What’s the AppaRENT Choice for Renting Movies?
By: Jennifer Stanley
Today movies are a world wide phenomenon. Approximately 99% of household
owners own at least one television set. On average, most houses own two. Children are
estimated to watch at least 318 minutes of television each day. That’s over five hours!
While television and movies dominate many Americans lives, it can be hard to
decipher which movies to watch, and where to rent or buy them from. In the past several
years, many movie renting industries were fabricated. Redbox, On Demand, Netflix, and
TiVo are among the most popular companies today. However, how is one to know which
company to rent their movie from? All of these companies are very different: from their
selection of movies to their ways to rent movies.
Redbox is famous for their price. One might find it to be a bargain to spend only
one dollar a night per movie. Redbox also has many “Redbox Stations” at various stores
throughout the United States, including grocery stores and gas stations. This is useful for
families who are going for a quick grocery run or gas stop, because now they can easily
grab a movie before heading home. Redbox also allows their costumers to reserve the
movie at a particular Redbox Station before going to pick it up. Redbox seems like a
great deal, right?
However, Redbox can also be a hassle. With a fee of one dollar a night, the
costumers have to drive, once again, the next day to return their movie. Otherwise, the
one dollar fee will quickly begin to add up. Also, Redbox offers a small selection of
movies. It has new movies once in a while, but those tend to be released into Redbox
later than other companies. Also, Redbox movies can be returned to any Redbox Station,
and not necessarily where the costumer first picked it up. While this may seem to be a
positive quality, it does stir up some issues. If all the costumers desire to watch a movie,
and rent it from one box, then the movie would be sold out from that box; if all the
costumers return the movie to different boxes, one would have to wait for someone to
return that particular movie to original Redbox Station to rent it, or not be able to rent it
at all.
On Demand is has a wide variety of movies. From many categories such as
“action” or “thriller”, you can easily find the movie you want. The organization makes
finding that perfect movie as easy as 1, 2, and 3. Also, the movies in each category are
alphabetized from A-Z, once again making one’s movie search so simple. Another
positive is that one can rent a movie directly from their television; there is no driving
necessary to sit down and enjoy a movie. Multiple movies are also free, which is a great
option for consistent movie watchers.
On Demand shares its negatives as well as its positives. First of all, many On
Demand costumers are frustrated with the slowness of the system. The television has a
very slow response to one pressing keys on the remote. Sometimes it takes a few clicks
on the remote just to get the television to perform one command. Just like Redbox, On
Demand features limited movies: the free movies are very unpopular. The new movies
cost money: about $5 to hold each movie for 24 hours (price varies depending on movie’s
popularity). Not so cheap, is it?
Netflix is another popular movie company. Customers can easily rent movies by
either mailing them to their house or by renting them directly onto one’s television.
Netflix offers a greater variety of movies compared to Redbox or On Demand. Also, new
movies are quick to be released. If a costumer chooses to have their movies mailed, they
can create a list of movies that they desire to be mailed online. So when they return a
movie, the next one on their list instantly is shipped. This great technique continuously
keeps the movies flowing back and forth, and the costumer is satisfied because all the
work is done for them. Finally, Netflix recently found a third way to allow customers to
watch movies. They have created a CD for Wii that allows Netflix to run directly run
from their Wii system. Not only does it include movies, but many television shows as
well.
Just like the other movie companies, Netflix has its negatives that follow it. The
mailing of movies can be slow, and one can only have one movie at a time. For the movie
marathon lovers, it’s disappointing to have a marathon with only one movie. The new
Wii Netflix CD also has very little selections of movies.
TiVo is the best program out of them all. With TiVo, a movie lover can rent any
movie in the world (as long as a television channel features it) for a monthly fee, which
saves the costumer quite a lot of money. One can simply look up the movie they desire,
and wait for it to record. Also, unlike On Demand, the remote and television connection
is very stable and fast. Another great feature is the movies can remain recorded for as
long as the costumers want, so say goodbye to spending money on DVD’s! The only
negatives of TiVo is the frustration over waiting for the selected movies to record, and
one cannot record over 2 movies at the same recording times. Overall, TiVo is stress free,
and very easy to use.
Television and movies are tremendously popular in today’s technology. With
numerous movies being released every year, movie lovers must depend on reliable
movie-renting systems. However, which system to rely on is for them to decide.