For months, well, years, actually, I’ve thought about cancelling my NetFlix account. I love the idea of the service, but I don’t watch enough DVDs to really justify it. I didn’t want to switch to a lower plan because of all of the limits it imposes. I’ve never felt like I’ve really been getting everything out of the service, but I’ve always continued to pay for it.

Today NetFlix sent me an email saying it was having trouble processing my monthly payment, and it refused to accept my credit card information. Good enough reason for me, just like that my decision was finally made and I called up and cancelled the account. I should have done this months — perhaps years — ago.

They didn’t offer me any deals to try to get me to stay. So let the analysis begin.

I’ve been a NetFlix subscriber for three years and three months. In that time I’ve given NetFlix almost $800 of my money. I’ve rented 83 movies. Wait, really? Ouch, this is going to be painful.

At a cost of $9.64 per movie, I’ve gotten a terrible, terrible deal. Granted, it was self-inflicted. I could have returned my movies faster and rented more. And its different then renting from Blockbuster because I could keep the movie as long as I wanted. But if I look at the movies that I watched on the list, I see that some of them are part of television series, a few of them I never actually ended up watching, and several of them I could have downloaded from the Brandeis network, if I wanted to be less honest.

So I went on Amazon and priced out the cost of purchasing every movie that I watched, with a few exceptions for things that are no longer available and such.

$674.17

Wow.

$674.17. For the price of NetFlix, my DVD collection could be about two or three times larger, and I’d have a few really good movies that I’d certainly watch again, like Annie Hall, State and Main, and The Usual Suspects. And therein lies the dilemna. I clearly did not use NetFlix to its full potential. I clearly lost a lot of money on the deal. But had I been buying the movies outright rather then “renting” them, what is to say I actually would have purchased those titles?

NetFlix is not evil, and it is a good service for many people, the people who watch lots of movies or who share a subscription with friends and family. But it is not a good service for a more casual movie watcher. And it is not a good service for me.

And next time I want to watch a movie on DVD that looks interesting, I’ll probably just buy it. It just makes more sense.

My complete NetFlix rental history

(Not all of which I actually watched)

Shipped     Returned     Movie Title
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
08/09/04    08/31/04     Firefly: Disc 4 (2002)
08/09/04    08/25/04     Firefly: Disc 3 (2002)
07/15/04    08/12/04     Firefly: Disc 1 (2002)
07/15/04    08/12/04     Firefly: Disc 2 (2002)
06/25/04    07/15/04     Annie Hall (1977)
06/25/04    07/15/04     Fame (1980)
06/17/04    06/25/04     Crimson Tide (1995)
05/17/04    06/25/04     Dune (1984)
06/17/04    06/25/04     Logan's Run (1976)
04/19/04    06/17/04     Angel: Season 3: Disc 3 (2001)
04/22/04    06/17/04     Angel: Season 3: Disc 4 (2001)
04/19/04    05/19/04     Angel: Season 3: Disc 2 (2001)
04/13/04    04/22/04     Inventing the Abbotts (1997)
04/07/04    04/19/04     Angel: Season 3: Disc 1 (2001)
10/08/03    04/19/04     Monsters, Inc. (2001)
08/25/03    04/19/04     Blow (2001)
03/05/04    04/19/04     Angel: Season 2: Disc 5 (2000)
02/27/04    04/13/04     Angel: Season 2: Disc 4 (2000)
04/05/04    04/13/04     Angel: Season 2: Disc 6 (2000)
02/17/04    03/05/04     Angel: Season 2: Disc 3 (2000)
12/18/03    02/27/04     Angel: Season 2: Disc 2 (2000)
12/18/03    02/18/04     Angel: Season 2: Disc 1 (2000)
10/14/03    12/18/03     The Searchers (1956)
10/14/03    12/18/03     Citizen Kane (1941)
08/26/03    10/22/03     The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (1984)
08/13/03    10/08/03     Amazon Women on the Moon (1986)
07/31/03    08/28/03     Angel: Season 1: Disc 5 (1999)
08/18/03    08/26/03     Angel: Season 1: Disc 6 (1999)
07/01/03    08/19/03     Angel: Season 1: Disc 4 (1999)
05/16/03    08/18/03     Platoon (1986)
04/01/03    08/13/03     State and Main (2000)
07/22/03    08/13/03     The Animatrix (2003)
06/11/03    07/31/03     Angel: Season 1: Disc 3 (1999)
06/04/03    07/01/03     Angel: Season 1: Disc 2 (1999)
06/04/03    06/11/03     Angel: Season 1: Disc 1 (1999)
05/16/03    06/03/03     The Great Escape (1963)
03/18/03    06/03/03     The Birth of a Nation (1915)
03/05/03    06/03/03     Snatch (2000)
11/05/02    04/08/03     The Cider House Rules (1999)
02/14/03    03/31/03     It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
02/10/03    03/17/03     Minority Report (2002)
02/18/03    03/14/03     Revolution OS (2002)
01/10/03    02/14/03     Blast (2001)
01/27/03    02/14/03     Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
01/27/03    02/14/03     Camelot (1967)
01/09/03    01/27/03     Gladiator (2000)
01/06/03    01/23/03     Stargate SG-1: Season 2: Vol. 5 (1998)
12/31/02    01/09/03     Fail-Safe (1964)
12/20/02    01/09/03     Into the Woods (1990)
07/22/02    12/31/02     Rushmore (1998)
12/17/02    12/20/02     Stargate SG-1: Season 1: Vol. 1 (1997)
08/26/02    12/20/02     Network (1976)
05/21/02    11/07/02     Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
06/12/02    07/22/02     Trainspotting (1995)
04/11/02    06/17/02     The Red Violin (1999)
05/06/02    05/22/02     Farscape: Season 1: Episodes 11 & 13: Till the Blood Runs Clear / Rhapsody in Blue (1999)
04/29/02    05/21/02     A Civil Action (1998)
04/11/02    05/07/02     Blazing Saddles (1974)
04/24/02    05/06/02     Farscape: Season 1: Episodes 9 & 10: DNA Mad Scientist / They've Got a Secret (1999)
04/12/02    04/24/02     Farscape: Season 1: Episodes 5 & 8: PK Tech Girl / That Old Black Magic (1999)
03/25/02    04/24/02     Farscape: Season 1: Episodes 3 & 6: Back and Back / Thank God It's Friday Again (1999)
12/07/01    04/12/02     Magnolia (1999)
03/14/02    03/28/02     Farscape: Season 1: Episodes 2 & 4: Exodus from Genesis / Throne for a Loss (1999)
12/07/01    03/14/02     Clerks (1994)
11/03/01    03/14/02     Startup.com (2001)
12/06/01    03/14/02     Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)
08/30/01    12/10/01     The Professional (1994)
10/15/01    12/10/01     Pulp Fiction (1994)
10/15/01    11/02/01     A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
09/28/01    10/17/01     Twilight (1998)
09/29/01    10/15/01     Farscape: Season 1: Episodes 1 & 7:  Premiere / I, E.T. (1999)
08/29/01    10/12/01     Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
05/11/01    10/01/01     Braveheart (1995)
07/05/01    09/27/01     Trainspotting (1995)
07/16/01    09/27/01     Beautiful Girls (1996)
06/29/01    07/09/01     Requiem for a Dream (2000)
06/23/01    06/29/01     Real Life (1979)
06/06/01    06/22/01     The Usual Suspects (1995)
05/31/01    06/14/01     Fight Club (1999)
05/26/01    06/06/01     Tron (1982)
05/23/01    05/31/01     The War Room (1993)
05/11/01    05/31/01     The Right Stuff (1983)
05/11/01    05/23/01     Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)