product and would, paradoxically, see more reason to stay.
Wow. That's quite an assumption. Easy for Manjoo to armchair CEO, but it could be a pretty big gamble on Netflix's part to remove one of the main switching costs for heavy users.
But then again, I wonder what portion of Netflix users actually have enough ratings to make a switch to Blockbuster that expensive? Maybe some portion of the Early Adopters. But in the online video delivery market, it seems that we're probably just entering the Early Majority. I bet the market is still growing geometrically. Therefore, potential and new customers outnumber existing customers -- especially existing customers with a lot of ratings. And those new customers don't have a lot of ratings yet.
So how valuable is it for a company to keep Early Adopters who are a small overall percentage of a growing market?
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If it ain't broke...
I've been a Netflix subscriber for almost 2 years now and have 480 movies in my queue. I am amazed at their selection and have almost no complaints about their service. However, when I read Claire Fontaine's comment:
When I called customer service, the Blockbuster rep. suggested that I report it damaged and then keep it until they sent a good copy!
I have to say the same thing happened to me with Funeral in Berlin. I know--and the customer service reps even admitted--that Netflix kept shipping me the same unplayable copy five times in a row, until even they advised me to stop ordering it for a while until the bad copy or copies could be purged from their stock. And they even allowed me an extra DVD twice over this. But I've still never gotten to see Funeral in Berlin.
There have been a few other quirks, like the copy of Mystery Train that had no subtitles for the Japanese dialogue and the copy of Bedniy, Bedniy Pavel where even the viewing options were in Russian, and I had to simply click at random until I finally figured out how to make the thing display English subtitles, but such glitches are few and far between. There is a Blockbuster two doors from me, and that's fine for popping in to pick up something like Collateral and a bag of microwave popcorn that leaves its butter all over the warming plate instead of retaining it in the bag with the popcorn, but for most of the movies I care to see, Netflix is the obvious choice.
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Blockbuster?$#&#$#@@ I don't think so....
That seems to be the point of the comments so far. I know that years ago, blockbuster changed their corporate policy from Hi -how are you-quick, friendly service, to get in line, and would you like to buy some candy or other crap arranged conveniently to be within reach while you wait 15 minutes? NEVER again. I think I went maybe twice after that change.
Netflix did change all of that nonsense and more. I have seen more great movies in the last three years with Netflix than the rest of my life (I'm 39). Go Netflix. Blockbuster has the retail outlets to get the customers. Maybe they'll get tired of Blockbuster's BS and switch to Netflix. For you farmers whose mail is slow, get on a plan that has more movies. 20 miles away round trip in your Ford F150 is like three gallons of gas. Even in Pennsyltucky, that's at least $7~
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Is it really "Locked In"
Depends on how important recommendations are to you. If they're important, you're locked in.
To "Bernard HP Gilroy" - I respectfully disagree with your assertion that your data is available. In my mind, in the world of web applications these days, having to "scrape" your data does not count as available. Only a true Export function would count as "available". A manual export (i.e. a "scrape") may not be too bad with a handful of reviews. But if you have hundreds, that's not just annoying. That's an effective lock. Why? Because practically NOBODY will actually do a manual export. So whether the data is theoretically available, it's not practically available. And that - in my book - is what counts.
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It IS Just Like TIVO
TIVO's great. Got loyal users. Everybody who uses it loves it. But once the cable companies with their near monopolies come into the game, TIVO just can't compete. Joe Sixpack probably just goes with Comcast's DVR solution because it's bundled with his cable service and installed in one fell swoop.
Netflix doesn't have it QUITE as bad because it's not like Blockbuster has a true monopoly leverage like the cable companies do. But still. Great products are often elbowed out by the gorilla in the market because when it comes down to the individual customer decision, the customers often go with what's easier to get at that moment or what's a bigger name with more marketing dollars.
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Blockbuster Not Trustworthy Business
I'm also put off by Blockbuster's practice of not carrying NC-17 movies and getting the studios to provide different versions of movies to tame them down (both confirmed practices on the part of Blockbuster). Blockbuster apparently also had employees anonymously edit the Wikipedia entry about Blockbuster and insert advertisements into it.
I understand, as some people attempt to rationalize, that Blockbuster makes it's decions about NC-17 movies and different studio versions of movies for business reasons (to attract move of a conservative "family" audience). But I don't really feel like patronizing a business that contributes to the moral hysteria, in which part of this country's population wants to dictate for everybody else what they can watch.
Generally, I think Blockbuster has shown itself to be a smarmy business and even if they clean up their act some, I see no reason to trust them.
Let us also not forget that before there was Netflix, Blockbuster led the way in destroying most of the mom-and-pop video rental businesses. Blockbuster was/is the Walmart of video stores. A lot of value was lost in no longer having small stores with avid knowledgeable clerks. Unfortunately, it has taken another different sort of giant, Netflix, to add some modicum of independence back into the video rental business.
I think these are plenty of reasons for a person of conscience to steer clear of Blockbuster.