I own a big flatscreen, but I absolutely refuse to purchase cable tv because 1.) I don’t trust myself not to watch crap just because it’s on and 2.) I grew up with limited tv and appreciate its absence from my life (of course, I resented it at the time). But I do love Netflix, especially in these Pacific Northwest winters. Dreary weather calls for movies and booze, often at the same time.
So I have a Netflix account, with two movies at a time. The first movie is for documentaries and other things I’ve always wanted to see but don’t want to actually rent, and the second is for the I’ve had a rough day give me something easy part of my brain. Both make me happy, but there’s still times when I wonder if I’m actually getting my money’s worth from the service.
Enter FeedFlix, kind of like Google Analytics for your Netflix account. To sign up, you enter your Netflix RSS feed and off you go. FeedFlix also offers email alerts to remind you if you’ve been sitting on a movie for a long time.
As you can see, I suck at Netflix. The cost per movie averages out to a whopping $6.53 at the rate I get through my queue (2 per month), which sounds like a lot per movie. However, given my inability to return movies on time, and the rental fee of about $4 per movie at my local shop, I still think I come out ahead. Just not by much. Right now it tells me I’ve had Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance for 20 days, and You Don’t Mess with the Zohan for 13. Which doesn’t surprise me, but does say something about my art brain vs silly brain queue system. Click those links for some weirdly fun information including how many other Netflix users have this movie right now and how many have it in their queue.
Second on the list is the option to stream movies, already available if you have a PC and Netscape. But I don’t. There is now the option to connect devices directly to your internet and stream via Netflix that way. An Xbox 360 will do it (what doesn’t that thing do?), as will expensive Blu-ray players. The cheapest option (if you don’t have an old junky PC around) is a little box by Roku which retails for about $99. It doesn’t do HD though, and the Netflix on demand selection is notoriously slim. I’m thinking of saving up for a Blu-ray since my tv is HD compatible anyway. Access to Blu-ray titles on Netflix is another $1 a month.
More than anything else, though, I clearly need to watch more of my movies. Since I just started a sake subscription and the weather is crummy, I think we’ll see my stats improve. Hello, winter.
Be my Netflix friend by clicking this here link.