I rarely go out to movies any more (for reasons detailed in some other rant post) and rent perhaps three or four movies a month.

I got a deal on signing up with Netflix, so I did. My first three movies arrived, and I was a little surprised and disappointed. First, for some reason I thought they would be showing up in their protective cases, rather than just in an envelope. Seems risky delivering DVD's that way. The movies are a little bit older, and the retaining envelopes (and the discs themselves!) are not in that great a condition. I have not watched any yet so no determinations as to damage as yet.

I was let down because even though I rented a "special edition" DVD, I only got one disc. Apparently you have to order two discs of a normal 2-disc set individually? I'm not too happy about that. Although I have unlimited rentals a month, I am limited to 3 at a time.

I can see the saving money on postage by not shipping the cases, but if a movie originally came in a two-disc set I think both should be included in one rental. I'm not talking about multi-disc sets like Band of Brothers -- there I can see the logic of getting each in its turn.

If I have to create separate queue entries just to see both discs (most of the ones I rent have a second one, at least from the store), I'm not sure that only having 1.5 movies at a time is such a good deal.

I think I'll give it a couple months and see if I like it. It is a good opportunity for me to catch movies I have missed (which is most of them!), since they are rarely in the rental stores any more because they have to make way for 300 copies of Pooty Tang.

I've had Netflix for about 2-3 months now, and had the same surprise/issues as you. However, given that we often rented movies and never found time to watch them; or our local video store didn't have them (cf. Cowboy Bebop or UFO), I count it as a general good deal.

I do wish the "special features" DVDs were included as well.

I signed up two months ago, too.

Netflix (and also Blockbuster Online) says they have several reasons for counting each disc as a separate rental. Postage cost is the main reason they cite.

To compensate, and since (they claim) many subscribers do not view the extras, disc, they do not send the bonus disc unless specifically ordered. On the other hand, when you order a boxed set, they usually do automatically put all the discs into your queue, even though they are still counted separately.

Usually, but not always. When I ordered the boxed set of Universal's Frankenstein movies, I only got the first disc. Fortunately, that first disc had both of the James Whale classics (the original Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein), which were the ones I wanted to see.

Still, even including lost time due to postal delays (over the ideal turn-around time I'd planned for) and counting bonus discs at "full cost," I can see more movies a month for less money than store rentals.

I did get one disc that would not play properly, but in the previous two months I'd rented two discs at the store that had similar problems. I also recieved one that had gotten cracked in the mail. In both cases I reported the problem and recieved a courteous e-mail response. Nor have they affected my account, as yet.

I had Star Wars Ep III get lost in the mail. I went on their website, reported it missing, and they shipped me another one that day. No muss, no fuss.

My experiences with them have been pretty good. I only signed up for the free trial periods. The reason I don't keep a subscription (aside from the fact that I already have enough monthly expenses) is that I simply don't rent movies that often.

Does anyone know if they accept payments through PayPal? Their website wasn't entirely clear about that.

I can't remember if I paid through Paypal or not -- I usually do that if it's available.

For those who may stumble on this later, no they don't accept payments through PayPal as of the time I post this.

with the news that Netflix hurts loyal users... Has anyone's opinion changed?

CNN story

I hadn't heard of this until today. I get maybe two movies a week, in a very timely manner. I rarely rent the recent releases as I've been using it to catch up on all those I've missed, including a great selection of foreign films you'd never find at Blockbuster.

I can understand Netflix's point, if you are renting and returning 3 movies a day of course they would be losing money. I wouldn't have a problem if they set a "minimum keep limit" of something like two days.

I noticed that my deliveries were starting to slow down in December, but I thought that the holiday traffic in the postal service was to "blame." They still haven't caught up to normal, though.

On the other hand, a friend who has Blockbuster Online has actually had them aknowlege reciept of his returned dvds three days before the get around to mailing out the replacements. When he complained, they tried to blame it on the Post Office, in spite of the clear evidence of their own records.

Curse you, Influx! I was gonna post that CNN story! Well, anyway, here's just one guy's experience with throttling.

My freind got robbed and he had to pay full price of Netflix and late fees, the works. His neighbor even stole his his dvd player and vcrs and tv.

When Blockbuster was new in 1980s they charged him for failure to rewind, charged a buck, he got a new credit card and got charged with late penalties.

I learned to buy the $20 dvds or tapes once I get my paycheck. It saves a lot of hassle. I learned the hard way. For me it saves the trouble to remember those kinda things. I got a speeding ticket for getting the Pirates of carrabean. I was 47 in a 35 zone.What if I was 84 in a 35 zone like my driving school partner was?

I don't know if Netflix still does DVDs by mail. Their main business is, of course, their streaming app. For which they're now producing their own movies. Such as The Two Popes and Martin Scorsese's big budget ($175 million) movie The Irishman.

Yes they do. I use it for stuff that their streaming service doesn't have, and for old series that nobody will ever have on streaming *cough*UFO*cough*

I believe UFO is on Amazon, along with the rest of the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson shows.