Comment Netflix vs. RentMyDVD - My Experience (Score 1) 260
I used Netflix during the summer of '01, and I've been using RentMyDVD for the past 4 months. In my experience, here's how they stack up:
- Netflix costs $20/month (can't remember if this includes tax) for 3 movies out at a time, while RentMyDVD costs $24/month (tax not included) for 4 out at a time. I'm pretty sure Netflix's default plan used to be 4-out, and I believe they grandfathered those folks. But now they are 3-out by default.
- I turn my movies around pretty quickly. With Netflix I averaged around 10 movies a month, while RentMyDVD is much higher - I just clocked a 20-movie month! I'm certainly getting higher throughput than the 3-out vs. 4-out plans would indicate. I attribute this to being on the east coast. Since RentMyDVD has an east coast distribution center, the turnaround time seems to be 3 or 4 days rather than the 6 to 8 I was experiencing with Netflix.
- Netflix lets you store unlimited numbers of movies in your queue, while RentMyDVD has a 50-movie limit. In general, Netflix has a nicer UI. Adding a movie to your Netflix queue is very quick since they do a nifty little Javascript popup/form-submit, while RentMyDVD reloads the whole friggin' page.
- I'm guessing I've rented at least 100 movies from the two services combined. I've only gotten 1 damaged disc from each service. All others have played fine.
- While this is hard to confirm, my general sense is that Netflix's selection is slightly broader (more titles) but not as deep (fewer copies of each title). That could be very wrong, but that's the way it feels.
