Sorry, it has been a couple of weeks since my last post. Things got a little busy, but hopefully I can get back on track now. :>)

I imagine you have all seen the commercials or in some way or another heard about DVD's by mail. This is a system where you jump on a DVD rental website and select a rental plan, select the movies you want to rent, and they send them to you via the mail. Once you are done with it, you mail it back in the prepaid envelope, and they send you another one from your list of movies. It is simple and effective.

Would you want to use this? If you live near a very good rental store, or you don't watch very many movies, maybe not. If, however, you are a movie or TV buff, you may find this both convenient and cost effective. I know I am saving a little money versus using Pay-Per-View, and I have a much wider selection to choose from. Also, this is a great way to catch up on TV shows you might have missed. About half of my rentals are TV shows. You will generally get 3 to 8 shows on a DVD, and you can plow through an entire season quickly if you like, with no commercial interruption.

The two big players in this market are Netflix.com and Blockbuster.com. Both are very similar in their offerings. I have used both at one time or another, and I found them both to be good services. In fact, I haven't seen any others that I would seriously consider right now. I'm going to cut to the chase and give you my impressions of the similarities and differences between the two.

Similarities

• Selection of Titles. Except in a few odd instances, I have found them both to have the shows I want. I suggest going to their websites before signing up to see if they both carry what you are interested in. Netflix claims to have more different DVDs on hand, so assuming that is true, a slight advantage to Netflix.


• Responsiveness of customer service to lost DVDs. It is inevitable that a DVD will go missing in the mail at some point. I have never had any trouble with either service in getting the lost DVD cleared from my queue, and a new one sent. And I have never been billed extra for the lost DVD. I would say this is a tie.


• Return envelopes. They both seem to work ok, and mostly hold up to travel through the postal service. I have had 2 or 3 disappear in the mail, but who knows why. Again, I would say this is a tie.


• Throttling. This is a practice where the company intentionally slows down the shipping speed of your DVDs. So, say you usually have a turn around on your DVDs of 1 day out and 1 day back. If you send a lot of DVDs back and forth during the month, they may delay the sending of your next DVD by a day or two to save themselves some shipping costs. This is generally known as throttling. Both companies appear to engage in this practice, unfortunately for us.

Differences

• Shipping Centers. Netflix appears to have more locations from which they ship the DVDs. This means that you are more likely to be near a Netflix shipping center, and you will receive your DVD faster, as it has a shorter distance to travel. Advantage: Netflix.


• Website Usability. In the past, the Netflix site had a noticeable advantage on Blockbuster in both speed and ease of use. Recently, Blockbuster has upgraded their site, and it has improved, though it can still be slightly slow. Also, Netflix has a means by which you can have multiple queues for different members of your household, if you might find that useful. Advantage: Netflix.


• Downloadable Movies. This is a service only offered by Netflix as of this writing. As it is relatively new, I haven't had an opportunity to try it out, but it sounds like a good idea. I think that as we get faster and faster Internet access, this will gradually become the normal way of getting movies. Advantage: Netflix.


• In-Store Offerings. As Blockbuster is the only one of the two to have stores, only they offer this service. If you bring your DVD into the store, you can exchange it for one from the store. Your next DVD is also shipped from your queue immediately. Also, they offer monthly coupons for free in-store movie or game rentals.Advantage: Blockbuster.


• Pricing. There isn't much difference between the two in prices, as they have been in a price war for some time now. They both offer the same plans and rates. However, blockbuster recently lowered their online rental rates if you are willing to fore-go their In-Store rental services. Slight Advantage: Blockbuster. UPDATE: Netflix has reportedly lowered their pricing to match Blockbuster's, so you can now consider this a tie.

My recommendation is that if you live very close to a Blockbuster store, take advantage of their free coupons for the best deal. If not, check out where their shipping centers are located. Use the service that is closer to you. If they are about the same, and you might want the downloadable movies, go with Netflix.

List of Blockbuster Shipment Centers
List of Netflix Shipment Centers