A few days ago, Netflix dropped one helluva bomb on its customers which includes myself. The $9.99 package, which combines both unlimited web-streaming and one-at-a-time DVDs by mail, will be no more. Instead, both are separate $7.99 packages, which amounts to roughly $15 for both.
There was a huge public outcry. All the major media outlets wrote about it and "Dear Netflix" was trending on twitter with angry reactions to the price hike. Reaction ran the gamut from angry comments, phone calls to Netflix, to even rage induced subscription cancellations.
As for me, I simply read the specifics (the changes take effect immediately for new customers while existing subscribers will see the price change in September), and made plans to remove the DVDs by mail option. Come September, I will only be streaming from Netflix and will no longer have to worry about receiving or mailing back DVDs.
I read the angry reactions and understand where all the anger is coming from. I also understand all too well why the DVDs by mail option exists; because there is an infuriating amount of quality titles only available by DVD and not by streaming.
But I'm not angry. In fact, I may not even be a part of a minority. I'm probably by myself.
I simply don't watch DVDs anymore. I only ever use Netflix for the streaming onto my Xbox 360 or the Roku box when I watch downstairs in the den. The DVDs were only for my parents who wanted to watch new titles immediately. Even then, after I told them about the price hike, I only got a nonchalant, "Just take off the DVDs option."
I don't really understand this hate or the canceling of subscriptions, even if the new price of the same service is somewhere around a 60% increase. DVDs seem so antique now and I used them a lot not 5 years ago. But in that span of time, I've since moved onto to streaming and downloading. So if anything, I view this price hike as a sign that we may be moving on to a new medium now (if we ignore Blu-Ray anyways that is).
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