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Netflix’s New Releases are three years old
By Mr. Stupid | April 9, 2008
The Single Guy is taking a break from Netflix. I can’t blame him one bit.
I started out loving Netflix. A movie I wanted to see came. I watched it. I sent it back. I got another one.
I quickly ran out of movies that I wanted to see. So now I just try to get new releases, since Mrs. Stupid and I don’t really go the movies any more. When we do go out, it’s usually for dinner and a blowie.
But the blush started coming off that Netflix rose. I started hearing accusations of throttling. Some folks claim that if you are too efficient at watching and returning movies, Netflix starts slowing you down with subtle changes to your movies’ movements through their system.
My wait times for new movies started getting longer. I’ve been waiting for American Gangster since it came out on DVD, some 3 weeks ago.
Right now, my queue includes I Am Legend, Atonement, American Gangster, and The Assassination of Jesse James. They all have Long Waits or Very Long Waits associated with them. Jesus, even The Mist has a Very Long Wait. Some people get to watch I Am Legend, but not me. No…
What do I get instead? The King of Kong and Tell Me You Love Me: Season 1: Disc 4. Bottom of the barrel stuff. Mrs. Stupid and I gave up on Tell Me You Love Me during disc 2, but I forgot to remove it from the queue.
I understand this is just the way the system works. There are a limited number of DVDs, and everyone wants the same ones. Six months from now, noone will want American Gangster, so it’ll arrive in my mailbox around that time. Sometimes Netflix throws me a bone. I got No Country For Old Men the day it came out.
But the real problem I have with Netflix is that they go out of their way to hide the new releases from me. They don’t want me to find them on the site. It’s kinda like a game. I have to read about new DVD releases elsewhere, and then remember to go to Netflix and add them to my queue. It was so far down on the queue that I figured I had time.
If I look at Netflix’s “New Releases”, this is what I get. That’s:
- Becoming Jane (2007)
- Land of Women (2006)
- Away From Her (2006)
- The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
- Sweet Land (2005)
WTF? Is all this because we watched The L-word two years ago? Why would they think a guy who watched The L-word would be interested in that shite? Netflix is in a fight for its life. It competes with Video On Demand, Pay-Per-View, premium cable channels, iPod downloads, BitTorrent, Blockbuster, … And they recommend that I watch Becoming Jane — presumably with my hands clasped politely over my vagina and my trusty copy of Pride and Prejudice at my side.
I needed a sudden shot of testosterone, so I took a look at the turds in the Action new releases.
Ugh.
I should have started reading Hacking Netflix a long time ago. It wouldn’t have taken me this long to figure out that Netflix doesn’t actually want my business. I am probably going to switch to Blockbuster. They probably have the same issues as Netflix, but they also have stores. Maybe I can pop in on a Tuesday and get the latest and greatest. Or at least I can return the crap I just watched to the store rather than have it snake its way to some distro center in NJ.
And why do almost all new DVD releases come out on a Tuesday? What’s wrong with Monday?
Topics: peace of mind |
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April 9th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Hmm, I guess Netflix just likes me more!
That’s true about the new releases - why can’t they just show me what came out in the last month and quit wasting my time?
April 9th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
http://rss.netflix.com/NewReleasesRSS
I’m not disagreeing with you, just fyi…
April 9th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
mjukr,
Very cool, thanks for the link! I consider myself pretty tech-savvy but I must have overlooked that feed on Netflix.com.
To think, I almost missed the fact that “Maria Carey: The Adventures of Mimi” just came out! The horror!
April 18th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I LOVE Netflix, but I guess its because I haven’t had those experiences with it yet! I think it depends on where you live since they do send DVDs from different “warehouses”. I do get slightly annoyed when they decide to send me a DVD cross-country and then it takes me 2 days to get it instead of 1.
I actually tried blockbuster with their free trial, and I don’t like them at all!!! While they do have stores (haven’t tried doing that exchange yet), they don’t send my movies in the order they appear in my queue, and thats when they actually say “available”! Their selection is also quite limited in comparison with Netflix, but I guess that wouldn’t matter if you’re primarily interested in new releases.
I’m sticking with Netflix. I will admit though, their “recommendations” are usually way off. I usually just use them to get a good laugh at some bad movie titles/synopses.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
This is interesting. I never thought netflix could stoop to this level. My husband and I just loved netflix for their efficiency during the trial period. We have to restart the services though…but now I’m having second thoughts.