member review

so first, a little background. i like so many others came to the netflix as a disgruntled movie lover tired of paying those ridiculous late fees, which as i understand it was also the impetus for the creation of the company. although it took some getting used to (no more instant gratification in running down to the rental store for that quick hit) i soon became accustomed, and then fell madly in love with the company. and in fact it really felt there for a while like we were all of us sticking it to the man as we watched the video rental giants began to topple. (hard to believe as a former blockbuster employee that they once sponsored a college bowl game) and there was a certain elegant control i know i felt when checking in to my work computer the morning after putting that red envelope in the mail. reviewing and then reordering the queue. a mystical pleasure at finding hidden treasures on dvd while i sipped that morning cup o' coffee. and it seemed like our love affair would go on and on, even as the number of movies in my queue grew longer than a year of days.
then tragedy. first the great recession hit the reset button on all non-essential expenditures (i know, like film watching isn't essential?) which killed all media in our home for a time. and although initially a bitter and jagged little pill, the hiatus ultimately proved quite positive. i realized how much time i was wasting night after night, sitting mindlessly in front of the tube. (and yes, it was still a tube) then i discovered the local library, and learned to work the system, gaining access to the entire placer county library network. i was singing the praises of our great shared institutions of learning. but after about a year my folks kicked in with a one year gift subscription to the old netflix. sure, it was only a 1 disc, unlimited streaming, and not our old 3 at a time, but it was nice to be back. i'd missed the familiarity of the queue. and although i had knocked off quite a few in the interim, the access to the new releases was a plus.
but something had happened in the absence. where i used to jump on the new releases, as if there was some limited shelf life to them, the thrill of the hunt was gone now. it just didn't matter like before. and if this was art after all, wouldn't it keep indefinitely? and i certainly wasn't riding the zeitgeist any more. i mean i'm just a regular dude. it's not like i work for the ny times or something.
the following year the folks re-upped our subscription, and it was during this period the company made its fateful decision to separate the streaming and disc plans, basically doubling the price for many of their loyal followers. we who know the story, remember what happened next. a spiral of members walking away in feelings of disgust and betrayal as netflix watched its value drop by nearly half. (hmm, double your price - lose half your customers) we were still grandfathered in under our subscription, and i wondered what our plan of action should be once it expired.
now here we are, just a few days in to paying for the same plan, and i just don't know how to feel. on one hand i too wanted to join the angry mob and walk out on my former lover. i had been wooed away from blue to red. i'd learned the fight song, preached its good news, and now i felt no love returned. but as i have weighed all the options in recent days, it seems that some of my fire has smoldered. when i think of how much i used to spend on cable tv, and how little i got back in return, it's easy. and going back to the all free route, although tempting, takes a lot of work. and for less than 20 bucks a month i am getting access to quite a bit of film and tv archive. so, although i no longer go out and rah rah anymore for netflix, at the end of the day i'm giving them a solid 3 stars for like. (but look out red, something better comes along and it was nice knowin' ya :^)