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Netflix Increases Price : Will Members Seek Alternatives?

July 13, 2011 by

Yesterday Netflix announced new plans and pricing changes.  As a result those who subscribe to their unlimited streaming + 1 DVD at a time in the mail will pay $15.98 instead of $9.99.  An increase of 60%.  They tried to spin the Netflix blog post as best they could but no one could turn this story into anything but a PR nightmare.  With over 5,000 comments and counting, Netflix customers are unhappy and letting the company know about it.

Those who subscribe to Netflix streaming service without DVD by mail won’t be impacted by the changes.  However, those currently on the $9.99 unlimited streaming + 1 DVD by mail plan will see a 60% increase in price.  Bringing the monthly cost to $15.98.  What does that mean for those impacted by the change?  Will they swallow the extra cost or seek alternatives?  Where will this whole episode end for Netflix?  Time will tell but I sure wouldn’t want to be working as a Netflix customer service rep right now.

Let’s face it, Netflix has it’s advantages but they also have some pretty big limitations.  I remember the first time I connected to the Netflix streaming service.  Thinking how cool it was to have instant access to all of that content.  Then after a few days I realized that the streaming content was fairly limited.  With long delays for most movies.  In addition to most current TV series being at least a season behind.

Here are just a few Netflix alternatives:

Redbox video

  • Standard DVD’s – $1 a day
  • Blu-ray movies – $1.50 a day
  • Video games – $2 a day
  • 28 day delay on some new DVD releases

Blockbuster Online

  • $11.99 for 1 DVD at a time by mail
  • $16.99 for 2 DVD at a time by mail
  • $19.99 for 3 DVD at a time by mail
  • No 28 day delay on new DVD releases

Amazon Instant Video

  • Free with an Amazon Prime subscription
  • Unlimited access to of over 6,000 movies
  • Free two-day shipping on Amazon Prime items
  • Rent movies and TV shows starting at $1.99

Hulu Plus

  • $7.99 a month for unlimited streaming
  • Access to 33,000 TV episodes
  • Hundreds of movies and documentaries
  • High def (720p) on some content

With Redbox you search for movies online and find the closest Redbox kiosk with the title in stock.  While Blockbuster Online provides movies by mail.  Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video are online services.  Similar to Netflix instant streaming.  For online services consider Personal VPN access.  Starting at $5 a month a good VPN will help secure your connection and ensure your privacy at home and when connected via public wifi.

Filed Under: Xtra Tagged With: ,

Ngroups Partners with Livedrive to Offer Free Storage

October 19, 2010 by

Ngroups recently added free unlimited online storage and file backup for their subscribers in addition to the NGR special – $9.99 unlimited Usenet.  In testing we found the new storage service to be quite useful.  We were able to download from Usenet, sync to Livedrive and stream the content.  All done remotely via iPhone.

The new Ngroups unlimited storage option is far more feature-rich than we anticipated.  By partnering with Livedrive they are able to offer all the Livedrive Backup account options free as part of their Usenet subscription.  A value of $6.95 a month compared to subscribing to Livedrive directly.  In addition those who wish to upgrade can enjoy the Backup and Briefcase account for a third of the regular price.

We started our testing by downloading the Livedrive application and setting up a folder to automatically sync.  Easy enough.  As with any online storage solution you will be constrained by your ISP’s upload speed.  None the less our files were synced at a reasonable pace.

Next came the real fun.  In looking closer at Livedrive we found an option for streaming audio and video to mobile devices – iPhone, Blackberry, iPad, etc.  So what if we wanted to queue up a Usenet download and then stream it directly to an iPhone without leaving the couch?  That was our goal.

We used SABnzbd with the myNZB iPhone add-on to queue and download the content directly to a folder that was setup to sync in Livedrive.  It took some time since SABnzbd had to fetch the files and then Livedrive had to sync the content.  Once completed we used the Livedrive iPhone app to connect to our account and stream the content.  The test was flawless.  We didn’t have any issues downloading, syncing or steaming.  The combination of Ngroups and the free Livedrive online storage + streaming was a pleasure to test.  We look forward to more newsgroup usage on the go in the near future.

Read our Ngroups review to learn more or sign up for the NewsgroupReviews $9.99 special and enjoy unlimited Usenet + online backup / steaming via Livedrive.

Filed Under: Livedrive, Ngroups, Usenet Providers Tagged With: , , ,
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