Tonight, I want to talk about Netflix.
For those of you who don't know (but who hasn't at least seen those commercials?), Netflix is a business that, for a monthly fee, sends you movies to watch and return through the mail. Pretty cool, right?
I found myself using the free trial as a (poor) college freshman to get my hands on movies for my film class, and check out some of the harder to find foreign 'flicks. Recently, my parents started up a subscription as well and they're nuts about it. They love always having a new movie to watch.
About a year or so ago, Netflix stepped up their game when they started offering streaming movies online. This opened up an entire library of movies Netflix members could watch instantly on their computers. The bad new- who wants to watch a movie on their computer screen? BUT THEN! The brilliant people at Netflix decided to let Xbox and Playstation owners stream movies directly from their gaming consoles. The great thing about this- these gaming consoles are already attached to your television! Voilà! You've got an instant decked out media center with tons of movies to watch on demand!
And now it gets even better, as Netflix is just beginning to allow owners of the Nintendo Wii game console to stream Netflix movies as well. This is big news for the popular Wii console, which is the fastest-selling home console in history. In fact, Nintendo sold over 3 million of them last month alone. If you ask me, it won't be too long before we're all streaming movies right into our living rooms. Netflix is changing the way we watch and receive movies.
And I couldn't be happier.
Lets just face it though... Netflix does not provide the personable experience that always existed with Blockbuster. Netflix has just discovered a way to insure that future generations of people will become more and more unsocial. Will it come to the point where people are so accustomed to their TV that the desire to socialize with anyone in person is extinct, or has that point already passed?
ReplyDeleteWait... Did I just take Netflix's idea of streaming movies in your home and turn it into a future where everyone is largely overweight, riding around on those electric chairs that are advertised for old people, and are socially awkward?... By George, I think I did!
Meh- Blockbuster is overpriced and their selection is too limited. I'll find other ways to be social than while looking for the last copy of Batman in my pajamas on Saturday night. You're being unreasonable, sir.
ReplyDelete